Initiatives February 2011
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February 2011 Initiatives
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Thanks to Our Investors Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County
Development Partner ($200,000+ invested annually: public sector)
City of Huntsville
Development Council
(Up to $125,000 invested annually: public sector)
Huntsville Utilities
Chamber Trustees
($10,000 - $24,999 invested annually)
BBVA Compass LG Electronics Alabama, Inc. The Boeing Company Lamar Outdoor Advertising, Inc. CINRAM, Inc. Emerson Network Power North Alabama Multiple Listing Service Huntsville Madison County Builders Association, Inc. Lockheed Martin Corporation Agility Defense & Government Services Beason & Nalley, Inc. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama
Booz Allen Hamilton Breland Companies Camber Corporation Cobham Analytic Solutions Crestwood Medical Center Intergraph Corporation L3 Communications Corp. Headquarters Look Outdoor Advertising, Inc. Parsons Corporation SES, Inc. SportsMed Orthopaedic Surgery and Spine Center Wells Fargo Bank
Tennessee Valley Authority Madison County Commission Huntsville Hospital City of Madison
Chairman’s Council ($50,000+ invested: private sector)
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama, Inc. Regions Bank
President’s Circle ($25,000 - $49,999 invested annually)
The Huntsville Times Redstone Federal Credit Union ADTRAN, Inc. AT&T SAIC 4
Verizon Wireless February 2011 Initiatives
Progress Partners
($5,000 - $9,999 invested annually)
Jerry Damson Honda Acura J. Smith Lanier & Co. First Commercial Bank The Orthopaedic Center Intuitive Research & Technology Corporation Samples Properties, Inc. ERC, Inc. AEgis Technologies Group, Inc. Applied Data Trends, Inc. BAE Systems BASF Catalysts, LLC BB&T Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP Coldwell Banker Commercial McLain Real Estate
Progress Investors
Colonial Properties Trust Consolidated Construction Company Dynetics Enfinger Steele Development, Inc. Lanier Ford Shaver & Payne, P.C. Navistar Diesel of Alabama, LLC Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Inc. S3, Inc. Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc. Turner Universal Construction URS Corporation WAFF-TV Wilmer & Lee, P.A. Yellow Book USA
($2,500 - $4,999 invested annually)
Woody Anderson Ford Radiance Technologies, Inc. Torch Technologies Baron Services, Inc. Burger King - Wesfam Restaurants, Inc. Fountain, Parker, Harbarger & Associates LLC Inergi Northrop Grumman Corporation QinetiQ North America 4SITE, Incorporated Analytical Services, Inc. Averbuch Realty Co., Inc. - Scott Averbuch Bama Jammer, Inc. BancorpSouth Belzon, Inc. BFA Systems, Inc. BID Designs, LLC BlueCreek Investment Partners Brown Precision, Inc. Bryant Bank Cerqa, a division of Beacon Printing & Graphics, Inc. Chapman Sisson Architects, Inc. Cintas Corporation
Decisive Analytics Corporation Decosimo Certified Public Accountants DESE Research, Inc. Digium, Inc. DHS SYSTEMS, LLC (DRASH) DRS Test & Energy Management, LLC FITE Building Co., Inc. Garber Construction Co., Inc. Hardin-Junkin & Company Wealth Solutions Huntsville Tractor & Equipment, Inc. Investor’s Resource/Raymond James Financial Svs. KPS Group Kudzu Productions, Inc. Lamb Commercial Services, Inc. Marriott Huntsville Parker Hannifin Corporation Progress Bank QTEC, Inc. Qualis Corporation Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Hampton Cove ServisFirst Bank UBS Huntsville Wealth Management Group United Space Alliance, LLC Woodland Homes of Huntsville
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initiatives
Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County
february 2011
cover story
Historic bank in downtown Huntsville
2011: IMPLEMENTATION! Six Years After the Announcement, the 2005 BRAC Nears Completion at Redstone beginning on page 22
features ‘Blast from the Past’ Economic Development Highlights
including Dynetics, Aetos Systems, Aerojet, CDL Systems, URS Corporation, Intuitive Research & Technology Corporation, MicroTech and Chugach Alaska Corporation
UAHuntsville Chargers
Spotlight On: deciBel Research Technology on the Right Track Q&A with Charlie Kettle Chamber Technology Committee
Courtesy of Dennis Keim : dk studio
Huntsville/Madison County, Alabama is located in the middle of the southeastern United States, with more than four million people within a 100-mile radius. The Huntsville community is the economic hub of the northern Alabama/ southern Tennessee region. Huntsville/Madison County’s economy is one of the strongest in the nation, with low unemployment, strong job growth and income levels leading the region. Business growth and investment from U.S. and international companies have made it one of the country’s top “hot spots” for growing a business and raising a family.
mission The mission of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County
is to prepare, develop and promote our community for economic growth.
contact Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County 225 Church Street, Huntsville, AL 35801 main line: 256.535.2000 fax: 256.535.2015
online www.HuntsvilleAlabamaUSA.com www.asmartplace.com
fyi
Submissions for editorial content are not accepted. Information in this and other Chamber publications is at the discretion of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County. Advertising inquiries go through The Huntsville Times.
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developments HREGI Investors Listing Chamber Board Listing 2011 Executive Committee 2011 Board of Directors Chamber Staff Listing HREGI Testimonial Growth Through Networking Community Profile Employee of the Quarter Upcoming Chamber Events
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editorial staff
Publisher Brian Hilson Executive Editor John Southerland
Editorial Designer Kristi Sherrard ontributing Writers Lucia Cape, Harrison Diamond, C John Southerland and Mike Ward Photography Chamber of Commerce staff, events & publications
Advertising Sales Ray Johnson The Huntsville Times Initiatives February 2011
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Chamber of Commerce
Executive Committee and Board of Directors 2011 Executive Committee
A Message from the Chamber Dear Chamber of Commerce Investors, Community Leaders and Friends: The beginning of a new year for any chamber of commerce is a time to reflect on the past year and to look ahead to new challenges and opportunities. For the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County, one of our priorities is to recognize the leaders of our organization who create the vision and provide guidance for our many programs. We thank our 2010 executive committee and board of directors, led by chair Don Nalley of Beason & Nalley. Don is being succeeded by 2011 chair Charlie Kettle of First Commercial Bank. Strongly committed and talented people like Don and Charlie are representative of the type of leadership which has made the Chamber and our community successful for many years. Relationships with numerous other leaders and organizations are critical to Huntsville/ Madison County’s continued success. Our close working relationships with state government leaders have always been essential to the team effort that characterizes economic development in Alabama. Our recent meetings with new Alabama Governor Dr. Robert Bentley and recently appointed Alabama Development Office Director Seth Hammett give us every indication that economic development will continue to be a top priority for Alabama. We couldn’t be more pleased with Governor Bentley’s approach to strengthening Alabama’s economy, and closer to home, with his understanding of the advantages of Huntsville/ Madison County. Governor Bentley’s selection of Seth Hammett as ADO Director assures us that Alabama’s top economic developer will also be someone who already understands our unique community and what a tremendous resource it is to the entire state. Needless to say, we are excited about Alabama’s new economic development leadership. An excellent example of the importance of teamwork and strong leadership in economic development is the approach that Huntsville/Madison County and the Tennessee Valley region have taken to assure that we are making the most out of the opportunities resulting from the 2005 Base Realignment & Closure announcements. Implementation of all of the new BRAC-related facilities construction and personnel moves are scheduled to be completed by September of this year, resulting in an overall economic impact unlike any we have seen before. The status of BRAC implementation is the subject of a feature article in this Initiatives, but the process doesn’t necessarily end this year. We are likely to continue to see more new companies, more expanding companies and more personnel moves resulting from the 2005 BRAC, in addition to more growth at Redstone Arsenal not tied to BRAC. Every indication is that 2011 will be full of both tough economic challenges and great economic opportunities. In some ways this will also be a transitional year for Huntsville/ Madison County and Alabama. The situation is certainly not new to us, and we are as excited as ever to continue to lead the process of growing great job opportunities for our community!
