CANFIELD — The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber saw 700 attendees get out bright and early for the Chamber’s annual meeting Thursday morning to celebrate the Mahoning Valley’s economic momentum.

The event honored local leaders and welcomed back a native daughter who shattered barriers in business and public service.

The event ran 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. at Waypoint 4180 in Canfield as audience members heard the Chamber reflect on 2025 accomplishments and honored local leaders with awards.

Chamber officials presented the Valley Champion Award to Jan Prisby Bryson, founder and chairwoman of Benchmark Management, an Atlanta-based engineering and construction services firm. Bryson grew up on Youngstown’s East Side, and during Thursday’s address, delivered the keynote speech.

She also received recognition as a trailblazer who advanced minority inclusion in government contracting and co-founded Women in Construction, Engineering and Related Services (WICERS). She has been honored with the Women Who Move the Nation Award by the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials.

The chamber presented the Spirit of the Valley Award to Eric Ryan, president and CEO of JAC Management Group, and the Spirit of the Chamber Award to Samuel Miller, president of Trumbull Industries Inc.

Guy Coviello, president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, described the morning as a success.

“We held our annual meeting today, looking back at our accomplishments in 2025, recognizing some of the best business leaders in the community,” Coviello said. “To think that almost 700 people got up at 7:30 in the morning to have breakfast with us is pretty impressive, and it’s very humbling for me to know that we have that much support out there.”

New data presented at the meeting underscored the region’s gains.

The Youngstown-Warren area ranked as the No. 1 hottest real estate market in the United States, according to Cotality, formerly CoreLogic. It also placed 23rd among 411 metropolitan statistical areas nationwide in Area Development magazine’s annual analysis of economic and business development, which ranked the area fifth among 91 Midwest MSAs and seventh among 123 medium-sized MSAs.

Local statistics reinforced the positive trends. According to a release from the Chamber, the region’s civilian labor force grew steadily from 188,000 in 2021 to 193,000 in 2024, according to data from the Federal Reserve Economic Data. The Youngstown metro area saw population increases of 0.28% in both 2024 and 2025, which the release said reversed decades of decline.

“These rankings show real progress in the Mahoning Valley,” Coviello said. “Our labor force is growing, population trends are favorable and national data is recognizing the strength of our housing market and economy. This is the result of collaboration.”He added that the region would not rest on its achievements: “This is further evidence that we’re building a stronger, more competitive region. But we’re not going to take a victory lap. We’re going to build on it.”

In her remarks Thursday, Bryson expressed deep gratitude for the honor and reflected on her journey from Youngstown.”It was truly an honor to be here today to receive this recognition from the Chamber of Commerce and the community that helped shape me and who I am today,” she said.

She credited her high school principal, Mr. Beach, whom she noted was 92 and still in touch with her after 50 years, for believing in her early on. Bryson spoke of leaving home in search of opportunity as a young person, facing setbacks and building success “inch by inch” through determination and resilience.

“Success is not always about titles or recognition,” she said to the audience. “It’s about becoming someone who keeps their word. It’s about showing kindness without looking for anything in return. … Roots do not hold you back. They give you something to rise from.”

She directed part of her message to young people that “Where you start does not limit how far you can go.”

Coviello talked about the contributions of the award recipients.

He credited Ryan with helping provide quality-of-life amenities that attract and retain residents, Miller with rolling out the red carpet for companies considering the region, and Bryson with serving as an inspiration, particularly for students in Youngstown city schools.

The chamber plans to build on the momentum in 2026 through initiatives focused on talent retention, population growth, housing development and partnerships with organizations such as JobsOhio and local economic development groups.

Coviello attributed recent gains to a combination of family-sustaining jobs, quality of life, affordability and a strong return on housing investment.

“We just need to continue to go through our strategic initiatives of growing talent, growing population, growing our housing stock,” he said, “so we can stay there for all the businesses that want to come and expand here, relocate here.”