Connecticut River Valley Chamber of Commerce Celebrates 10 Years

Annual meeting includes members from Glastonbury, East Hartford, Marlborough and Hebron

Submitted by the Connecticut River Valley Chamber of Commerce

The Connecticut River Valley Chamber of Commerce will celebrate a decade of collaboration and growth - with more than 580 members from Glastonbury, East Hartford Marlborough and Hebron - at the Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Hangar Museum in East Hartford March 3.

The chamber recognizes the following individuals for the exemplary leadership, accomplishments and unyielding dedication in their professional roles and beyond. Each of our award recipients have gone the extra mile to make their communities a better, more prosperous place to live and work in.

Here’s a look at the 2025 award winners:

Business Person of the Year

David Wood, a pioneer in the financial services industry, founded Gateway Financial Partners in 1994 and continues to guide the firm as its Chief Visionary Officer. With decades of experience, he is known for his entrepreneurial leadership, keen eye for growth opportunities, and innovative strategies that help independent practices thrive.

Through bold thinking and trusted leadership, David remains deeply focused on advisor success, whether he’s speaking on national stages or engaging in one-on-one conversations. Beyond the firm, he is an active voice in the industry and community, serving on the board of Females & Finance, signing The Fearless Pledge, and regularly sharing insights at leading conferences and in top financial publications.

Ambassador of the Year

Melissa Wooldridge Breton is a 21^st century Nightingale, dedicating her life work to the art and science of nursing. Melissa's gift is caring personally and caring professionally. Listening with heart, having compassion, and by combining advanced holistic nursing with ancient wisdom traditions, Melissa is able to meet you wherever you are on your healing-growth-recovery journey heart-mind-body-spirit.

Melissa's private practice, ECLIPSE Holistic Living in Glastonbury, is a co-creative healing arts studio, a sacredness of place for you to come and enter-in your most authentic form to join in community with like-minded women, practitioners, artists, and luminaries. ECLIPSE has been purposefully curated using a neutral color palette, raw materials, and hardwoods to bring the outdoors inside. Every detail invites grounding, expansion, and belonging. You are welcome here to explore, discover, heal, restore, renew, re-pattern, learn, and grow. Melissa's intention is to embrace you in a nurturing, compassionate environment where you feel seen, heard, and power-full!

Healing is not linear; it is a spiral dance of remembering who we are. Supporting you on your path, Melissa approaches each moment with gratitude, reverence, and an open heart. Melissa looks forward to walking alongside you, evolving in human-well-becoming!

President’s Award

Eric Lopkin didn’t just start a company. The Modern Observer Group isn’t your standard coaching firm — it’s a powerhouse built on Human Centered Achievement, a system he created that puts people at the center of success, in the office and at home.

He’s an international best-selling author, a high-impact business coach and consultant, a voice behind the mic and a producer behind the scenes of numerous podcasts, and a stage-commanding speaker. Eric utilizes over 35 years of multi-faceted experience to turn insight into action. He helps his clients crush limits, build a bulletproof mindset, and create massive results.

Melody Currey Memorial Award

Heather Summerer spent more than 27 years with Pratt & Whitney and three years with parent company, RTX, one of the largest defense contractors in the world. She has a wide variety of experience in communications, spanning public affairs, corporate social responsibility, government relations, crisis communications, brand and strategic events, social media, media relations and executive/employee communications.

Heather served on the East Hartford Chamber of Commerce from 2007-2014, serving as Chair from 2011-2013. She also served on the Metro Hartford Alliance Executive Board and the Executive Board of the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce. She currently serves as a Trustee for the Connecticut River Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Heather's love of the East Hartford community spans decades. Coordinating Pratt & Whitney's engagement and charitable giving on projects such as, acquiring an engine nacelle to be fabricated into the doorway of the children's library, the snowflakes along Main St., funds for the East Hartford High School scoreboard, the naming of Pratt & Whitney Stadium, investment in the senior center and Trunk or Treat are just a few of the community efforts she remembers fondly.

Heather ensured funding for educational efforts including sending all middle school students to the New England Air Museum for the SOAR program, Junior Achievement programs and volunteers for all fifth graders and supporting Goodwin University on land acquisitions and funding for manufacturing programs. Heather retired in 2025 and looks forward to staying in engaged with the community.