Brian Hilson President & CEO Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County
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February 2011 Initiatives
Charlie Kettle, Chair, First Commercial Bank Jim Bolte, Chair-Elect, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama Don Nalley, Immediate Past Chair, Beason & Nalley Tommy Beason, Chamber Foundation Chair, consultant Robert Mayes, Secretary/Treasurer, BlueCreek Investment Partners Ron Poteat, Vice Chair - Economic Development, Regions Bank Rose Allen, Vice Chair - Governmental Affairs, Booz Allen Hamilton Frank Caprio, Vice Chair - Member Services, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings Danny Windham, Vice Chair - Workforce, Digium Rey Almodóvar, Vice Chair - Small Business, Intuitive Research & Technology Corporation
Dr. Pam Hudson, Vice Chair - Research & Information Services, Crestwood Medical Center
Jeremiah Knight, Vice Chair - Image Development, Verizon Wireless Call Center Mayor Tommy Battle, Chair-Appointed, City of Huntsville Mayor Paul Finley, Chair-Appointed, City of Madison Chairman Mike Gillespie, Chair-Appointed, Madison County Commission Tony Jones, Chair-Appointed, The Boeing Company Joe Ritch, Chair-Appointed, Sirote & Permutt Dr. Dave Williams, Chair-Appointed, UAHuntsville Brian Hilson, President/CEO, Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison Co. Elected Board
Cynthia Achorn, ASRC Federal Joe Alexander, Camber Corporation Cathy Anderson, Woody Anderson Ford Bob Baron, Baron Services Dr. Marc Bendickson, Dynetics Penny Billings, BancorpSouth Miranda Bouldin, LogiCore Greg Bragg, Consolidated Construction Company Everett Brooks, Incrementum Consulting Group Micah Bullard, Turner Universal Construction Glenn Clayton, Appleton Learning Joe Collazo, COLSA Corporation John Eagan, Wells Fargo Bank Kerry Fehrenbach, Intergraph Corporation Ron Gray, Gray Research John Gully, SAIC Steve Hassell, Emerson Network Power John Holly, Lockheed Martin Corporation Dr. Andrew Hugine, Alabama A&M University Simon Kim, LG Electronics Alabama Frederick Lanier, J. Smith Lanier & Co. Kim Lewis, PROJECTXYZ Angie McCarter, Davidson Technologies Rich Marsden, Lanier Ford Shaver & Payne Elizabeth Morard, Qualis Corporation Caroline Myers, Foreign Language Services Joe Newberry, Redstone Federal Credit Union Jim Owens, BBVA Compass Tony Palumbo, retired Crystal Shell, WILL Technology Dr. Ashok Singhal, CFD Research Corporation Todd Slyman, Village of Providence Jan Smith, S 3 Dr. O’Neal Smitherman, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology David Spillers, Huntsville Hospital Tom Stanton, ADTRAN Al Sullivan, Alpha Beta Technologies Dr. Ernie Wu, ERC
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Farewell to OMEMS Event Recalls
‘Blast from the Past’ I
Col. Lee Merritt, commander of 59th/OMEMS, and the command staff are working on plans for their move to Fort Lee, Virginia in 2011.
n conjunction with the recent “BRAC to the Future IV” event that featured facilities and personnel move updates from several incoming commands associated with the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure decision, the community also bid farewell to the local Army Ordnance Missile Electronics Munitions School (OMEMS). The school can trace its history at Redstone Arsenal back nearly 60 years, to 1952 and the dawn of the age of long range guided missiles. Since its inception, the missile school has brought international visitors and world acclaim to our community, as our allies have trained to use U.S. missiles in our mutual defense. By 1968, officers from 38 countries had trained at Redstone. While Redstone gained thousands of new jobs because of the 2005 BRAC decision, it also lost one of the longest running and most successful organizations in the base’s storied history. The community will sorely miss OMEMS as it moves to its new home at Ft. Lee, Va. But a rich and remarkable history at Redstone will accompany the command on its journey north. Among the notable former commandants are Col. Carroll Hudson, the first commander of Redstone Arsenal and Lt. Gen. Charles Eifler, long-time Huntsville resident. Chamber staff preparing for the event uncovered a newspaper article dated February, 1958 when the world’s attention was firmly fixed on Huntsville. These were the days just after Huntsville residents had helped to launch the free world’s first satellite, the Explorer I Satellite. According to the article, the Chamber was hosting a fifth anniversary dinner event honoring the munitions school. This was no ordinary or small event – the keynote speaker was William Randolph Hearst, Jr. and the dinner program was to be telecast on the CBS “Ed Sullivan Show.” But there were a few technical difficulties. The story from the Feb. 19, 1958 edition of (the on-base newspaper) The Redstone Rocket relates the details of how a winter storm derailed this best laid plan.
