Durham’s reputation as an innovative, forward-thinking community has surpassed the boundaries of the Triangle, North Carolina and even the United States. Durham has gone global. We’re making an impact around the world and so it’s only befitting that this year’s Annual Meeting highlight Durham’s world-class business community. Hear about all of the fascinating discoveries that are happening in our own backyard and are changing the face of the planet.

We’ll present the Civic Honor Award to a business leader who has helped put Durham on the map, and we’ll honor three Durham residents whose work is keeping Durham there. Join us!

You will want to be here.

About the Honorees:
 
Civic Honor Award
 
Robert D. Teer, Jr., president of Teer Associates, has dedicated his life’s work to building a better Durham. His family legacy is entrenched in the history of Durham. Continuing that legacy, Mr. Teer has been an integral part of the growth and development of the Research Triangle Park in Durham. Teer’s commercial development total nearly four million square feet and includes some of the RTP’s most iconic and recognizable buildings.
 
 
Bull City Hall of Fame
 
Mary-Dell Chilton, Ph.D. was named a laureate of the prestigious 2013 World Food Prize. The prize is the foremost international award recognizing individuals who have enhanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. Dr. Chilton founded Syngenta's biotech research center at Research Triangle Park in 1984 and is today a Distinguished Science Fellow of Syngenta Biotechnology Inc. 
 
Robert J. Lefkowitz MD, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator who has spent his entire research career at the Duke University Medical Center, received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2012. Dr. Lefkowitz’s discoveries on cell receptors are revolutionizing drug development. His findings about how the body’s cells sense outside signals opened the door to medicines that are more effective and less likely to cause side effects.
 
Blake S. Wilson D.Sc., a pioneer in the development of cochlear implants who serves as a co-director of the Duke Hearing Center, received the 2013 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award. Wilson’s work played a critical role in developing the device that restores hearing to individuals with profound deafness.