Business Weekly E-Newsletter
May 26-30, 2008
June 3 Luncheon Will Honor Small Business Award Winners
The 18th Annual Arkansas Small Business Awards Luncheon hosted by the State Chamber/AIA and honoring the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Arkansas Small Business Persons of the Year, will be held at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, June 3, at the Embassy Suites in west Little Rock.
Phil Baldwin, chairman, president and CEO of Southern Bancorp, America’s largest rural development bank, will be the keynote speaker and Roby Brock, host of Talk Business, will be the master of ceremonies.
Individual tickets are $30 and reserved tables for eight are $225. To register for a ticket or a table, click here .
The winners of this year’s awards represent a wide variety of locations within the state including Ozark, Jonesboro, Pine Bluff, North Little Rock, Arkadelphia and Little Rock. The awards will include Small Business Persons of the Year, the Jeffrey Butland Family Owned Business of the Year, Financial Services Champion, Home-Based Business Champion, Minority Small Business Champion, Veteran Small Business Champion, Women in Business Champion, SBA Volume Lender, District Director’s Special Awards for Entrepreneurial Leadership, Small Business Development Center Resource Partner of the Year, Arkansas SCORE District Chapter of the Year and Arkansas SCORE Award for Excellence.
For more information, please contact Jeff Thatcher at jthatcher@arkansasstatechamber.com or (501) 210-4205.
Applications Being Accepted for Leadership Arkansas Class III
Applications are now being accepted for Leadership Arkansas Class III, which is again being sponsored by Southern Bancorp. In just two years, this program has become one of Arkansas’s most respected and trusted leadership organizations. Before clicking on the link below to the application, please review the following information designed to provide you with a greater understanding of Leadership Arkansas.
Leadership Arkansas’s mission is to build a strong, diverse, statewide network of leaders with a shared commitment to connect our communities and to make Arkansas a better place in which to live and prosper.
One of the many ways the organization is working to accomplish that mission is through its annual class program. Class members are chosen to participate in a stimulating and thought-provoking educational program that consists of a series of six day-and-a-half sessions held in locations throughout the state.
These sessions include programming on issues critical to Arkansas, leadership skills assessment, and relevant information on Arkansas’s history, demography, diversities and opportunities. One of the most rewarding and lasting benefits of the program is the valuable time spent interacting with other leaders from a variety of professions, philosophies and parts of the state who represent Arkansas’s diverse ethnic and racial composition.
Graduation from the class does not signify the end, but the beginning of a lifetime of opportunity as a member of Leadership Arkansas. For the graduates of the Leadership Arkansas program, we will convene regular meetings, regional and statewide, to facilitate continuing issues-oriented education, advanced leadership training, networking and the opportunity for members to work together toward shared goals.
SELECTION CRITERIA
The Leadership Arkansas Recruitment Committee seeks to identify those individuals most likely to utilize their leadership abilities for the long-term benefit of Arkansas. The Selection Committee strives to select participants who will provide the class with broad professional, geographic, ethnic and gender representation. Basic criteria for selection are:
- A commitment, motivation and interest in serving Arkansas.
- A concern for Arkansas’s welfare, demonstrated by past community and statewide activities.
- An interest in seeking key volunteer and/or appointed state leadership roles.
- Potential or existing occupational responsibilities that have significant influence on important issues facing the state.
- A commitment to continued involvement in Leadership Arkansas.
Should you have any questions about the application, or about Leadership Arkansas, please call Susie Marks at 501-210-4206. Click here to download the application.
Membership Directory & Buyers’ Guide Is on Its Way
We’re happy to announce that the State Chamber/AIA’s 2008 Membership Directory & Buyers’ Guide has been printed and mailed to member companies. If you have not received one yet, it should arrive in your mail this week.
We’re proud of this new publication and encourage you to use the membership lists to support other State Chamber/AIA members by purchasing their products and services. We hope it will be helpful to you as a resource guide since contact information is listed for key government officials and agencies as well as business-related associations.
The directory also serves as your personal guide to becoming involved in the State Chamber/AIA, such as by joining one of our committees.
