Speaker announced for 2007 Blue Chip Award

Jason Hall Jason Hall, a quadriplegic since age 15, has been selected to be the keynote speaker for the 2007 Southwest Florida Blue Chip Community Business Award. Hall will help honor this year's winners Thursday, Nov. 8, during a breakfast in Collier County and luncheon in Lee County.

Coordinated and sponsored by Oswald Trippe and Company, the annual Blue Chip Award recognizes small businesses that have overcome adversity to achieve success.

Hall, 36, was 15 years old when a diving accident caused him to become paralyzed from the chest down. Told that he would never live away from home, attend college or be able to provide for himself, Hall was determined to overcome his disability.

In the fall of 1989, he entered Brigham Young University, on a full-tuition scholarship and was elected by the university's 30,000 students to be student body president. Upon graduation, Hall was recruited for a position at Mutual of New York as an insurance investment planner and became one of the youngest members of the Million Dollar Round Table, establishing himself as a part of the top five percent of those in his profession.

Then in November 1997, Hall again found his life threatened. En route to visit a client, he was involved in an automobile accident that nearly took his life. Hospitalized for over a year, followed by six years of therapy and over twenty surgeries, Hall once again learned the meaning of perseverance.

Lee or Collier county for-profit businesses that have been in operation for at least three years and employ five to 400 people are eligible for the awards. Applications, which must be submitted by Monday, Sept. 17, can be requested by calling Stacey Trippe at 985-7614. Independent judges will select one winning entry from Lee County and one from Collier County.