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FACES & PLACES POW                                                                                  
Christopher Lloyd was the keynote speaker during the Chamber's Annual Meeting last week and the Richmond, Va. native is a consultant / specialist on economic development. He said each of the last five years that job growth was the No. 1 answer from polled politicians describing real value to their community. Also, his four pillars for a city were 1) Branding, telling your story; 2) Being transparent to constituency; 3) Having a plan for workforce and shaping curriculum to meet that plan; 4) Having a generational strategy, millennials to retirees.   

See pics from the event here.
 

PRESS YOUR LUCKPrizes
Click on the links below to enter for prizes

Chop! Chop! Chop! Mr. B had decided on an entrée of carrot cake, with real cream cheese, when he noticed the peanut butter and chocolate brownie with triple chocolate, topped with peanut butter cup ice cream, pecan chocolate butter nut sauce, whipped cream and a cherry. And his second love affair with Bob's Steak and Chop House began, only 25 years after its 1993 opening in Dallas. In Fort Worth, manager Jordan Dickey doesn't stray from what all Bob's are known for...Always Prime Beef. The Bob's motto is "We don't try to prove how smart we are, but rather how smart you are for dining at Bob's." You'll be looking smart, too, with this $100 gift certificate. 

Ragin' Cajuns: The Tarrant Area Food Bank's Empty Bowls event is such a smashing success that the non-profit has added an Empty Bowls Chef Series. The series is five demonstration-style cooking classes conducted by popular Fort Worth chefs. Oh, and it's done around a four-course meal with prep tips, food tastings, wine pairings and doggie-bag recipes. Max is about 50 peeps per event, so as intimate as the wine. Tickets are $75 each, but fancy Francie Cooper has two tickets for the first in the series, 6-8 p.m. June 21 with Central Market's Executive Chef, Monte Davis. His menu includes hors d'oeuvres of broiled oysters with chili garlic butter and andouille boudin balls with green onion aioli; appetizer of crawfish and truffled gnocchi and fontina fondue; entrée of braised short rib and potato rosti with tasso hollandaise; and dessert of donut holes and praline mousse with raspberry sauce. 

Fight and make-up texts: Whenever Mr. B and the Prospective Ms. B have a rare disagreement, he goes to the Gordon Boswell Flowers website and sends a forgive me! flower bouquet text. Just the picture; no flowers. As you might imagine, Mr. B is on that site a lot! While there, he always enters to win a free dozen roses and updates his Reminders: Never Forget An Occasion dates. On that list is July 4th. Last year, Mr. B wanted kosher dogs; the Prospective insisted it was an American celebration of independence. Erica at Gordon Boswell put together an "I'm sorry!" flower and sparkler bouquet in a NASCAR replica to get him out of that doghouse. You may not be in the time-out corner, but will find this July 4 bouquet a welcomed gesture for your bestie. 

Date night! Early arrivals to just about any theater event in Fort Worth sit and read the Playbill. That's what you do. And that's what Greg Heitzman of Performing Ads Playbills does. He sells the ads and produces the Playbills for most stage events in Tarrant County and at Texas Christian University. It's a great concept for advertisers that really want to target a niche audience. Greg sent over a theater and dinner package -- two tickets to Every Brilliant Thing (June 14-July 14) at Circle Theater and a $50 gift card to a wild salsa restaurant a short walk down the street. 


Congratulations to the June 6th Prize Winners: 
  • Chloe Rodriguez, Camp Fire First Texas
  • Sharon Scott, Harbor Hospice of Fort Worth
  • Brooklyn Goin, WeWork
  • Ricky McBride, DMR Audit & Accounting
  • Nathan Draughn, BB&T
  • Maureen Maidlow, Overridge
  • Nate Calzada, Trinity Habitat for Humanity
  • Barbara Lundgren, Meals on Wheels of Tarrant County
  • Jennifer Smith, Humane Society of North Texas
  • Steve McCune, McCune Cos.
  • Justin Emler, United Way of Tarrant County
  • Katy Kothmann Abraham, Construction Cost Mgt.
  • Jason Duling, Johnson Controls
A WORD FROM OUR GOLD SPONSORS


HE SAID, SHE SAID, THEY SAIDSoundBytes
Reid-ing = success: Rusty Reid, selected as president and CEO of Higginbotham at 25 in 1989, was honored with the third annual Chamber Susan Halsey Executive Leadership Award during the Annual Meeting last week. Halsey, an attorney, served as chairman of the Chamber board in 2013. The award recognizes leadership among presidents, principals or chief executive officers. "The strategic moves ... over the years have grown Higginbotham into the largest independent insurance brokerage firm in Texas," said Chamber Chair Allyson Baumeister. "Additionally, Rusty and everyone at Higginbotham comprise one of the greatest civic-minded teams in Fort Worth." Reid said, "One of my best business decisions was making Higginbotham an employee-owned firm in 1989. In that respect, this award goes to everyone at Higginbotham... this is a big win that I'm especially honored to receive from Fort Worth's respected leaders." Higginbotham offers full property/casualty and financial services through 28 offices and more than 900 employees across Texas and in Oklahoma City. Read more about Rusty here.

