Chamber Business of the Year Award and LA Tech College of Business Hall of Fame Dinner

  
The Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce is excited to announce that the Business of the Year (BOTY) award will be presented to Ruston Daily Leader. Rick Hohlt, publisher and editor for the Daily Leader for the past 24 years will accept the award on behalf of his staff.

 
The staff of the Ruston Daily Leader works diligently every day to produce a quality hometown newspaper for Ruston and Lincoln Parish. For more than 120 years the Daily Leader has contributed to the growth and prosperity of our community.

Over the last two decades the Daily Leader staff has won hundreds of awards for excellence in newspaper publishing from Associated Press, the Louisiana Press Association and the National Newspaper Association. 

The most notable awards:

• Seven time award winner for Louisiana Newspaper of the Year
• Award winner for General Excellence in Newspaper Publishing 13 of the last 15 years
• Honored as the Best Newspaper in America by the National Newspaper Association.
• The staff of the Daily Leader received a Commendation from Governor Kathleen Blanco for the role they played in educating the public about the concerns and the possible solution to the decline of the Sparta aquifer.

Rick Hohlt has served as Publisher & Vice President of Ruston Newspapers, Inc. since 1991. He oversees operations of the Ruston Daily Leader and the Farmerville Gazette.  Rick has been employed with the Ruston Daily Leader since his graduation at Louisiana Tech University in 1978.

Some of Rick's community service:

• Served 3 terms on the Board of Directors for the Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce.
• Served as Commissioner on the D'Arbonne Lake Watershed Commission
• In his second term as Commissioner on the Sparta Ground Water Commission
• In his fifth year as Executive Director of the Sparta Foundation
• Was honored as Family Literacy Champion by the Northeast Louisiana Family Literacy Consortium after lobbying the State of Louisiana and Congress for hundreds of thousands in needed funding for local and regional literacy programs.
• Former member of Rotary International for 18 years where he was honored as Rotarian of the Year in 2006. Also distinguished as a Paul Harris Fellow.
• Volunteer carpenter with Habitat for Humanity in home construction. Raised $28,000 for the organization through a community service campaign.
• Worked closely with Mike McHale and Cappuccino to raise $35,000 for Patriot Paws  –  an organization that trains service dogs for our veterans.
• The Katrina Foundation for Recovery was an all-volunteer humanitarian organization developed in the unprecedented aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Through the donations of caring citizens and businesses, this organization raised and committed more than $130,000 to provide support through funding to other exempt organizations dedicated to providing clothing, shelter, medical supplies, food, educational tools and transportation to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Co-Founders: Kathy Reeg and Rick Hohlt 

The Business of the Year award will be presented on Tuesday, September 29, 2015 at the Davison Athletic Complex during the LA Tech Hall of Fame and Chamber Business of the Year Awards Dinner. The event begins at 6:00 p.m. and is sponsored by Community Trust Bank, Hunt, Guillot & Associates and 2 Crazy Girls Flower Shop. Music by The Olsen Strings.
 
This awards dinner is co-hosted by the Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce and LA Tech College of Business. Also being honored at this event is the soon to be announced College of Business Hall of Fame inductee.