CEO Tim Suter named outstanding citizen by Sycamore Chamber of Commerce

SYCAMORE – Heidi Wright told a room of 361 people Thursday how The Suter Company President and CEO Tim Suter interviewed her for her job 14 years ago wearing jeans and tennis shoes.

She told them they wouldn’t hear him talk about his role in founding a water project in Mozambique about 10 years ago, and she told the crowd how he honed his humble, quiet style by defining his values rather than following others’ leadership rules.

Wright, who is The Suter Company’s vice president of marketing and sales, also said he doesn’t really seek recognition.

“If you look at him right now, he is not looking really comfortable,” she joked.

Indeed, Suter paused for a long moment, as if composing himself, before he accepted the Sycamore Chamber of Commerce’s Clifford Danielson Outstanding Citizen Award. The honor was the first of five awards presented at the chamber’s annual meeting, which also marked the organization’s 100th anniversary.

As he listened to Wright speak, Suter later said, he was thinking he had picked the right person to introduce him; he appreciated her mix of
personal and professional stories. When he accepted the award, he thanked the company's six top leaders and the other brains behind the operation.

“They allow me to be able to go out in our community and be able to spend the time that I do doing what I do,” Suter said, “because I know I absolutely trust what’s going on and our business is being run by six people who are just absolutely outstanding in their fields and are committed not only to the company but to the community in their own right.”

Suter became president of the Sycamore-based food-processing company at age 27. He is president of the DeKalb County Community Foundation Board of Directors and a member of the Board of Directors for the National Bank & Trust Co. The award he won is named in honor of Clifford Danielson, who was president and chairman of The National Bank & Trust Co. and active in the community for nearly 70 years.

On Thursday, Suter also paid tribute to his parents, mentioning how his father sat him down for a talk about community when he was about 10 years old.

“He taught me that the backbone of a great community is the generosity of its people,” Suter said. “He taught me moreso that when a family needs help in a community that they should be able to look to their neighbors. They should be able to look to their church. ... That’s the way I was raised, and that’s the way I’ve tried to live my life.”

Greg Howells, COO of School Tool Box, founded the Make a Difference DKC food packing event that Suter and The Suter Company took leadership of in 2013. The event packages and donates food for malnourished children abroad through Feed My Starving Children.

“He is so deserving of this award,” Howells said. “He is the most humble, loving, big-hearted servant I know. ... You don’t meet men like him very often.”

The event also highlighted the chamber’s accomplishments in the past year.

Chamber board President Karen Pletsch, who is publisher of the Daily Chronicle, said the organization grew from 15 members in 1915 to 514 members last year, exceeding its goal for the year.

Chamber leaders launched a mentoring program to help new members learn how the chamber could help them succeed. The academy to help professionals develop their leadership skills and knowledge of Sycamore had nine graduates in 2014, and 15 people have enrolled this year.