“The worst weather of the winter threatened to snarl the celebration last Sunday of the Ordnance Guided Missile School’s fifth anniversary, but valiant efforts by the School’s officers and enlisted men and welcome assistance from Redstone Arsenal and ABMA (Army Ballistic Missile Agency) permitted major portions of the program to go off almost as scheduled. With William Randolph Hearst, Jr., originally scheduled as the A portion of the front page of the February 19, 1958 edition of the Redstone Rocket. 10
February 2011 Initiatives
principal speaker hospitalized in New York, Bob Considine, his substitute, marooned by a blizzard near Chicago, and British Brigadier Ralph H. Farrant of the NATO group In the Pentagon grounded in Washington, Maj. Gen. John B. Medaris, ABMA commander, stepped into the breach and took over as an impromptu speaker to aid COL H. S. Newhall, school commandant, who acted as toastmaster at the banquet held by the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce Sunday Evening at the Russell Erskine Hotel. General H. N. Toftoy who was also slated to join in the celebration was ill, and weather prevented Dr. [Wernher] von Braun from joining the festivities. Interest of public safety led Col. Newhall Saturday to cancel all outdoor events planned for the OGMS open house. Plans to display the Army’s entire family of operational missiles including the Jupiter (and a replica of the earth satellite Explorer) were cancelled. However, a good attendance turned out Sunday afternoon to witness in the Post Theater the CBS World News Round-up featuring the School. Eric Sevaried, the commentator, devoted about 5 1/2 minutes to a film of missile training activities at OGMS. The banquet was a complete sellout, but technical difficulties caused by the storm for a time threatened to force cancellation of the portion of the dinner program telecast on the CBS ‘Ed Sullivan Show.’ The audio line from Huntsville to New York failed, but Sullivan managed to introduce Gen. Medaris and Col. Newhall and members of the famous von Braun satellite team, and to stage a brief scene showing an unusual birthday cake being ‘exploded’ to fire a toy missile. Some 34 representatives of press, TV, and radio had been assigned to cover the dinner, but all were notified to abandon attempts to get here over icy roads. But the staff of The Huntsville Times covered for the major wire services and TV Station WBRE news director, Tim Atkins of Birmingham managed to get through the storm to film the event. Guest of honor at the dinner included representatives of nine NATO countries now studying at the School and the flags of their countries contributed to the brilliant setting of the ball room. Col. Newhall said the outdoor missile display and open house will be held at a later date when the weather moderates.” • Mike Ward Initiatives February 2011
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C H A M B E R O F COMMERCE : 2011 EXECUTIVE COMMIT TEE
Charlie Kettle
president, First Commercial Bank
“I am honored to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors for this great organization. I am likewise thrilled to be working with such an accomplished group of community and business leaders serving our Board and our Executive Committee in 2011 and look forward to helping this community achieve even greater success in the coming year.”
Board Chair
Don Nalley
Tommy Beason
Chair-Elect
Immediate Past Chair
Chamber of Commerce Foundation Chair
president, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama, Inc.
director, Beason & Nalley, Inc.
consultant
Robert Mayes
Ron Poteat
Rose Allen
Frank Caprio
Danny Windham
Secretary/Treasurer
Vice Chair – Economic Development
Vice Chair – Governmental Affairs
Vice Chair – Member Services
Vice Chair – Workforce
Rey Almodóvar
Dr. Pam Hudson
Jeremiah Knight
Tommy Battle
Paul Finley
Vice Chair – Small Business
Vice Chair – Research & Information Services
Vice Chair – Image Development
Chair-Appointed
Chair-Appointed
Mike Gillespie
Tony Jones
Joe Ritch
Dr. Dave Williams
Brian Hilson
Chair-Appointed
Chair-Appointed
Chair-Appointed
Chair-Appointed
chief executive officer, BlueCreek Investment Partners
chief executive officer, Intuitive Research & Technology Corp.
chairman, Madison County Commission
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Jim Bolte
February 2011 Initiatives
north alabama area executive, Regions Bank
chief executive officer, Crestwood Medical Center
vice president and senior site executive, The Boeing Company
principal, Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc.
director of customer service, Verizon Wireless Call Center
partner, Sirote & Permutt, P.C.
partner, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP
mayor, City of Huntsville
president, UAHuntsville
chief executive officer, Digium, Inc.
mayor, City of Madison
president & chief executive officer, Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE : 2011 BOARD OF DIR E C TO R S
Cynthia Achorn
Joe Alexander
Cathy Anderson
Bob Baron
Dr. Marc Bendickson
Penny Billings
Miranda Bouldin
ASRC Federal
Camber Corporation
Woody Anderson Ford
Baron Services, Inc.
Dynetics, Inc.
BancorpSouth
LogiCore Corporation
Greg Bragg
Everett Brooks
Micah Bullard
Glenn Clayton
Joe Collazo
John Eagan
Consolidated Construction Company
Incrementum Consulting Group
Turner Universal Construction
Appleton Learning
COLSA Corporation
Wells Fargo Bank
Kerry Fehrenbach
Ron Gray
John Gully
Steve Hassell
John Holly
Dr. Andrew Hugine, Jr.
Intergraph Corporation
Gray Research, Inc.
SAIC
Emerson Network Power
Lockheed Martin Corporation
Alabama A&M University
Simon Kim
Frederick Lanier
Kim Lewis
Angie McCarter
Rich Marsden
Elizabeth Morard
LG Electronics Alabama, Inc.
J. Smith Lanier & Co.
PROJECTXYZ, Inc.
Davidson Technologies
Lanier Ford Shaver & Payne
Qualis Corporation
Caroline Myers
Joe Newberry
Jim Owens
Tony Palumbo
Crystal Shell
Dr. Ashok Singhal
Foreign Language Services, Inc.
Redstone Federal Credit Union
BBVA Compass
retired
WILL Technology, Inc.
CFD Research Corporation
Todd Slyman
Jan Smith
Dr. O’Neal Smitherman
David Spillers
Tom Stanton
Al Sullivan
Dr. Ernie Wu
Village of Providence
S 3, Inc.
HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology
Huntsville Hospital
ADTRAN, Inc.
Alpha Beta Technologies, Inc.
ERC, Inc. Initiatives February 2011
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HIGHLIGHTS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF HUNTSVILLE/MADISON COUNTY
Dynetics Breaks Ground on New Facility
2010 Chamber Board Chair Don Nalley, Dynetics CEO Dr. Marc Bendickson, Dynetics President Tom Baumbach, and Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle officially break ground on a new facility that will create about 350 jobs for Dynetics over three years. The facility, which will be located on the company’s campus in Huntsville’s Cummings Research Park, will be 226,500 square feet with approximately 110,000 square feet of prototype development and low-rate production space; the remainder will be office space.
