BENNETT AND DANSIZEN NAMED TO LEADERSHIP ROLES

FOR 2009 PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME ENSHRINEMENT FESTIVAL; 2009 Pro Football HOFEF Schedule Announced

 

The Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce and Pro Football Hall of Fame have named two long-time community volunteers to leadership positions for the 2009 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival. The world-renowned festival will celebrate the annual enshrinement of football players, coaches, and contributors into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, “America’s Premier Sports Museum and Showplace!”

 

Barbara Hammontree Bennett, partner and secretary/treasurer of Hammontree & Associates, Limited, will serve as general chairman of the Enshrinement Festival activities planned by the Enshrinement Festival department of the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce. Ken Dansizen, owner, Dansizen Architects, will serve as general chairman of the Enshrinement Festival activities planned by the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

 

With the 2008 Enshrinement Festival just a few months behind them, strategic planning for the 2009 Enshrinement Festival is already well underway. The collaborative efforts of this leadership team, combined with the professional staffs at the Chamber of Commerce and the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the dedicated team of more than 4,200 extraordinary community volunteers, will ensure the success of 15 unique and diverse events over a ten-day period tentatively scheduled for July 31 through Aug. 9, 2009. Click here for a tentative schedule of events. The Festival activities, attended by nearly 700,000 people, are expected to produce an economic impact of nearly $30 million for the Canton/Stark County area and $50 million for the State of Ohio. In addition, millions will experience aspects of the Enshrinement Festival as events are televised and covered by other media. With a record of success for the past 45 years, the Enshrinement Festival has earned its reputation as “A One of a Kind Celebration!”

 

Bennett will lead the chairmen of 26 Chamber of Commerce committees who hold in excess of 350 meetings throughout the year to plan and implement several Enshrinement Festival events. She is a native of Stark County and a graduate of Canton Central Catholic High and the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. Just a few short years after college, she returned to her roots in Canton where she joined the family civil engineering and surveying business of Hammontree & Associates, Limited. She is a registered engineer in Ohio and five other states, and is a registered surveyor in the State of Ohio, is a member of the Canton Regional, Ohio and National Societies of Professional Engineers, as well as the American Society of Civil Engineers. Named Associate of the Year by the Stark County Building Industrial Association in 1997 and 2003, she has also chaired several of the association’s committees. A 1990 graduate of Leadership Stark County, she served as 2004 chairman of the board of trustees of the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce, and currently serves on the Walsh University board of advisors, Aultman Health Foundation board and executive committee and developer’s council chair of the Ohio Homebuilder’s Association. In addition, she serves as an appointee of the Governor on the Ohio Rail Development Commission. Bennett resides in North Canton with her two children and husband Keith, who is also a registered engineer and surveyor and currently president of Hammontree & Associates, Limited.

 

Dansizen will lead the Pro Football Hall of Fame committees in planning and implementing other Enshrinement Festival events, including the central focus of the entire Festival, the Enshrinement Ceremony itself, as well as the NFL/Hall of Fame Game and the First Play event. There are currently 247 members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the 2009 Class will be announced Jan. 31 during Super Bowl weekend. Dansizen also will lead the committees that assist the Pro Football Hall of Fame in providing hospitality to the 2009 Enshrinees, the returning Hall of Famers and their families. He is a graduate of Kent State University, and 2009 marks his ninth consecutive year of lending his enthusiasm and expertise to the Hall’s general chairman position. A registered architect in the State of Ohio, he is a board member of North Canton Public Library and North Canton TAP (Talk About Potential) committee and a Paul Harris Fellow in North Canton Rotary Club. Dansizen is past president of North Canton Chamber of Commerce and North Canton Public Library. He and his wife, Joan, reside in North Canton, are the parents of four children and the grandparents of five. 

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