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The Danville Area Chamber of Commerce plans to stress the "area" part of its name going forward.

"What a great 'new beginning' feeling," said Marketing Committee Chairman Steve Wilcox last night at the 60th annual Installation of Officers and Directors held at Round Hill Country Club.

Wilcox urged everyone to check out the new Web site this morning - danvilleareachamber.com - to see the use of the new logo, which was unveiled at the dinner.

The colors in the new logo represent Mount Diablo in the various seasons. The new Web site names reflects the new mission to cover the region rather than just the Town of Danville, although the word "area" has been in the Chamber's name for a long time.

"Only about half of our 600 members come from within the town limits," said Chamber CEO Melony Newman. "Alamo, Blackhawk, San Ramon and other surrounding communities are well represented, and we wanted our new logo and Web site to reflect them as well as Danville."

Danville Mayor Candace Andersen installed the 2008 directors and officers, including Elaine Cortez Schroth of Bay Building Maintenance as chairwoman of the board. The new chairwoman elect is Karen Kehr of Smith Barney.

Outgoing chairwoman Diane Slater of First Republic Bank named Richard Wood of E-Paynow.com for the special Chairman's Award, saying his technical help has been invaluable to her, and it was always provided graciously.

Other awards presented were as follows:

• Business Person of the Year: Lori Sato, vice president and branch manager of Union Bank of California in Danville. She is currently a Chamber board member and is president of the Danville Rotary, and president-elect of Leadership San Ramon Valley. Also nominated were Joe Combs and Scott Heller.

• Citizen of the Year: Beverly Lane, who was instrumental in the incorporation of Danville, a former mayor and is currently a director of the East Bay Regional Park District. She is curator of the Museum of the San Ramon Valley, and has produced the book "Vintage Danville, 150 Year of Memories" for this year's sesquicentennial celebration. Also nominated were Joe Buenavista and Mark Curtis.

• Educator of the Year: Barbara Williams, a well-loved and highly respected teacher at Charlotte Wood Middle Middle School who said her passion for teaching U.S. history to middle school students has her still working at the age of 72. "They are a challenge and a joy," she said, and thanked everyone for sending their children to school eager to learn. Other nominees were Mike Marshall and Theresa Pierce.

The new Web site was designed by Dagaz Solutions.

"We've taken the Web site from 1997 to 2008," said Dagaz president Doug de Urioste. "Members can now control their personal business content, and our design incorporates the latest search engine optimization techniques."

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