CHAMBER TO HONOR TOM ROOHAN AS RECIPIENT OF 2019
JOSEPH DALTON COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD
Award to be presented at Chamber’s 101^st Annual Meeting, on January 24, 2019
 
Saratoga Springs, NY – The Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce today announced that Tom Roohan, the Principal Broker and President of Roohan Realty, has been selected to receive the 2019 Joseph Dalton Community Service Award.
 
Mr. Roohan is just the second person to be presented with this award by the Chamber. The first-award was presented at the Chamber’s 100th Annual Dinner, in January 2018, to Steve “Sully” Sullivan, the owner of the Olde Bryan Inn and Longfellows Inn & Conference Center. As is now tradition, Mr. Roohan will be presented with this award at the Chamber’s 101st Annual Dinner, at the Saratoga Springs City Center, on Thursday, January 24, 2019.
 
“Like Joe Dalton who served as the Chamber’s President from 1970 until 2010, we asked the community to nominate individuals who have proven by their actions to be honorable, ready, relevant, innovative and versatile always doing what is right for the community,” said Brian Straughter, Chair of the Chamber’s Board of Directors and the President of Turf Hotels. “We were looking to honor and recognize people who for more than 25 years have been forward deployed meaning they’ve contributed to the community by volunteering their time, energy, and expertise not just their money. Clearly, Steve “Sully” Sullivan and Tom Roohan met this award criteria and are so very deserving of this special recognition.” 
 
Tom Roohan has volunteered for dozens of organizations over the past 40 years with his first volunteer experience coming as a life guard for the Saratoga YMCA, in 1971. Mr. Roohan’s first leadership role as a volunteer was when he volunteered to be a Bingo Captain for Saratoga Central High School coordinating monthly bingo tournaments to raise money for the school. Just recently, he was honored by the American Red Cross as a Real Hero for donating 94 pints of blood and encouraging other family, friends, and coworkers to join him at local blood donation events.
 
Mr. Roohan currently volunteers on the Saratoga Hospital Board of Directors, the NYRA Local Advisory Board and the Saratoga Springs Special Assessment District. He is currently the volunteer Chair of both the Luther Forest Technology Campus and the Saratoga Springs City Center Authority. He is a Past President of the Saratoga Central High School Board of Directors; a Past President of the Saratoga Hospital Foundation; a Past President of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick; a member of the Saratoga County Planning Board; a YMCA Trustee; and was named the 1998 Leadership Saratoga Distinguished Alumni award winner.
 
Born and raised in Saratoga Springs, Mr. Roohan studied Civil Engineering at Norwich University before becoming a second-generation fixture in his family’s real estate business. With more than 35 years of experience in the real estate industry, Mr. Roohan’s career has included award-winning historic renovation and urban development projects, and past honors as REALTOR® of the Year (1989) and President of the Saratoga County Association of REALTORS® (1989-90). He was recently named the 2018 REALTOR® of the Year by the Greater Capital Region Association of REALTORS® (GCAR).
 
“We’re excited to present this special award to Tom Roohan as we kick off the Chamber’s next century of community leadership at our January 24th Annual Dinner,” added Straughter. “Personally, Tom is one of those local volunteer leaders and business owners that I admire and respect immensely because he is always so giving of his time to so many causes, organizations, and individuals. Like Sully, he is a servant leader who is ready to lead the charge if something needs to be done to help others or to improve this amazing community.”
 
About the Joseph Dalton Community Service Award:
 
Joseph Dalton was the President of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce for 40-years, from 1970 to 2010 when he retired. When he first took over the organization, the Chamber had 300 members and today boasts more than 2,000. The Chamber during Dalton’s tenure was instrumental in creating and implementing the City of Saratoga Springs’s Plan of Action that has revitalized downtown Saratoga Springs. Mr. Dalton worked closely with Ed Lewi Associates and NYRA to rebuild interest and visitation to the Saratoga Race Course, which now boasts the highest attendance figures for any race meeting in the United States. The Chamber also played key roles in the creation of the Saratoga Economic Development Corporation, the Luther Forest Tech Park, and the Saratoga Convention and Tourism Bureau. After 9/11, Mr. Dalton led the effort in Saratoga Springs to offer a free weekend respite in the City to hundreds of first-responders and their families.
 
“As we looked back at the accomplishments of the Saratoga County Chamber over the past 100 years, the work done during Joe’s tenure accounted for the vast majority of the top achievements,” said Todd Shimkus, President of the Saratoga County Chamber. “Joe led this organization for 40 percent of the time our Chamber has been in existence and the work he did has helped establish Saratoga County as one of the best places in the US to live, work and play. We thought the creation of the Joseph Dalton Community Service Award was a perfect way to honor our past, to recognize Joe’s amazing contributions, and to pay all of this forward by honoring other “servant leaders” at every one of our future Annual Dinners.”
 
The presentation of the Joseph Dalton Community Service Award is now an annual part of the Chamber’s Annual Dinner. Starting with this award in 2019, the Chamber released the award criteria in the fall and solicited nominations from the general public. The award itself includes a personal note from Joe Dalton to the award recipient.