What goes around, comes around: Byrne Construction Services, recognized with the Spirit of Enterprise award at the Chamber Annual Meeting, is in its 96th year. When you've been around that long, oddities occur; it built the Montgomery Ward department store on W. 7th Street in 1927 and then converted it to retail and apartments in 2005, 78 years later. Watch Chairman John Avila accept the award here (at 15:00).

What did you accomplish at 17? The Salvation Army, an emergency homeless and transitional shelter, began in Fort Worth in 1890 when a 17-year-old CAPTAIN named Nora Foster opened a one-room mission.

Making work work: HUB International bought Mr. B lunch recently at the Fort Worth Club; it's pretty cost effective because B doesn't eat lunch. HUB also served up info on Title VII, the discrimination section of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Some guidelines from HUB's Andrea Goodkin:
  • 20 percent of workers are harassed at some point, 27 percent of women and 10 percent of men.
  • 75 percent never report it, mostly because 75 percent of reporters face some sort of retaliation.
  • Costs are more pronounced than a settlement or court decision; there is a loss of morale, productivity and reputation.
  • Leaders should model behavior for the ranks.
  • Customized, small-group, continuous learning and training is strong employer defense against discriminatory practices.
Behind door No. 1: Never know who will be puttering around Topgolf Fort Worth. But Director of Sales Crystal Cardwell knew right away Blake Shelton was on the (con)course, part of a bachelor party celebration. "He was super nice!" Crystal said. Josh Hamilton also was playing through with his three daughters.

Inside pillars: If you have five minutes and want to see the pep and passion of the Chamber's EVPs that head the four pillars that make up Fortify, click for Rebecca (Shades) Montgomery, Chris Strayer, Dr. Anthony (Bow Tie) Edwards and Jarred Howard.
"We do more (car) wrap removals than we put on. The (company) marketing aspect is great, unless you don't behave well in your car."   

-- Michele Klepser
Signarama Fort Worth
    
Keeping handy 'men' around: Handyman Matters franchisee Brett Jeffreys owns the rights to four Tarrant territories. He started with one 7.5 years ago. Turnover is huge in the labor industry and more destructive for growing companies. To help with retention, Brett mandates background checks, offers a company vehicle as an earned perk, has raised pay about 15 percent and now offers medical help with a PEO.

Grilled to perfection: Who knew a chance to win rib eyes at Del Frisco's Restaurant would spur such whimsy. "If I win this, you may call me Sir Loin!" said Carlo Capua, owner / operator of Z's Café and Catering. Blair Park, an attorney with Harris, Finley & Bogle, wrote a haiku in 4th grade "about rib eye steak," she said. "I don't remember the whole poem, but I remember the best line: 'A huge chunk of cow!' Big Tex would approve ... and vegans would not."

Growing and not failing: Consultant/executive recruiter Darien George, Managing Partner of Mackenzie Eason, says the "failure rate of marriages is 46 percent while the failure rate of business acquisitions is more than 70 percent."
  • The two share many of the same issues for failure, he says. "The business community still continues to look at only the financial aspect of acquisitions and fails to look at the human capital or culture implications when acquiring or merging businesses."
  • Darien is the lead author of a book about human capital and culture with the founder of Teledoc and a CEO of private equity companies. It has been picked up by Brown Books Publishing and is scheduled to be published next year.
This is not your dad's darts: Monthly muser / ad guy John Fletcher reminds that today is International Axe Throwing Day. A University of Texas at Arlington grad has an axe throwing place off Sylvania.

Did you know? Fort Worth has one more "medical" school, The College of Health Care Professions. Morgan Zimmerer explains: CHCP educates and trains students for allied health professions such as medical assistant, dental assistant, medical billing and coding, massage therapy, diagnostic medical sonography and limited medical radiologic technologist. We work with our students and graduates in preparation for interviews and applications, as well as partner with employers to match open hiring needs."
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Sponsored By

            Date          Event NameCalendar



Vision FW Events
6-22


 Table of 10 Mentoring Lunch at Sundance Square Office
6-28


Book Club at Chadra Mezza & Grill







Ribbon Cuttings
6-13


Murphy USA
6-19


MedExpress Urgent Care
6-20


Boxx Modular







View  more Chamber and Member events
View past Ribbon Cuttings    

2019 MAP SALES ARE UNDERWAY!resources
This four-color street map covers Tarrant County and includes a special inset indicating the location of the DFW International Airport in proximity to Fort Worth and Dallas. 

Our map also features an advertising directory of participating Chamber businesses by category.  Ad sales deadline for our 2018 maps is July 28. If you're on the fence about it, take a peak of what you would be getting by grabbing yourFREE  copy of the 2018 version today here or by contacting Scott Roberson at (866) 603-4133! 

Email Erin Main or call 817-338-3322 to schedule pickup or for more information. See more of our publications in our online store.
 
For sponsorship inquiries in B2B Insider, contact Jennifer Vuduris or call (817) 338-3335

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