West Central Wisconsin Businesses, Organizations & Leaders Honored During Annual Award Ceremony

Eau Claire, Wisconsin – March 28th, 2022 - Momentum West, a regional economic development organization covering ten counties in West Central Wisconsin, held its annual award ceremony to honor those making a positive impact on the region.  These awards recognize individuals, organizations and other entities that contributed to the economic growth of the region the previous year.  Categories include regional collaboration, talent attraction and development, re-development projects, entrepreneurship, diversity and inclusion efforts, top development projects in the region, a young professional and others.  

The virtual event was orchestrated by Perigon Live, part of WIN in Eau Claire, featured a brief welcome and introduction, then rolled into the presentation of the awards. The virtual event ran for about an hour and a half on March 16th.   Steve Jahn, Executive Director of Momentum West, said, “Thank you to everyone who attended the event and who helped to celebrate, or make possible, our regional successes.”

Award Recipients
The following organizations were recognized for their contributions in 2021.

• Henry Repeating Rifles was selected as one of two recipients of the 2021 Top Development Award recognizing the work they did to grow their business and supply chain in Wisconsin.
• The Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce and regional partners were selected as the recipient of the 2021 Diversity and Inclusion Award recognizing the work they did to bring the Toward1WI conference to west central Wisconsin and beyond.
• The Family Resource Center St. Croix Valley was selected as the recipient of the 2021 Regional Collaboration Award for their collaborative work with young children in the St. Croix Valley.
• Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery was selected as one of two recipients of the 2021 Top Development Award recognizing the work they did to grow their business with the new plant in Menomonie.
• Tattersall Distilling was selected as one of two recipients of the 2021 Redevelopment Award recognizing the work they did with their new operation in River Falls!  
• Will Wanish of Wanish Sugar Bush received the Entrepreneur Award for his work starting and expanding the production of Wisconsin maple products. 
• CVTC and their Workforce Innovation Grant partners were selected as co-recipients of the Top Talent Initiative along with UW Eau Claire and their partners.
• Ray French, Regional Economic Development Director for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation won the Young Professional of the Year Award.
• Water’s Edge Cheese Curds received the 2021 Redevelopment Award for Expansion in Chippewa Falls.
• UW-Eau Claire and Workforce Innovation Grant Partners received the Top Talent Initiative Award.
• Chippewa Valley Technical College & their workforce partners received the Top Talent Initiative Award.

About Momentum West 

Momentum West is the regional economic development organization serving ten counties in west central Wisconsin including Barron, Clark, Chippewa, Dunn, Eau Claire, Pierce, Pepin, Polk, Rusk, and St. Croix counties. Our priorities include marketing and branding West Wisconsin for business and talent attraction, development and retention, serving as economic development support conduit in West Wisconsin, developing collaborative efforts with regional partners to drive business and talent development and attraction and advocating for regional projects and Initiatives.