The Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, Aug. 26, hosted the third annual recognition program for “Best Places to Work in Montgomery County including Blacksburg, Christiansburg” as a part of the talent retention and recruitment initiative that was started in 2017.
The top 25 organizations named the best places to work were recognized at 9:00 p.m. in a virtual meeting. The chamber and the New River Valley Society of Human Resource Managers partnered to develop this initiative and to raise awareness of the local business community.
Despite the continuing challenges of COVID-19, 78 businesses participated in the 2020 program. Five were disqualified due to a lack of adherence to the criteria.
In a twist this year, the chamber recognized the top-scoring organizations in 14 categories.
The top 25 Businesses in 2020 are in no particular order are Bull & Bones Restaurants, Lowe’s, Woodforest National Bank, The Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center, Warm Hearth Village, The Beauty Lab, TechLab, Wine & Design, New River Computing, Hyatt Place, National Bank of Blacksburg, Sands Anderson Law Firm, Core Physical Therapy, Kindercare, Community Housing Partners Relax – Blacksburg, English Meadows Senior Living – Blacksburg Campus, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department, DePaul Community Resources, SERVPro – Montgomery and Pulaski, Crosspoint Conference Center, Peraton, New River Office Supply, Residence Inn – Blacksburg and Ameriprise Financial – Smith and Associates.
The winners named the best places to work in the 14 various categories are Ameriprise Financial – Smith and Associates (financial planning), National Bank of Blacksburg (financial institutions), Hyatt Place Blacksburg/University (lodging), Solers, Inc., now Peraton (tech company), Crosspointe Conference Center (conference center/meeting room venues), SERVPro of Montgomery and Pulaski (professional services, cleaning and restoration), The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department (government), Sands Anderson PC (legal field/law firms), Kindercare (early childhood education), Core Physical Therapy (healthcare), Bull & Bones (restaurants), Depaul Community Services (non-profits), New River Office Supply (retail), and English Meadows – Blacksburg Campus (senior living communities),
The chamber’s 2020 board chair, Aaron Harris-Kirby, said, “A pandemic will not stop our celebration of the business community’s successes. We enjoy working with the student based organization, The Consulting Group, at Virginia Tech, which is housed in Pamplin’s Management Department. The students are from across disciplines and colleges.
“This program is designed to recognize those companies that are keeping abreast of workplace trends and supporting employees to create positive work environments,” Harris-Kirby said. “Virginia Business has a statewide recognition for companies, but too few companies participate in Southwest Virginia. Our community is a gem in Southwest Virginia and the commonwealth, for that matter,” the chamber head said. “The Montgomery County Chamber is recognizing those companies who are the best; cutting edge. We will continue to raise awareness of the positive workplaces in our community. We will create workshops and educational opportunities for those companies recognizing larger gaps in survey data. The greater awareness created about our community, the easier it will become to recruit and retain talent.”
Harris-Kirby is the President and CEO of Pointe West Management.
