By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

AKRON — Orville Haney wants to share how “wonderful” his hometown of Akron is.

“I just want to get the word out about how wonderful of a town we have,” he said. “I think as Midwesterners we do not toot our horn. We are humble, and everyone will benefit in our town from people knowing how good it is.”

Haney, who lives just outside Akron, was named the Akron Chamber of Commerce president in December. That follows his serving as vice president.

Orville Haney

He noted he chose to originally become involved with the chamber due to planning to move his real estate office to Akron and desiring “to highlight Akron as a wonderful place to be.”

Haney is a 1998 Tippecanoe Valley High School graduate and obtained his bachelor’s degree in animal sciences from Purdue University in 2002.

He was later recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of both schools.

Haney first worked in agriculture, including at his family’s dairy farm and Maple Leaf Farms.

He received the state Young Farmer Achievement Award from Indiana Farm Bureau in 2011, followed by being named as the one of the American Farm Bureau’s top 10 Young Farmers and Ranchers in 2012.

In 2013, Haney served as Indiana Farm Bureau’s state Young Farmer Committee president.

After graduating from Beer School of Real Estate and getting his broker’s license, Haney entered the real estate field.

He runs Haney Real Estate Services LLC and is involved with Homes, Land and Lakes Realty.

As he starts out as chamber president, Haney noted former chamber president DeLynn Geiger and his wife, former chamber secretary Lori Tilden-Geiger, have been “great mentors.”

He said they’ve “instilled in me what their vision was when they took the initiative to revitalize the board and it is (chamber leadership’s) full intention to build upon that.”

Haney said he and other chamber leadership are working to make operations as transparent as possible for members.

As chamber president, Haney said “it’s an honor” to serve his neighbors.

“Growing up local, I got to do business with a lot of the existing businesses and to be a part of enhancing them or our livelihood as a whole is a real honor because they’re my neighbors I’ve looked up to,” he said. “It’s important to me to make things better for them on the homefront.”

“As a majority, people in Akron honor God and that keeps us in good favor and I see that continuing,” he added. “There are so many good people in Akron that it’s hard not to walk away a better person when you get to deal with them.”

Haney is married to Kendra Haney, and they have five children.