Aetos Systems Enjoying Exponential Growth Aetos Systems recently celebrated the growth of the company and its new office in Huntsville. Aetos, founded in 2007 with just one employee, has seen exponential growth during the last three years, according to the company’s founder Donna Coleman. The company now has 17 employees and revenue of $6.5 million. Coleman says the company plans to continue that growth. “There are tremendous growth opportunities for us as we plan for strategic growth. We have been honored by the great support of the community. There is no better place than Huntsville to start a small business,” she said. Don Nalley, 2010 Chair of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Board of Directors, said that Huntsville’s reputation is seen in companies like Aetos. “A company like Aetos Systems illustrates that we are growing with quality people and quality companies that reinforce our community as a smart place to live, work and play,” said Nalley Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle said that the key to the success of this community is the teamwork. “What is most unique about this community is that we know how to work together. You will keep us as a community moving forward,” Battle said. • 14
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Just weeks after announcing plans to build a 226,500 square-foot facility to handle prototype development and low-rate production, Dynetics held a ground-breaking in Cummings Research Park for the facility that will also include state-of-the-art lab space and office space as the company prepares for future growth. Don Nalley, 2010 Chair of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County’s Board of Directors, said the announcement, which will add 350 jobs, would have a positive impact on more than just Huntsville. “This is an incredible investment in Huntsville and Madison County that will benefit our region and, in fact, all of Alabama. It is the kind of project that gets attention across the nation and the world, initiated by a homegrown company at a time when some are reeling from unemployment. It is a pleasure to be in a community where companies continue to invest,” Nalley said. The new facility will enable Dynetics to expand customer offerings in its five focus areas of intelligence, missiles, aviation, cyber and space. Dr. Marc Bendickson, Dynetics CEO, explained the benefits of the facility to them. “Dynetics thrives on solving complex engineering problems – the tougher, the better,” said Bendickson. “This facility was designed to meet those needs by employees who are actually working the problems. We selected a group of project managers who spent more than two years laying out requirements that would result in a facility tailored to meet our current and projected customer needs.” According to the company leaders, the facility will provide a true “skunkworks” capability locally by co-locating up to 300 engineers and technicians inside the fabrication, assembly and test facilities, a situation that has been shown to dramatically increase responsiveness and lower costs. A high-tech design, development and prototyping facility, it will incorporate the latest resources available to produce quality products rapidly and affordably for both commercial and government customers. Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle said the announcement is indicative of the community and its growth. “The Dynetics story is one you hear time and time again. This is a homegrown and home-owned company and this announcement projects Huntsville as a center of excellence. Our home-grown companies are taking a leap into the future and allowing Huntsville to continue to be the great city it is,” Battle said. •
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Aerojet to Expand Huntsville Operations Aerojet recently announced plans to expand its presence in the Huntsville community by hiring 25 additional engineers. This growth will allow Aerojet to provide collaborative engineering expertise, program management support and business development outreach to government and prime customers located in the Huntsville area and across the Southeastern United States. “Huntsville is an important location for our [Department of Defense], NASA and industry customers,” said Scott Seymour, Aerojet President and GenCorp President & CEO. “Growing Aerojet’s technical capabilities in Huntsville will allow us to better serve our customers and expand Aerojet’s business base.” Don Nalley, 2010 Chair of the Board of Directors, Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County, praised the company for investing in the Huntsville community. “I want to thank Scott and the Aerojet corporate team for investing in our community and for the confidence shown in our community,” Nalley said. “It is a very competitive environment we are in. We certainly appreciate the fact that Aerojet could’ve selected other communities to invest in, but instead recognized what we see – our community is a smart place to live, work and play and a place where businesses know the sky truly is not the limit.”
Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle also praised the announcement. “You bring a tradition of excellence to this community. And that excellence helps us grow our community and our economy,” Battle said. Aerojet’s expanded presence in Huntsville will provide a better customer interface for all business development and engineering activities, Seymour said. This includes not only Aerojet’s DoD and NASA customers, but its prime contractors, supplier partners, local and regional universities, professional societies and community development organizations as well. The expansion also will enable Aerojet to examine new product opportunities related to the company’s current business base and Huntsville’s expanding aerospace and defense market opportunities. The additional Aerojet engineers will include technical expertise in solid, liquid and gel propulsion; warheads, specialty metals and fire suppression systems. They will provide face-to-face, hands-on technical interaction with all of the company’s Huntsville customers for current and future programs. They also will serve as an integral link to the breadth of technical and programmatic capabilities across Aerojet. •
CDL Systems announces the opening of U.S. Office in Huntsville CDL Systems USA, a software engineering firm that specializes in the development of control station software for operating unmanned vehicle systems, recently held a ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of the company’s U.S. office in Huntsville. The company is a subsidiary of CDL Systems Limited based in Calgary, Alberta. Company officials say the new U.S. presence establishes local support to the Army’s UAS Project Office. CDL’s VCS software is installed in every U.S. Army One System Ground Control Station (OSGCS) and has accumulated more than 750,000 flight hours operating the RQ-7B Shadow, MQ-5B Hunter and MQ-1C Gray Eagle UAS platforms. Patrick Laney, Managing Director of U.S. Operations, commented that the move to Huntsville is important for the company because it will allow CDL Systems to better support the Army warfighter. “This is a special occasion for us. Our company takes great pride in developing a quality product, and we believe this new office will make that product even better for the U.S. Army,” Laney said. Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle welcomed the company to Huntsville and cited the community’s strong federal presence and workforce as assets for the company. “You are adding to our center of aviation and technical excellence here. Thank you for investing in Huntsville.” •
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HIGHLIGHTS continued from page 15
URS Corporation Expands Presence in Huntsville URS Corporation, a Fortune 500 government contractor, recently held the grand opening of the company’s new office in Cummings Research Park. Officials with the company said the opening of the new office illustrates URS’ commitment to growth in Huntsville. URS provides complete administrative, management, operations and logistics support for the Marshall Space Flight Center. NASA missions supported include the International Space Station; Space Shuttle and advanced propulsion technologies; the U.S. Space and Rocket Center; optics technology; and continuing solar system research and exploration. Operations support involves maintenance and repair of 241 buildings and structures (totaling 4.6 million square feet) — from large test stands to major office complexes, warehouses and wind tunnels. Don Nalley, 2010 Chair of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Board of Directors, said having URS invest in Huntsville is important to the promotion of Huntsville as a high-tech city. “URS is a company whose success and investment in Huntsville has greatly enhanced this community’s image as a leading technology hub with innovation and technical expertise in support of our nation’s aerospace and defense efforts,” Nalley said. While primarily known for its work with NASA, URS supports many Department of Defense agencies as well. Randy Wotring, president of Federal Services of URS, said that the opening of the new office is indicative of the importance of Huntsville to the company. “We are glad to be here and really pleased that this office is open. This opening is further commitment to the community,” Wotring said. Doug Johnson, vice president of aerospace services of URS Federal Services, said he expects the company to grow with new business opportunities. “We have been here for 15 years now. Time must fly when you are having fun. We are proud
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to be here. With this office we plan to grow our presence. We have the opportunity to bring more employees here,” Johnson said. Mayor Tommy Battle stressed the importance of the company’s growth in Huntsville. “It really is special to have URS in Huntsville and see how they are growing. They have such a strong history, such a highly qualified workforce and the company specializes in so many areas that are special and unique to Huntsville that we expect this to be the first of several expansion announcements that URS has here in Huntsville,” Battle said. •
L-R: Don Nalley, 2010 Chamber Chair; Doug Johnson, URS Federal Services Vice President of Aerospace Services; Randy Wotring, president of Federal Services of URS; Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle.