We’re proud to provide you with this new communications tool and want to extend a big thank you to the companies and organizations that helped make it possible by purchasing advertising space.
State Chamber/AIA Will Host Arkansas Small Business Forum
The State Chamber/AIA is presenting the Arkansas Small Business Forum from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Tuesday, June 10, at our office at 1200 W. Capitol Ave. in downtown Little Rock.
Trade association executives or representatives, local chamber of commerce executives, economic developers, and small business owners and operators are invited to attend this FREE open forum that will allows us to exchange ideas, gather information about emerging stakeholder issues, manage relationships and maintain a dialogue with stakeholder groups. Engaging these organizations and companies will help identify stakeholders’ issues, communicate strategic priorities, reduce taxpayer burden and increase compliance.
Participants will be able to build and strengthen relationships, learn about the products and services each organization provides to small business, and network to better serve your members or clients and share your organization’s key message.
The forum is being presented in partnership with the Internal Revenue Service, Arkansas Procurement Assistance Center, Arkansas Economic Development Commission, U.S. Small Business Administration, Arkansas Department of Workforce Services, Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission, Arkansas Small Business Development Center and Arkansas Better Business Bureau.
Please RSVP to Susie Marks, senior vice president-programs, at (501) 210-4206 or smarks@arkansasstatechamber.com by Friday, June 6.
Leadership Arkansas Class II Plans Final Session and Graduation
The final session and graduation are coming up for members of Leadership Arkansas Class II.
Tyson Foods CEO Dick Bond and Sam’s Club CEO Doug McMillan will be featured speakers at the Northwest Arkansas session on June 26-27, which will cover infrastructure challenges, the Northwest Arkansas economy and the graduation ceremony.
This remaining Leadership Arkansas session represents an outstanding investment opportunity in which companies and organizations can participate. By helping sponsor one of the activities, companies and organizations have the chance to personally meet and get to know these individuals who will be leading Arkansas in the future.
Partner sponsorships at $1,000 include an invitation to a reception and dinner with Leadership Arkansas class members, signage at the event and inclusion in the promotional and printed materials for the session. Presenting sponsorships at $2,500 include all of the above plus an opportunity to present during the session and an opportunity to place a company brochure or message in the participants’ notebooks.
A big thanks goes out to the companies and organizations that helped sponsor the Jonesboro/Paragould session on May 22-23. The presenting sponsors were CenterPoint Energy, Jonesboro Regional Chamber of Commerce and Nucor. Partner sponsors were AT&T, Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Delta Center for Economic Development at Arkansas State University, E.C. Barton & Company, RGB Mechanical Contractors, Inc., Southland Park Gaming & Racing and Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. We appreciate your participation and support.
Leadership Arkansas Class II is sponsored by Southern Bancorp. For further information on Leadership Arkansas, contact Susie Marks at 501-210-4206 or e-mail her at smarks@arkansasstatechamber.com .
National Education Convocation Focuses on Essential Subjects of Math, Science
On April 29 in Washington, D.C., State Chamber Past Chairman Stacy Sells of Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods participated in a national convocation on “Rising Above the Gathering Storm Two Years Later: Accelerating Progress Toward a Brighter Economic Future.”
Organized by the National Academies and the National Academy of Engineering with support from the National Math and Science Initiative, it focused on the problem of American students falling behind in the essential subjects of math and science and putting our position in the global economy at risk. Here are a few examples among many:
- U.S. students recently finished 15th in reading, 19th in math and 14th in science in the ranking of 31 countries by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
- Only 29 percent of American fourth-grade students, a third of eighth-grade students, and barely 18 percent of 12th-grade students perform at or above the proficient level in science.
- About a third of high school math students and two-thirds of those enrolled in physical science have teachers who did not major in the subject in college or who are not certified to teach it.
The conference focused on recommendations put forth by the National Academies of Science in the 2005 blue-ribbon panel report, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm." According to recommendations of a panel of 20 national leaders, the most effective way to enhance science and technology enterprise in the United States is to dramatically improve K-12 math and science education. To do so, the National Math & Science Panel recommends actions to:
- Produce more, and more effective, math and science teachers;
- Strengthen the skills of existing teachers through training programs; and
- Enlarge the pipeline of students with the desire and preparation to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics at the undergraduate level and beyond.
