The Petal Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet set the stage for the honoring of four of the Friendly City’s outstanding residents, including the awarding of the chamber’s two most prestigious awards: the Bobby Runnels Leadership Award and the Spirit of Petal Business of the Year Award.
The banquet – which also featured the Police Officer of the Year and the Firefighter of the Year awards – was held Jan. 27 at Petal Civic Center on South Main Street. The event was sponsored by Southern Grace Senior Homecare.
“Leaders are creators,”Chuck Parish, president of the chamber’s board of directors, said of the award winners. ”There’s a quote that I found that said that ‘first prizes don’t always go to the brightest and strongest; again and again, the person who wins is the one who is sure he or she can win.’
“Leaders create confidence; they have to have confidence in themselves, confidence in people, and confidence in their mission. We receive the peoples’ trust – their confidence – when we, as leaders, are leaders of our own character. These are the kind of leaders we come to honor tonight.”
The Bobby Runnels Leadership Award went to Jana Causey, serves as vice president for Forrest County Operations at Pearl River Community College, a position she started in 2015. She had worked at PRCC’s Forrest County Center 10 years prior to that, including two years as assistant vice president.
Causey serves with the Petal Children’s Task Force and the Petal Youth Sports Association, as well as a member of Delta Kappa Gamma society for women educators.
The Bobby Runnels Leadership Award, which was instituted in 1994, is given each year to someone who serves the community through church, family, school, civic clubs or the chamber, and the name of the recipient is kept a secret until each year’s banquet. The award is named for Bobby Runnels, who served on Petal’s first elected board of aldermen and as mayor pro tem while then-mayor Jack Gay served in Desert Storm.
“I’m humbled to be nominated by the very people in this great community where I have lived and served for 38 of my 42 years,” Causey said. “I am truly in the company of people who inspired me, who have shaped my way of thinking, and who have helped me realize my potential to truly make a difference.”
The Spirit of Petal Business Award went to Dr. David Roy, a dermatologist at Pine Belt Dermatology & Skin Cancer Center on South Main Street in Petal. He is board certified and a Fellow of the American Society for Mohs Surgery.
Roy received his undergraduate degree from the University of Miami and his medical degree from NOVA Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He completed an internship in internal medicine at Grandview Hospital/Kettering Medical Center network in Dayton, Ohio. Roy completed his dermatology residency at Midwestern University in Phoenix, Arizona and Kingman Regional Medical Center, where he served as chief resident in dermatology.
“From the time I came to Mississippi until now, I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else,” Roy said. “Petal was just the perfect fit for me.
“I want to see Petal be successful and I want to see Petal grow. I want to see Petal recognized for what it is, because it’s just a fantastic place.”
Officials also recognized Jeremy Brown of the Petal Police Department as Police Officer of the Year, and Casey Johnson of the Petal Fire Department as the Firefighter of the Year.
Featured entertainment for the banquet was comedian, author and magician Derrick Tennant, who was at one point a promising athlete until random bleeding left him paralyzed and in a coma. After brain surgery and years of therapy, Tennant now travels the world sharing his story with audiences.
“My motto is ‘live simply and love wastefully,’ and that’s what I try to teach people,” Tennant said.