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HIGHLIGHTS continued from page 16
Huntsville-based Intuitive Research Ranked 4th on Top 25 8(a) Contractors List Virginia-based MicroTech, with expanding local operation, repeats as No.1 Intuitive Research and Technology Corporation, headquartered in Huntsville and led by co-founders A.R. (Rey) Almodóvar, and Harold Brewer, was recently ranked No. 4 on Washington Technology’s Top 25 8(a) Contractors in the United States. Virginia-based MicroTech LLC, led by President/CEO Anthony Jimenez, repeated its top ranking in the publication. MicroTech recently announced continued job growth for its Huntsville operations and held a grand opening for its expanded Huntsville office in 2010. Washington Technology is a publication that provides an in-depth look at government programs, technologies and spending priorities, as well as management issues, case studies and trends that impact the contractor community market. The Top 25 8(a) list was compiled by the market research firm FedSources, a leading government market intelligence firm. The ranking is based on companies from throughout the U.S. Huntsville having two companies on this list is significant, according to 2010 Chamber Board Chair Don Nalley. “Intuitive is a great Huntsville story and continues to receive national recognition for its business success, its continued growth and its hiring practices. They were selected the 2009 U.S. Small Business Administration National Prime Contractor of the Year for some of these reasons,” Nalley said. “MicroTech is an amazing story in its own right. The fact that this company has selected Huntsville as one of its primary growth areas says a lot about its leadership and a lot about our community. Our local economy has fared better than most thanks to companies like Intuitive and MicroTech,” Nalley said. •
Chugach Alaska Corporation Opens New Office Chugach Alaska Corporation, an Alaskan Native Corporation specializing in construction management and base operations, recently opened its new regional center in Huntsville, the first new center the company has opened in 10 years. The Chugach family of companies currently employs more than 5,500 people worldwide and maintains regional offices in Washington D.C., Honolulu, and now Huntsville. Of these 5,500 employees, more than 400 of them are employed locally at Redstone Arsenal with the Army and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. “Over the past 17 years, the construction industry has brought over a billion dollars in revenue, a third of which has been in federal contracts. Huntsville will be our center of excellence for construction work now. We expect to continue to grow here,” Barney Uhart, Chugach president, said. Chugach first opened a small corporate office in April 2009. The office began with just two subsidiary employees, but it grew very quickly to six. Within 18 months, the old office had grown to nine employees with the company scheduled to move even more positions to the area in the coming few weeks and months. All in all, their new office here on Corporate Drive has the capacity to accommodate up to 30 employees in total and Chugach expects to reach this capacity within the next 18-24 months. Don Nalley, 2010 Chair of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Board of Directors, congratulated the company on its growth. “While we are celebrating Chugach’s accomplishments to 18
February 2011 Initiatives
date, they expect even more growth here in the future. And that’s good news for all of us here in North Alabama,” Nalley said. Huntsville Mayor Tommy stated the importance of being one of four regional centers for a company like Chugach. “This truly is an important day when we have one of four regional offices locating in our community. This really means a lot to us. And we want to keep you busy and make sure you continue to grow in the best place in the southeast,” Battle said. The new Chugach Huntsville Regional Office is currently headquarters to two of Chugach’s 10 subsidiary companies: Chugach World Services, Inc. and Chugach Federal Solutions, Inc. A third subsidiary company, Chugach Management Services, Inc, also maintains an operational presence. In addition to their subsidiary companies, the office also is the home to their Construction Business Development Unit. •
Chugach President Barney Uhart
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E.D. HIGHLIGHTS
continued from page 18
Huntsville MSA Boasts Nation’s Second Highest Concentration of Tech Workers In a locale where business rankings are trophies that are quickly filling the trophy den, the Huntsville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) garnered another, the latest hailing Huntsville as the place with the second highest concentration of tech workers in the U.S. TechAmerica Foundation recently released its latest report on trends in the U.S. high-tech industry, Cybercities 2010: The Definitive Analysis of the High-Tech Industry in the Nation’s Top 60 Cities. This detailed report tracks trends in high-tech employment, wages, establishments, payroll, employment concentration, and wage differential at the metropolitan level. The high-tech industry in Huntsville employed 36,300 workers in 2009, the most current metropolitan data available. This represents a gain of 900 jobs, or two percent, over the previous year, only Oklahoma City added more tech jobs. Over 23 percent of private sector workers in Huntsville worked in the tech industry in 2009. These jobs are high paying; the average tech industry worker in Huntsville earned $74,700, or 67 percent, more than the metropolitan area’s average private sector wage. Huntsville’s largest high-tech sector was engineering services, which employed 13,000 workers in 2009. Following this was computer systems design and related services, with 8,100 workers, and R&D and testing labs, with 4,800 workers in 2009. “Huntsville is only second to Silicon Valley in terms of the concentration of technology workers,” said Peter J. Boni, President and CEO of Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. (NYSE: SFE) and Vice Chairman of the Board for TechAmerica. “With highly educated individuals, proximity to an outstanding federal research lab, and an affordable quality of life, Huntsville is a prime location for technology companies. It’s imperative that federal and state governments continue supporting the key drivers that foster economic innovation, including the fundamentals of math and science.” The nation’s highest tech industry employment concentration was in San Jose/Silicon Valley, where nearly thirty percent of private sector workers were employed by the tech industry. Oklahoma City saw the largest tech industry employment growth, adding over 900 jobs in 2009. Don Nalley, 2010 Chair of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County, said the report was one that would be cited regularly in the community’s industry and workforce recruitment efforts. “It is obviously great credibility for our community to be able to refer to rankings such as this that showcase the Huntsville community as a smart place to live, work and play,” Nalley said. “And what we hope is that workforce and industry candidates see the amount of technical workers here and want to join them and want to be part of something special.” • 20
February 2011 Initiatives
~ compiled by John Southerland & Harrison Diamond
Area Development Highlights Huntsville as Hotbed for HighTech Growth AreaDevelopment Online recently published an article on how smaller cities in the U.S. are becoming “Hotbeds for High-Tech Growth” and highlighted Huntsville third among cities making their marks in the high-tech arena. The article featured how a “technology city” is built and lists how a city needs a comprehensive plan to become a high-tech city, including the following key elements: • At least one major success story (a brand name draws world-class talent to a city) • A major research institution • High-tech talent • Venture capital • The proper infrastructure (including web designers, high speed Internet connections, law firms, banks and businesses that focus on high-tech) • Collaboration between business, government, and educational institutions By incorporating these crucial elements – the following cities are making their marks in the high-tech arena, according to the site selection publication: 1. Austin 2. Baltimore 3. HUNTSVILLE 4. Orlando 5. Pittsburgh 6. Raleigh-Durham 7. San Antonio The article quoted Paul Gierow of GATR Technologies, who discussed how the business climate in Huntsville is ripe for start-up technology-focused companies. The article also cites Huntsville’s non-aerospace/defense high-tech growth, citing the HudsonAlpha Institute, Cummings Research Park and the area having one of the highest concentrations of high-tech workers in the nation “across all disciplines”. The article also stated that the community has nine colleges and universities “including UAHuntsville, a national research university.” • Initiatives February 2011
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2011: IMPLEMENTATION! Six Years After the Announcement, the 2005 BRAC Nears Completion at Redstone
A
