A SPECIAL OCCASION — At its annual dinner Wednesday, the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce presented its Lifetime Achievement Award to Ann Quillen and its Ambassador of the Year honor to Melanie DiCarlo. Participants in the dinner included, from left, front: Quillen, guest speaker Nick Bressler, Chamber President Kate Sedgmer and DiCarlo; and back: Immediate Past Chairman John Cucarese. -- Warren Scott

WINTERSVILLE — Members of the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce Wednesday honored two for their service to the community and heard from the founder of a local company that has served companies and government entities throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Gathered at St. Florian Hall for the chamber’s 114th-annual dinner, the group applauded the selection of Ann Quillen for its lifetime achievement award and Melanie DiCarlo as its Ambassador of the Year.

In introducing Quillen, John Cucarese, the chamber’s immediate past chairman, noted her leadership of the Ohio Valley Health Center, which has served more than 4,000 patients since it opened in 2006.

Cucarese added Quillen introduced programs addressing diabetes and hypertension, screenings for colorectal, breast and cervical cancer; and weekly outreaches to area homeless shelters.

He added she made the center available for the training of future nurse practitioners having served as a nurse herself to children with special needs, in an inner-city pediatrician’s office and a group home for mentally impaired adults, among other settings.

Cucarese also noted Quillen’s fundraising efforts for the center, raising more than $1.5 million in donations and grants, as well as other organizations while remaining active at Wintersville United Methodist Church, where her husband, Clint, is pastor.

In accepting the honor, Quillen was quick to share credit for such successes with the center’s staff, board and many supporters.

“There should be many other people standing up here with me,” she told attendees, adding it’s through teamwork and God given talents that such accomplishments are possible.

Quillen also shared this advice, from John Wesley, originator of the Methodist church: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”

Following the dinner, the Canton native said she and her husband have been happy to call the Ohio Valley home for 30 years and she’s been grateful to have played a part in providing health care to people who can’t afford it.

Quillen said of her work at the center, “Every day is about changing people’s lives and saving people’s lives. What a great thing to be a part of. What a privilege.”

Chamber President Kate Sedgmer noted DiCarlo was chosen from the many chamber ambassadors who assist with the organization’s various events and represent it at various functions.

Sedgmer said DiCarlo, who serves as director of articulation and transfer and tech prep coordinator for Eastern Gateway Community College, often had worked behind the scenes, seeing to various activities run smoothly.

She said among them was a new event held by the chamber, a career fair involving more than 1,000 high school students from three counties.

In her first year as the chamber’s president, Sedgmer said she sought input from chamber members and other community leaders for the organizations’ future goals and from that developed the theme, “Catching the Entrepreneurial Spirit.”

She said it’s vital the chamber encourage students and young professionals to consider becoming the next generation of business leaders that will serve as a base for the local economy.

On hand to tell of his own road to becoming an entrepreneur was Nick Bressler, co-founder and director of operations for World International Testing Co.

A 1976 graduate of Steubenville High School, Bressler said he’d enjoyed scuba diving as a hobby while attending Ohio State University but never anticipated it would play a key role in his future career.

He said following graduation from OSU in 1981, he and his brother had ventured into real estate, fixing homes for resale, in his hometown when he met a man who inspected crane hooks at Weirton Steel.

The man remarked that the steel mill required inspections for many of its facilities, and the tip evolved into a 37-year-old business that has inspected bridges, water tanks, cranes and other structures and equipment for clients ranging from NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense to the Ford Motor Co. and American Electric Power.

Bressler told attendees whether they are flipping a light switch in their home, turning a faucet for water or crossing a bridge in their vehicle, there’s a good chance World International Testing has played a role in testing the facilities behind such conveniences.

He said today the company has offices in Steubenville, Washington, D.C., and North Carolina but its start was a rocky one.

With little experience behind them, they couldn’t obtain insurance until they approached the McGowan Insurance Agency following a suggestion by their mother, an Italian immigrant who had mended the owner’s clothes.

Bressler said the company’s name was chosen to imply it was much larger than it was and while operating from a unit in the apartment building they owned, they identified it as a suite to support that impression.

Bressler became known as a problem-solver when faced with unusual circumstances. When an intake from the Ohio River in Wellsburg became clogged with mussels and leaves and the water below was too filled with debris to use a boat, he placed cinder blocks on each arm to weigh himself down and entered the water to clear the blockage.

Bressler said the company now uses modern technology, including remotely controlled small robots and drones, for underwater inspections, and he hasn’t done any diving in three years.

“What really gives us a lot of pride is the people we’ve helped,” he said while noting that ensuring facilities and equipment are safe saves companies and government entities millions, and possibly billions, of dollars.

“We’ll never know how many lives we’ve saved,” Bressler added.

He also expressed thanks to many in the Ohio Valley who supported the fledgling company in various ways, including Domenick Mucci, who provided printing services free of charge.

“None of this would have been possible if not for the support of this community when we started,” said Bressler.

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