 |
|
|
|
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Success Factor: Kim Brodnik, one of the owners of Kirkorian Enterprises, LLC, has been named citizen of the year by the Campbell Chamber of Commerce.
Public Citizen
Kim Brodnik is chosen as 2002 Campbell Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year
By Moryt Milo
For her dedicated community service and caring attitude about children and nonprofit organizations, Campbell businesswoman Kim Brodnik has been chosen as the 2002 Chamber of Commerce citizen of the year.
The chamber gave its highest award to the 40-year-old Brodnik Jan. 16. It will also honor her during a dinner March 23 at the Campbell Community Center.
"If one-third of our members in the Chamber and the community were as outstanding as Kim, Campbell could set the world on fire," Campbell Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Betty Deal says.
A big supporter of Campbell Schools, in the 1990s, Brodnik volunteered her time at Blackford High School's Writing-to-Read program, while her business actively sponsored the phone book directory at Latimer and Rosemary Elementary schools.
Recently, Brodnik became involved with the Big Brothers- Big Sisters program that mentors children in the Campbell Union School District.
During the last six months, she agreed to chair the major gift campaign for Big Brothers - Big Sisters.
After graduating in 1985 from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, she began working in her grandfather's business, Kirkorian Enterprises, but her interest in the community was immediate. Two years later she joined the Campbell Chamber of Commerce and served as Chamber president from 1988 to 1989.
Campbell Mayor Jeanette Watson says Brodnik is only the second woman to serve as the chamber's president. Watson was the first.
Brodnik and her family have been longtime members of the Campbell community. Her family's Campbell legacy began 50 years ago, with grandfather Ira Kirkorian.
Her father, Kent Kirkorian, says, "My dad had an option to buy land in San Jose or Campbell in the 1950s, and he chose Campbell after working in the canneries, during the 1930s, because he was familiar with the area."
Ira, a rancher from Fresno, purchased 33 acres of pear orchards in Campbell. In the 1960s, he developed the land into the Kirkwood Plaza.
Forty years later, Brodnik says, "We want the [plaza] to be known as the shopping center that cares about the community."
One of the many ways Brodnik achieves this objective is by sponsoring town events like the annual Eggstravaganza at the Campbell Community Center, with the help of the Campbell Kiwanis Club.
Another event, which Kirkorian Enterprises has actively promoted for the past six years, is the American Heart Association's Monopoly Night at the De Anza Hotel in downtown San Jose. This year Brodnik is also the event's chairwoman.
Her continuing desire to help improve the well-being of others in the community is what earned her this year's citizen of the year award.
Brodnik doesn't see her world slowing down anytime soon and credits the understanding of her family and her solid core of employees as key factors in finding the time she needs for all her extra projects.
|
|
|
|
Campbell, California
