Meet the nominees for the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce Charlemagne Award

The St. Charles Chamber of Commerce has major changes in store for the 57th annual Charlemagne Award ceremony.

The 2025 Charlemagne Awards Ceremony will be held Friday, May 2, at the Royal Fox Country Club in St. Charles.

The Charlemagne Award, established in 1968, is a lifetime achievement award given annually to one community member with a distinguished history of service to the city of St. Charles.

This year, the ceremony will be held in a new venue and, for the first time, community members will have a say in who receives the city’s highest honor.

In years past, the winner was selected in secret by the Chamber of Commerce and revealed during the awards ceremony. This year, however, community members nominated three candidates and a winner will be chosen by community members’ votes.

Bob Karas

Karas is the leading member of the Karas Restaurant Group, which operates 17 establishments in the area and has been serving Fox Valley communities since 1974.

Brian McNally

McNally is the owner and CEO of McNally’s Heating and Cooling, a company he started out of a van off Kirk Road and grew into a titan of the HVAC industry, and an integral supporter of St. Charles community events.

Charles Murphy

Murphy is the owner of Midwest Compost, member of the Chamber of Commerce and frequent volunteer at community events. While he is the only nominee to settle in St. Charles as an adult, the Iowa native developed the same love for the St. Charles community shared by everyone who chooses to raise their family in the pride of the fox.

Votes can be cast on the Chamber of Commerce website until April 15.

In addition to the new location and selection process,

The Chamber’s Executive Director Becky Greenlee said this year’s ceremony will be more of a celebration and less of a presentation. She said guests can expect the night to be shorter, with fewer awards given and fewer speeches, but more energy and dancing. She also promised some special surprises to honor the award’s history, plus an open bar.

Greenlee said the chamber made the decision to change the selection process for the award in order to increase community involvement, as well as to prolong the public recognition the winner would receive.

A limited number of seats are available, and are expected to sell out. Those wishing to attend should RSVP on the Chamber’s website as soon as possible.