The local business community converged at the Best Western Plus Coeur d’Alene Inn Wednesday in no small part to celebrate outgoing and incoming leadership at the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce.

At its 107th annual meeting, a bevy of well-wishes and expressions of gratitude rained down on the mid-day event, most of which gave thanks to president Steve Wilson, who is retiring after eight years.

“An organization is only as good as its people,” Wilson said. “I’ve been very, very blessed to work with the best people I ever could have hoped for. It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve all of you.”

The event recognizes Chamber members’ and employees’ work, sponsors’ investments and upcoming changes from the previous year. Known as “the passing of the gavel,” Chamber executives gave their thanks, presented end-of-year awards and spoke about strategies and themes in the year ahead.

“It’s been an honor to serve as chairman of your board,” outgoing chairman Brent Lyles said before being handed the Chamber’s Volunteer Of The Year award. “Thank you for allowing me to serve. I’m confident our new CEO will lead us into a new future that is bound to see change. But change cannot be for the sake of change...I’m excited for the direction our Chamber is headed.”

Rick Rasmussen, CEO of Northwest Specialty Health, was named Citizen of the Year, the award given for commitment to volunteerism, generosity and service.

“I usually like to talk,” he joked to the crowd as he choked up, “but I don’t know what to say. I love this community. My dad’s smiling down on me right now.”

The annual meeting tends to attract a big crowd. This year, more than 250 people attended, a number Wilson said was a record for the annual lunch.

“I’ve talked to this group as part of the board,” Kootenai County Commissioner and attendee Bill Brooks said during intermission. “They’re the most active people in our community I’ve ever been around. They’re not movers and shakers; they’re doers. This is a really healthy business chamber, and it’s because of the people in this room.”

Incoming chairwoman Heidi Rogers foretold a future that includes boosting membership, encouraging member involvement in the community and enjoying what she described as return on relationship.

“I do love Coeur d’Alene,” she told the audience, “and I’m so proud to call it home. I look forward to serving you and the community.”

Wednesday’s luncheon was also an opportunity for members to welcome Derrell Hartwick, who will assume Wilson’s CEO duties Dec. 1. Hartwick said his new job is burned into his DNA.

“I can truthfully say this is a dream opportunity for me,” he said. “I am so, so excited to be here.”

The Arkansas native urged Chamber growth through new membership, retention and establishing new events, adding the best course he can take right away is to listen and engage with Chamber members.

“This chamber works for the community,” he said. “We’re here to listen. We’re not here to reply. We’re here to listen.”

Weaved into his introduction was a story about his father — a Chamber executive in his own right — who once applied for a job but was turned away by a CEO because the position his father sought was already filled. Later, while waiting for the bus, his father picked up a scrap of litter and threw it away. It was a scrap of paper 50 other passersby had ignored, but a scrap of paper the CEO happened to observe Hartwick’s father pick up, prompting the executive to call him back into his office.

“That CEO said, ‘We’ll find you a job,’” Hartwick said, “‘because you took the initiative. You took that extra step.’ That’s where the difference is. The difference is you. It’s everybody in this room. The Coeur d’Alene Chamber is going to pick up that paper and take that extra step for you.’”

Wilson then closed the day with a smile. “I think you’re going to be in great shape,” he told the Chamber.