Kampa Gerbi fosters a culture of relationships and caring in community

Independent agency named as Little Falls Chamber’s Small Business of the Year
When Paula Kampa heard the news, she cried, and she was speechless. Odd for her, she said.

The tears of joy and gratitude were shed when she heard that the business she co-owns, Kampa Gerbi and Associates Insurance Agency, was chosen by the Little Falls Area Chamber of Commerce as the “Small Business of the Year” for 2022.

Her co-owner, Mark Gerbi, who retired April 1, joked when he heard the news, he wondered how he could now go after the “Large Business of the Year Award.” After all, he had already been named Employee of the year, in 2007, the first year the Chamber implemented the program.

The insurance agency was nominated by Deb Boelz, past president and CEO of the Chamber.

In addition to saying Kampa and Gerbi had been very active members of the community for all of the years they’ve been in business, “Mark and Paula have been on the Board of Directors and have either personally, or through their employees, been on every committee that the Chamber has,” she wrote.

In addition, the agency has sponsored events over the years and is in attendance at many Chamber events, Boelz said.

And the two have indeed been involved on nearly every committee, making it difficult to list all of them.

Gerbi said when he first joined the Chamber, Dave Hochhalter was the president/CEO. Gerbi wanted to join a committee — and Hochhalter told him that committee was full, and suggested another committee

“But I don’t know anyone on that committee,” Gerbi recalls saying.

“Exactly,” Hochhalter had told him.

In addition, Gerbi is a member of the Little Falls School Board, a member on the boards of the Economic Development Authority and Rural Financial Development for Community Development of Morrison County.

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