fter nearly six years of preparation, construction and recruiting, the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure decision that moved several new military commands and thousands of civilian jobs to Redstone Arsenal will be completed on Sept. 15, 2011. As a result, Redstone and the impacted commands are in the final implementation stage. Nationally, all BRAC relocations are to be completed Sept. 15, 2011. And according to Redstone officials, the implementation schedule will be met locally. For the incoming commands, that means completing those facilities that are still under construction and filling them with workers. Several of the facilities have already been completed and are occupied, including the 2nd Recruiting Brigade and the 2nd Medical Recruiting Battalion. Also two large commands have already relocated headquarters to Redstone – including the three-star U.S. Army Space & Missile Defense Command (SMDC) and the two-star U.S. Army Security Assistance Command (USASAC). Still under construction but close to completion is the four-star U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) 400,000 square-foot headquarters facility and the newest addition to the Von Braun Complex – the 840,000 squarefoot VB III that will house the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and some SMDC workers. The Redstone Test Center (RTC) has new facilities, including a 161,000 square-foot research and testing rotary wing facility/hangar and a 37,800 square foot rotary wing administrative facility. And bringing a four-star command means making room for its band. The AMC Band, which serves soldiers and civilians of AMC stationed at more than 140 locations worldwide, celebrated a ribbon cutting on its new facility at Redstone in late January. But more important than the buildings are
22
February 2011 Initiatives
the people that will fill them. The most critical and often most difficult factor in implementing BRAC is convincing the people who had the jobs to relocate with the organization. The Tennessee Valley community has fared better than any community in the nation in convincing employees to relocate to Redstone to keep their jobs. This was true in 1995 and once again the region is poised to exceed national standards. The success in recruiting is thanks in part to efforts of the Tennessee Valley BRAC Committee, consisting of community leaders from counties across north Alabama and southern Tennessee, who partnered with the impacted commands to actively recruit workers to follow the jobs to Redstone. Thanks to assistance from the State of Alabama, Tennessee Valley BRAC representatives traveled to those commands and met with the impacted workers to show them they were wanted and needed at Redstone. Since that announcement, the committee made numerous workforce recruitment trips to meet with workers, to address their questions, to discuss living and working in the Tennessee Valley and to discuss concerns, issues or provide information to those workforce candidates who were unfamiliar with the region. The Tennessee Valley BRAC Committee recently logged its final Town Hall recruitment effort at Ft. Belvoir. The three-day event capped a final push to reach out to those workers who are still contemplating the move. One of the great selling points for those workers has been Redstone, according to Tennessee Valley BRAC Committee Chairman Joe Ritch. “Redstone Arsenal is a regional economic hub – people live all over the Tennessee Valley and work at Redstone Arsenal. It is a diverse technology research and development federal campus and it just makes sense to move certain high tech functions here where the capabilities can continued on page 24
Von Braun III
the projected breakdown of the
Redstone workforce in 2011:
13
Rotary Test Center hangar
general officers
121
senior executive service members (2nd highest in the country) AMC
1,000
active soldiers
17,000
government contractor workers AMC Band
18,800
government civilian workers – according to officials with the Redstone Arsenal Garrison Command
Initiatives February 2011
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2011: IMPLEMENTATION!, continued from page 22 – continue to grow in support of our soldiers and in support of our regional economy,” Ritch said. Those efforts seem to be paying off. So far, 3,505 positions of the roughly 4,700 positions have been realigned. Of those 3,505 positions, 2,906 (about 83 percent) have been filled. And of those 2,906 positions that have been filled, 55 percent have come from outside the Tennessee Valley, easing some fears that the organizations at Redstone would be cannibalizing their respective workforce. Once all positions have been filled, Redstone will have a noticeably different workforce. According to officials with the Redstone Garrison Command, the projected breakdown of the Redstone workforce in 2011 will be: • Active soldiers: 1,000 • Government civilian workers: 18,800 • Government contractor workers: 17,000 • 13 General Officers • 121 Senior Executive Service members (2nd highest in the country) But while the official federal BRAC process nears completion, that implementation is only the beginning for the possibility of an even larger contractor support surge resulting from these commands moving to Redstone. The Huntsville/Madison County community is still growing from the 1995 BRAC decisions that brought U.S. Army aviation to Redstone and merged it with the U.S. Army Missile Command to form the Army’s Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM). If the 1995 BRAC were to be used as an indicator, the 2005 BRAC will likewise result in continued growth for years to come. Consider the following: since 2000 the Huntsville Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Madison and Limestone counties, has accounted for 24 percent of the state’s entire population growth. During that same period the area has also led the state with a net job growth of 24,200 for perspective. Montgomery was next behind Huntsville with 2,300 in that same period. And since the 1995 BRAC announcement, the Huntsville MSA has led the state in announced jobs from new and expanding industries in 12 of 15 years and was second 24
February 2011 Initiatives
in the three years it did not lead. So clearly BRAC has had a positive impact on the local economy over the past 15 years. But that kind of growth can create other challenges as well, as Garrison Commander John Hamilton pointed out at the recent BRAC to the Future IV event at the Von Braun Center. Hamilton challenged the community not to be content with the gains, but to use the growth as a catalyst for continued improvements in infrastructure and K-12 education. “Let’s not focus on the September 15 milestone,” Hamilton informed attendees. “We want to make sure our vision is focused on much more growth than what is defined by the BRAC committee. We have the ability to create synergies here in this community that are related to BRAC, but are not part of the BRAC. September 15 doesn’t mean we are done by any stretch.” Hamilton pointed out the importance the Redstone Gateway development should play in the continued growth of the community. Redstone Gateway is a mixed-use development surrounding Gate 9 that will create 4.6 million square feet of office, academic, retail, and entertainment space – part of which will be accessible to the general public, part of which will be secured space behind a new Gate 9 for the government. “Redstone Gateway is an important crossroads between Redstone and the community,” Hamilton said. “And it is an important part of creating more economic growth in the community.” Hamilton challenged the community to work to leverage the “transformational strategies” that will exist at Redstone. Those strategies include: • Materiel Management & Acquisition – which includes organizations such as AMC, the Aviation and Missile Command, USASAC, ACC, ECC and the program executive offices for aviation and missiles and space. • Space Operations and Missile Defense – which includes the U.S. Army Space & Missile Command, MDA and NASA. • Intelligence & Homeland Defense – which includes the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Missile Space Intelligence Center, the FBI and the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. • Research, Development, Test & Evaluation – which includes the Aviation & Missile Research, Development and Engineering
Center and the Redstone Test Center. “These can be a catalyst for growth. We need to use these transformational synergies – we should see more on that list in the future and I expect that there will be.” At the same event, AMC Brig. Gen. John Wharton also briefed attendees on AMC’s status and said the focus is not only to get the facility completed and the people moved, but also to do so in a seamless transition that causes no disruption of day-to-day operations. Wharton said the command employees were excited to be moving to Redstone and promised attendees they would be impressed by the attention and opportunities that a four-star command brings. Not many communities have the luxury of having the headquarters of a 70,000-employee company or organization located there. “AMC issued $92 billion in contracts in fiscal year 2010,” he said. “We have 70,000 employees worldwide and a $49 billion annual budget.” He said that if AMC were a company, it would rank 42nd on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. And not many communities can boast of having a four-star command. General Ann Dunwoody is expected to move to Redstone and will report to duty in March. She is the first woman in U.S. military and uniformed service history to achieve a four-star officer grade. Wharton said the community outreach to assist AMC with the transition has made a difference. “Thank you for what you are doing to continued on page 27
Redstone Gateway Development Plan • 468 Acres / 4.6M SF • 4.4M SF Class A office space including 1.2M SF Class A Secured “Behind the Fence” • Designed to adhere to ATFP standards • Gate 9 and Visitors Center to be relocated southerly to facilitate development phasing, infrastructure and orientation of secure campus
