A glass-ceiling-shattering marketing, branding and public relations business, a technology entrepreneur and a couple who have dedicated their lives to saving the lives of others will be honored by the Montcross Area Chamber of Commerce at its 64th Annual Celebration on March 21. The reception, silent auction, dinner and program will be in the Grand Hall at the Mount Holly Municipal Complex from 5:30 until 8 p.m.

The chamber annually presents a Business of the Year Award, an EPIC Award to an outstanding entrepreneur and the Harley B. Gaston, Jr. Public Service Award to recognize extraordinary community service. The award is named for an attorney and judge who was a founder of the Chamber in 1960.

Business of the Year: Receiving the Business of the Year Award will be Lyerly Agency, which was Charlotte’s first female-owned advertising, marketing, branding and public relations agency when it launched as Eve Communication Services in 1977 and went on to become one of the city’s leading agencies.

Sisters Elaine and Melia Lyerly of Cramerton moved their business to downtown Belmont in 2012, purchased and renovated a historic building on North Main Street and later bought and updated an adjoining building.

Both Elaine and Melia immediately became engaged in community service projects, dedicating their time and expertise to many organizations including Holy Angels, the Montcross Area Chamber of Commerce and others.

CEO Elaine Lyerly has been for many years a major supporter and project leader on a national and international level with the American Red Cross. COO Melia Lyerly has been a volunteer leader of the chamber, serving as a board member, board chair, membership campaign director and in many other capacities.

Lyerly Agency has won many state, national and international awards and was for many years the contracted marketing firm for the Belmont Tourism Authority, working to attract visitors to stay in local hotels and spend their money in local shops and restaurants.

EPIC Award: This award is presented annually to recognize one who is Entrepreneurial, Progressive, Innovative and Collaborative, and it goes this year to Marc R. Burns of Techtheon.

After working 15 years in Fortune 1000 IT consulting for IBM and other global IT services companies, Marc founded Techtheon in 2012, providing IT support and management for businesses from one employee to hundreds.

Marc has been a dedicated supporter of the chamber for many years serving multiple terms on the chamber board of directors, including on the executive committee as treasurer, and also on the chamber’s foundation board.

He conceived, researched and managed the technical requirements and installation of the chamber’s popular Belmont webcam, which has been viewed almost 10 million times on EarthCam.

Marc’s commitment to entrepreneurship includes helping others become entrepreneurs and working to create an environment in which entrepreneurs can thrive.

He served on a Small Business and Entrepreneur Committee the work of which resulted in the formation of the Gaston Innovation Group and establishment of TechWorks of Gaston County.



Working within the chamber, he developed several programs to promote entrepreneurship and to support entrepreneurs, including an Entrepreneur Roundtable, an Entrepreneur Summit and a LaunchPad competition in which aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a panel of judges.

Harley B. Gaston, Jr. Public Service Award: Tammy and Nazrul Chowdhury of Cramerton lost their 24-year-old son, Austin, to an accidental overdose of the synthetic opioid fentanyl in 2017. Since that tragedy, which occurred at their home in their son’s bedroom, they have worked tirelessly to prevent other young people and adults from dying in the same way. For their diligent work to save lives in a community where opioid overdoses and deaths are rapidly rising, Tammy and Nazrul Chowdhury will receive the chamber’s Harley B. Gaston, Jr. Public Service Award.

The Chowdhurys formed a non-profit organization and a website called Remembering Austin. On the site is information about Austin’s addiction and death, about the drug that took his life and about how parents can recognize the signs if their children are in danger of a similar fate. Working closely with the Gaston Controlled Substance Coalition, the Chowdhurys have done much more. Tammy and Nazrul do what her son no longer can by telling his story to as many students and adults as possible. In classrooms, gymnasiums, auditoriums, civic club assembly rooms, church fellowship halls, anywhere they can gather an audience, they tell Austin’s story. They tell it in tears, their hearts breaking again with each recounting, as listeners sit in stunned silence, many also shedding tears. An estimated 64,000 people die each year from a drug overdose, and fentanyl deaths are soaring across the country. Gaston County has one of the highest rates of opioid overdoses in North Carolina.

There is no more important story to be told here and across the country than the heart-rending story of Austin Chowdhury, and his parents are telling it over and over again. And by doing so, saving lives. Hear Austin’s story at: www.RememberingAustin.org.