For more information, a report prepared by the Arkansas STEM Coalition for improving education for the 21st Century economy has been posted under Special Reports in the News Center section of our Web site. Click here to access this report that was presented to the state of Arkansas and the governor earlier this spring based on studies and conferences conducted by the STEM Coalition.
Others from Arkansas who attended the conference included Jerry Adams and James Hendren from the Arkansas Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) Coalition, Greg Nabholz, Dr. Ken James, state Sen. Jim Argue and state Rep. David Rainey.
Welcome to Our New Members
Thanks to the following companies and organizations that have recently joined the State Chamber/AIA:
Affiliated Appraisers/Ferstl Enterprises
Best Manufacturing, Inc.
Bailey & Thompson Tax & Accounting
CEI Engineering Associates, Inc.
Center for Toxicology & Environmental Health, LLC
Deloitte & Touche LLP
Learning Disabilities Association of Arkansas
Nakdimen Consulting
Network Services Group, Inc.
Source Rock Energy of Arkansas, LLC
Springhill Suites-Little Rock
Thanks to Our Pinnacle Members
We wish to express special thanks to all of our Pinnacle investors, the respected companies that support the State Chamber/AIA at the highest annual investment levels. We appreciate all that they do for us.
APEX
Alltel Corporation
Entergy Arkansas, Inc.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
SUMMIT
Chesapeake Energy, Inc.
Cox Communications
Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods
Tyson Foods, Inc.
PEAK
Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Arvest Bank
AT&T Arkansas
CenterPoint Energy Southern Gas
Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas
FedEx Freight - East
Georgia-Pacific Corporation
Harps Food Stores, Inc.
Kraft Foods
Oaklawn Jockey Club
Pathfinder Exploration LLC
Petrohawk Energy Corporation
SemGroup LP
Southern Bancorp, Inc.
Southland Park Gaming & Racing
Southwestern Energy Company
State Farm Insurance
Weyerhaeuser Company
Windstream Corporation
XTO Energy, Inc.
CROWN
Acxiom Corporation
AEP Southwestern Electric Power
Albemarle Corporation
Alta Resources LLC
American Greetings Corporation
America's Car-Mart, Inc.
Arkansas Employees Federal Credit Union
Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation
Arkansas Oklahoma Gas Corporation
Arkansas Western Gas Company
Bank of the Ozarks
CenterPoint Energy Gas Transmission Company
Deltic Timber Corporation
Dynegy
Entegra Power Group LLC
Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company of Arkansas, Inc.
Forest Oil Corporation
Glad Manufacturing/A Clorox Company
Golden Living
International Paper Company
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
Lion Oil Company
Metropolitan National Bank
Murphy Oil Corporation
Nabholz Construction Corporation
Nucor-Yamato Steel
OG+E
Pfizer Pharmaceuticals
Philander Smith College
Pinnacle Foods Group LLC
Potlatch Forest Products Corporation
Pulaski Technical College
Rheem Air Conditioning Division
Riceland Foods, Inc.
Signature Bank of Arkansas
Simmons First National Corporation
Stephens, Inc.
Storm Cat Energy
Suez Energy North America
The Clorox Company
The Trane Company
US Bank
Waste Management
Wright Lindsey & Jennings
Calendar of Events
June 3 Annual Small Business Awards Luncheon
11:45 a.m., Embassy Suites Hotel
Little Rock
June 10 Arkansas Small Business Forum
9 a.m.-11 a.m., State Chamber/AIA
Little Rock
June 26-27 Leadership Arkansas Class II Session
Northwest Arkansas Economy/Infrastructure Challenges
Fayetteville/Springdale
June 27 Leadership Arkansas Class II Graduation
Presented by Harps Food Stores, Inc.
October 14 80th State Chamber/AIA Annual Meeting
Hot Springs Convention Center, Hot Springs
