Staff Reports
Collierville recently celebrated two winners of the 2021 Excellence in Business Awards presented by the Collierville Chamber of Commerce.
Town Administrator James Lewellen was named “Person of the Year” and the Collierville Police Department received the “Bridging the Gap” award.
The event opened with the presentation of colors from the Collierville Police Department Honor Guard and a keynote from Gov. Bill Lee. The opening was followed by multiple awards for businesses that impact the Collierville community.
In a teaser video leading up the announcement of the person of the year, Mayor Stan Joyner shared, “this person came here in 1995 and we did our best to keep him here.”
The mayor continued, pointing out that Lewellen’s leadership significantly contributed to the Collierville we see today. After 26 years as the Town Administrator, Lewellen will be retiring this July.
When Lewellen was asked to receive his award onstage, he was greeted with a standing ovation from the crowd of business leaders and government representatives in the room. As an added surprise, emcee Andrew Douglas, of WMCTV 5, pointed out Lewellen’s children in the crowd who managed to keep their presence a secret for their dad’s big night.
Lewellen credited the Board of Mayor and Aldermen and town staff who have worked alongside him for the accomplishments that Collierville has made over the last few decades.
He then directed his remarks to his children saying, “remember what can be accomplished with hard work and courage. Anything you do requires hard work. You also have to have the courage to take credit for other people’s work.”
His joke had the entire room laughing.
The surprises kept coming, as Congressman David Kustoff announced the Collierville Police Department as the winner of the Bridging the Gap award; an exclusive achievement designed to honor an admirable organization that went above and beyond to serve its community.
The Congressman applauded the police department for their bravery during the Sept. 23, 2021 tragedy at Kroger.
Police Chief Dale Lane accepted the award and was joined onstage by members of his command staff.
Chief Lane thanked the entire Collierville community for their resiliency and the rest of the police department who weren’t with him on stage.
