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Manteca Chamber celebrates century of business
THE FIRST 100 YEARS
chamber
Past and current presidents, including Chuck Crutchfield, Christina Keefhaver, and Steve Jessup gather at Thursday’s Manteca Chamber of Commerce 100 anniversary event at the Great Wolf Lodge.

Steve Jessup reflected on his proudest moment as president of the Manteca Chamber of Commerce.

“It was buying the old Bob’s Pharmacy building,” he said at Thursday’s Installation & Awards Dinner at the Great Wolf Lodge.

Jessup was referring to the building at 629 East Yosemite Ave.

 The Chamber, celebrating its 100th anniversary, purchased the longtime pharmacy – most recently, an insurance office – a few months ago.

The building will be new offices of the Manteca Chamber of Commerce, which has more than 300 members servicing Manteca, Lathrop, and the surrounding communities.

Taking over from Jessup as president is Eddie Torres – of Eddie Torres-Law Office of Eddie Torres – who served as vice president for the past year.

Raj Lal of Precision Automotive was installed at 1st Vice President and Dani Bettencourt of Keller Williams Real Estate is the 2nd Vice President for 2023-2024.

In addition, Taylor Hasal was installed as Executive Director, taking over from outgoing Executive Director Joann Beattie.

Jessup and Beattie will serve on the 2023-2024 Board of Director, alongside Christina Keefhaver (Give Every Child A Chance), Nick Obligation (Manteca Rotary), Leo DeGroot (DeGroot Development) Debbie Baglietto (Oak Valley Bank), Shawn Nussbaumer (J&J Printing), Tony Montalbo (Self-Help Federal Credit Union), Jacob Naven (State Farm Insurance), Nina Payne (Agape Villages Foster Family Agency), Paul Carmona (Manteca Police Department), Gina Rojas (HomeSmart PV & Associates), and Jessica Vaughan (Second Harvest Food Bank of the Great Valley).

As for the awards, the Chamber named South San Joaquin Irrigation District as the Large Business of the Year and Dairy Queen as the Small Business of the Year.

The top Non-Profit was His Way Recovery while Kitty Walker received the Mabel Brocchini Community Service Award.

Hasal was the recipient of the Gladys Brock Chamber Service Award, Colleen O’Connell was the Ambassador of the Year, and Jesse Ramirez claimed the President’s Choice Award.

The Board Member of the Year went to Leo DeGroot and Toni Raymus earned the Lifetime Achievement Award.