GREEN BAY – The Greater Green Bay Chamber has announced Kasha Huntowski, executive director of the Neville Public Museum Foundation, has been selected as the 2020 Daniel Whitney Award recipient.
She will be honored with the award at the chamber’s annual dinner Tuesday, Sept. 15, at the KI Convention Center.
Every year, chamber staff vote to bestow the award on a chamber member who has served on one or more of our committees or boards of directors.
Huntowski’s chamber involvement is extensive; she has served on the Ambassadors Club since 2012, including as the club’s chair from 2017-2018; Young Professionals Advisory Council since 2015, including as the council’s chair from 2017-2018; member of Current Young Professionals’ steering committee since 2017; and after graduating in the 2014 Class of Leadership Green Bay, has remained involved with the Leadership Green Bay curriculum committee and team mentor.
As a chamber ambassador, Huntowski is engaged, attending all monthly meetings, leading meetings and earning a high number of points each month for attending chamber events, ribbon cuttings, new member and retention calls.
She has encouraged and connected businesses with people in the area as part of her personal belief in promoting all Greater Green Bay has to offer.
“Green Bay is one of my favorite places in the world, and it is my job to make it the best place it can be,” Huntowski said. “We want people to stay and contribute to the area.”
In addition to her contributions to the chamber, Huntowski is an active volunteer in the Greater Green Bay community.
She serves on the On Broadway, Inc., executive board and is a member of the Green Bay Bicycle Collective, a group dedicated to making the Greater Green Bay area a more bicycle-friendly community.
Recently, that has included the opening of a nonprofit community bike shop on Fourth Street off Broadway in Green Bay.
Huntowski also started the Community Giving Initiative, which has helped more than 24 charities through donations.
“We are pleased to honor Kasha for the extensive work she has done on behalf of the chamber as well as being a self-designated cheerleader for living, working and playing in Greater Green Bay,” said Laurie Radke, president and CEO, Greater Green Bay Chamber. “She is a great example of service above self, and our Leadership Green Bay, Current Young Professionals and general chamber programs can all attest to her impact.”
The award she will receive is named for Daniel Whitney, one of the first easterners to call Green Bay home.
Only 24 when he arrived here from New Hampshire in 1819, he opened a general merchandise store and supplied beef and grain to Fort Howard from a wharf and warehouse at the junction of the Fox and East Rivers.
Ten years later, Whitney platted the town of Navarino in what is now Green Bay’s downtown.
In short order, he built housing for his employees, the settlement’s first hotel, and Christ Church.
Sometimes called the Father of Green Bay, Whitney went on to found settlements throughout the state and was one of the state’s founding fathers, as well.
For details on the annual dinner, visit greatergbc.org/annualdinner.