Ferry celebrates culture of success

MARTINS FERRY -- The Martins Ferry Chamber of Commerce celebrated community spirit and efforts to cultivate a culture of success during its second annual fall dinner Thursday at the Veterans Memorial Recreation Center.

Unified Bank was honored with the Business Achievement Award, and keynote speaker Derek Army, head coach of the Wheeling Nailers, shared his experiences of teamwork and determination.

"You believe in yourself, you trust yourself and you get that group of people around you," Army said.

Army said he was honored for the chance to speak to Martins Ferry's business leaders and hoped to make an impact.

He shared his history of coming from a sports family and his experiences as a player before moving to the coaching role. He spoke about building mental toughness in pursuing his goals during difficult times, as well as the importance of fostering a "culture of winning."

"Culture is everything, and loving what you do and making sure everyone knows you love what you do. It rubs off on everyone around you and it breeds this culture of everyone being a family. That's something I want to stress in being part of the community," he said.

Army added that his radio manager, D.J. Abisalih, is from Martins Ferry and Army takes pride in the Ohio Valley communities.

"Any one of these areas I want to help and contribute as much as I can," Army said. "It's an awesome event, and I'm just happy to be a part of it."

Paul Stecker, president of the Martins Ferry Chamber of Commerce, said this marked the second annual dinner and offers a chance to both show appreciation for member businesses and to attract potential new members by sharing the opportunity to network. He stressed the benefits of networking and cooperation in a small community.

"It's a good opportunity to get out and meet people," Stecker said, adding that there is potential despite economic concerns and the recent pandemic.

"Martins Ferry has actually grown during COVID. Coming out of COVID, we had 13 new businesses and we continue to expand," he said.

Stecker said the reopening of East Ohio Regional Hospital has been a driver for ancillary businesses.

"With all the expansion going on, we're really positioned for a lot of future growth," Stecker said.

He also commended Unified Bank.

"Unified is the epitome of a community partner. They support not only the chamber of commerce — they are one of our major supporters — but they support Project Forward, they support the Lions Club, they support Civics, really all the groups within Martins Ferry and the city itself, so we wanted to honor them for being there for all of us," Stecker said.

He added Army's message is also invaluable.

"A lot of lessons from the sports world can translate into the business world," he said.

"We try to stay as involved as much as possible," Stacy Carpino, retail banking executive speaking on behalf of the bank, said.

She added that Unified Bank has a policy of community involvement and supporting surrounding municipalities to better serve the customers. She said having a bank represented in community organizations can provide a resource for business leaders interested in growth.

"Our culture is to create better lives and futures for the people in the communities that we proudly serve," she said.

"Coming here, we can talk to other area businesses, find out what they want," she said. "We have products we can offer to really enrich their businesses. ... Since COVID I think a lot of businesses really face some cash flow problems and maybe they had to close their doors and not continue with their business profitability the way they wanted to. Being a part of the bank, we're able to show them products and services. It's not necessarily all about loans."

For more information about the chamber of commerce, call 740-633-2565 or visit its Facebook page. The chamber office is located at 108 South Zane Highway.

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