• Product types include academic campus, R&D/ testing • More than 100k SF of retail, service, restaurants, including up to 300 hotel rooms and conferencing facilities • Objective is to create the focal image or “Gateway” into Redstone Arsenal and to have a prominent sense of “place” for the Arsenal • Long-term success will further position Redstone Arsenal and Huntsville for more growth and more opportunities Initiatives February 2011
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Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County
2 0 1 1 S TA F F Brian Hilson, president & CEO Laura Kendrick, manager, investor relations
Communications John Southerland, communications director Kristi Sherrard, graphic designer
Economic Development Ethan Hadley, VP, economic development Steve Finnell, director, industrial development/ existing industry
Rick Davis, director, Cummings Research Park Harrison Diamond, economic development coordinator
Amy Locke, industrial development/existing industry assistant
Finance & Administration Christy Nalley, director, finance & administration Jamie Gallien, IT manager Mary McNairy, accounting specialist Lori Warner, accounting specialist Joe Watson, facilities supervisor
Governmental Affairs Mike Ward, VP, governmental affairs Tina Leopold, governmental affairs assistant
Member & Small Business Services Jenni Jeffers, director, member & small business services
Terrie Ledbetter, membership representative Mike Brazier, membership representative Donna McCrary, membership specialist Kathleen Byrne, events coordinator Mitzi Floyd, small business coordinator
Research & Information Services Ken Smith, director, research & information services Hiroko Sedensky, web designer/research specialist Urisa Rêvé Smith, information services specialist Donna Dingler, resource desk coordinator
Workforce Lucia Cape, VP, workforce Mark Brown, director, workforce recruitment
Associated Organization WBCNA (Women’s Business Center of North Alabama)
Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County 225 Church Street, Huntsville, AL 35801 phone 256-535-2000 / fax 256-535-2015 www.HuntsvilleAlabamaUSA.com 26
February 2011 Initiatives
2011: IMPLEMENTATION!, continued from page 25 –
The Missile Defense Agency’s Von Braun III facility was reported to be 85 percent completed in December. The building will house more than 2,600 workers once completed and include about 750,000 square feet of administrative office space, along with an 800-person auditorium and cafeteria. make this transition easy for us. We are on schedule and we are very excited about the move – it presents a tremendous opportunity for us. Harvey Player, special assistant to the executive director of MDA, also briefed the audience and informed attendees the move was on schedule. “Things are going well and we thank you for assistance as we near implementation,” Player said. One of the ways the MDA move will benefit the area and the state is with the high tech jobs they are adding to the community in addition to the high tech MDA workforce that was already here. “MDA has high-tech jobs – and high salaries. We recruit nationally to bring in the best and brightest. The economic impact is significant. We estimate the added payroll associated with the moves to Redstone to be $245 million in fiscal year 2011,” Player said. “MDA will remain a growth area for Huntsville and by the completion of BRAC, the majority of MDA activities will be located in Huntsville.” Last to speak at this event was Derrick Boegner, vice president of asset management, Corporate Office Properties Trust, who discussed the Redstone Gateway development. “This is the largest enhanced use lease being developed in the country right now, and we are very close to developing our first couple of buildings,” he said. “There is a lot
of demand right now and we will be working with the Garrison on those plans.” Of interest – he pointed out that more than 70 percent of the top 50 defense contractors are COPT tenants – meaning there is great interest from contractors for additional office space to go along with the plans that current and future government tenants have for additional office space. As BRAC 2005 nears completion, the challenges do not end. Capitalizing on the new capabilities mixed with the current capabilities, across government and business, mixed with the community’s will to makes positive changes and meet all infrastructure needs is critical, Hamilton reminded attendees. “This is no time to sit down. Our regional growth is outpacing our current capacities,” he said. “If we want to continue to recruit quality workforce, you can be sure they will be measuring every area of our community to make sure we can meet their needs. We have to ask ourselves these questions: Are we going to continue recruiting highly educated people such as scientists and engineers? Are we preparing our children, right now, to work in these kinds of jobs at Redstone Arsenal? Are we doing the things necessary to make that happen? We have things to do. We are good. We can be great. So I hope we look at 2011 not as a finish line, but as a benchmark.” • John Southerland Initiatives February 2011
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SPOTLIGHT ON 2010 Small Business Award Winner : Technology Services category
Initiatives recently met with deciBel Research Inc. President and Founder Dr. Bassem R. Mahafza to get more insight on the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County’s 2010 Small Business Awards winner, Technology Services category.
Q: How long has your company been in business? A: deciBel Research, Inc. was founded in 2002.
Q: In what industry is your business and what are your principal products and/or services? A: We specialize in research, development, and advancements of sensor technologies. deciBel’s primary customers include the Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM), Program Executive Office - Missiles and Space (PEO-MS), Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC), Missile and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC), Missile Defense Agency (MDA), Air Force Research Lab (AFRL), and MIT Lincoln Laboratory. deciBel is also providing key technical contributions to the NexRad Doppler Weather Radar program, and large prime contractors such as Raytheon, Boeing, and Northup-Grumman. deciBel Research possesses unique expertise in the area of radar systems research and technology. This experience is based on both academic and hands-on experience.
Q: Why was deciBel founded?
L-R: Dr. Bassem Mahafza, president and founder of deciBel Research, and Doug Bryant, President and COO of Davidson Technologies at the 2010 Small Business Awards.
A: Having worked in both industry and academia, I realized that there was a gap between the technologies being used in industry and the technologies being discovered in academia. I had a vision to bring together the brightest individuals to bridge this gap. In the beginning and still today, our company mission was focused and simple: to hire the best in the field and become the best sensor house in the nation. deciBel Research focuses on high technology research, development and on a high end product. We thrive on the tough problems that require extra levels of attention. This philosophy is working as our customer base continues to grow and we have made the Inc. 5000 list four years running and are currently ranked 2,425 in 2010.
Q: What has been the company’s greatest achievement? A: As a company, we have accomplished many things over the last few years. We have grown steadily during a difficult economic climate. We have opened a new office in Dayton and expanded our capabilities to serve new customers. However, it is the employees of deciBel that are our greatest achievement. I would put them up against any set of employees in any other company in our nation. They are extremely talented, skilled and are the cream of the crop. 28
February 2011 Initiatives
Q: What are your goals for the next five years? A: Growth: Growing in niche market. Leadership: we want to command instant respect and be associated with high performance. Brand naming: we take great pride in our products and we want deciBel Research to be synonymous with high performance products. Customers: we cannot grow without them and we want to grow more of them. We listen to them and see what keeps them up at night and try to help them solve their problems. We want to know how they define success and what their capabilities are in order to orchestrate a solution around their needs to provide best value to them. We want to be the first place they turn to for innovative solutions.
Q: What is the company’s vision? A: Our vision is to be recognized as the best sensors house in the nation. Internally, I want employees to feel like they are a part of a special culture both personally and professionally. If they are personally satisfied then they have positive energy focused on their family. And professionally, we offer challenging work every day. Employees comment on our high standards. Our vision is to create a high tech image which is good for our city and provide quality work. Our employees have written more than 12 textbooks which are currently being sold in the market and taught in universities and workshops. Our employees have published more than 200 papers. We hold regular classes for our customers and employees to promote this high tech image and maintain a positive culture of continuous learning in order to maintain our brand name and leadership in the field of sensors.
Q: How has being active in the Chamber helped you? A: Through the years we have learned how to take advantage of the different initiatives the Chamber promotes. We have been able to meet industry leaders, talk with them and exchange information in order to grow our business. We have also been able to help promote Huntsville and which gives us a sense of belonging. In addition, the Chamber has helped us to promote our company and our ideas. We cannot place a value on what we get from our involvement. • Initiatives February 2011
29
strength in
numbers
connects business prospects
“
As my firm enters the Huntsville
market, we are very thankful for the investors who have come before us to create exciting growth opportunities for the Huntsville community and our firm. Decosimo’s heritage is one based in community service. As a new community partner, we are committed to participating in the continued success of Huntsville. We recognize that successful communities result from dedicated partnerships and leadership from all sectors of the business community and we are proud to contribute.
�
For a list of investors, see page 4 or visit: HuntsvilleAlabamaUSA.com 30
February 2011 Initiatives
Derek Daniel, Manager of Huntsville Development
Decosimo
Certified Public Accoutants
HREGI Investor since 2010
Initiatives February 2011
31
Q-Track employees and leadership at the company’s headquarters in Huntsville. Q-Track’s technology functions as a GPS for indoors. The technology has limitless applications from homeland security to mining to logistics.
Technology on the Right Track Huntsville’s Q-Track Makes GPS for Indoors, Underground
I
Q-Track’s technology used in a coal mine.
At a demonstration sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, Q-Track turned in the fastest time in directing a rescuer to a downed firefighter.
32
February 2011 Initiatives
n the deep, dark catacombs of the Sago mine in West Virginia, 13 miners were trapped after a methane explosion. With precious time and oxygen quickly running out, rescue workers were scrambling to locate the miners. Unfortunately, they arrived too late for all but one of the 13 miners. Sago was one of the deadliest mine disasters in West Virginia in decades. The lack of information and spatial awareness of the miners proved to be fatal. “I had a retired miner come up to me after the event. He told me that if they had our technology they could have saved eight of the miners instead of just one,” recollects Stephen Werner, COO of Q-Track. Q-Track is a locally owned company that has developed technology that is tantamount to GPS for indoors as Jerry Gabig, the company’s President and Co-founder, likes to say. The technology is based upon discoveries by Dr. Hans Schantz, the company’s vice president for R&D. Schantz’s Near Field Electromagnetic Ranging (NFER) technology is based upon the use of low frequency radio (RF) waves. Q-Track’s technology uses low frequency RF waves as a means of measuring distances with accuracy within a range of a couple of feet. This characteristic of waves is markedly different from other technologies used to measure distance. More commonly used approaches to measurement focus on the time it takes to reach a destination or using the
relative strength of a signal. Neither of these ways works accurately in cluttered environments such as a house or a mine. The NFER technology is able to go where neither of these two approaches can and still be accurate. The technology the company has developed appears to have limitless applications. “The fun part about this company is that you never know how people are going to use our product,” Gabig says. Q-Track was founded in 2002 by colleagues of a Huntsville-based company. After discovering Schantz’s findings, the company’s founders realized they had a potential product on their hands. The company has since grown to 21 employees and is a graduate of Biz Tech, Huntsville’s high-tech business incubator. Q-Track has tested the technology in a variety of fields. One promising application appears to be for firefighters searching for victims trapped in a burning building. The Q-Track system uses a series of receivers outside a building that link with a medallion-like transmitter worn around the firefighter’s neck. The receiver and the transmitter communicate with each other and create a path of where the firefighter has travelled once inside the building. During a recent test of the product, Werner said that firefighters who used the technology took half as long to discover a missing rescuer than those without the
technology. In a life or death situation, those minutes add up. But beyond mining and fire rescue, the technology is equally applicable to logistics and workplace safety. One application is the operation of warehouses such as those that support automotive manufacturing plants. When the plant is running short of parts, it orders the parts from the warehouse. In most warehouses, pallets are identified when they enter the warehouse and when they depart. The record of the pallet’s location in the warehouse is made by forklift operators and is subject to human error. In large warehouses used to support automotive manufacturing, it is not uncommon for a pallet to be misplaced. Q-Track’s NFER technology provides an inexpensive solution to automatically and accurately record the location of pallets without having forklift operators manually record the location. Q-Track’s technology can assist with lean process improvements by making a record of the movements of employees. The paths traveled by employees can be analyzed to remove inefficiencies. Industrial safety is another application for this technology. As manufacturing becomes more and more automated and less reliant upon humans, dangers in the workplace can develop. Robotic cranes lifting heavy supplies are usually equipped with a laser that determines if anything is in proximity, says Gabig. “The lasers are not very effective because they can’t distinguish between someone not being in the way and someone just bending over to tie their shoes. Our technology acts like a shield. The robot knows not to move if someone is within a certain distance of it,” he said. Q-Track’s technology is drawing attention from several sources. The company has earned major funding from such government entities as the National Science Foundation, Department of Homeland Security, DARPA, and others. In late 2010, the company earned second place honors in the West Coast Global Security Challenge. According to the Global Security Challenge, Q-Track has joined “the ranks of our previous finalists and winners who have raised over $78 million in fresh capital via our competitions and challenges.” Clearly, Q-Track is on track for growth. One doesn’t need a GPS to figure that out. • Harrison Diamond Initiatives February 2011
33
Growth Through Networking The Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County hosts numerous events each month to create networking and business growth opportunities for members and to coordinate efforts to grow our community. Examples of recent events include:
State of the City Address with Mayor Tommy Battle presented by The Boeing Company
When the Mayor speaks, more than 1,200 Chamber members listen.
WBC Quarterly Forum Luncheon presented by iBERIABANK
Dr. Victoria Grady (center) discussed change and helped with the age-old question: “Whatever Happened to Linus’ Blanket?”
5th Annual Holiday Open House presented by AT&T
Everett and Angie Brooks enjoyed the food and entertainment provided by local Chamber members as they kicked off the 2010 holiday season. Chamber members benefit from networking events, electronic and printed publications, educational programs for small business and, perhaps most importantly, the knowledge that they are part of a collective effort to establish Huntsville/Madison County as a stronger, more visible community in the global competition for economic growth.
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February 2011 Initiatives
community profile
TOP 10 EMPLOYERS City of Huntsville Madison Metro Area
Redstone Arsenal* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,000
Population
Madison County
City of Huntsville
2000 Census
276,700
158,216
29,329
342,376
Huntsville Hospital System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,280
Current Estimate*
327,744
179,652
39,875
406,316
The Boeing Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,000 Huntsville City Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,000
Households & Income # of Households
128,729
75,737
14,707
155,251
Avg. Household Income
$75,911
$71,775
$94,538
$73,316
Per Capita Income
$30,835
$31,226
$35,496
$29,026
*July 2010
NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,500
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov), 2009 American Community Survey
Madison County Schools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,389 SAIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,242 City of Huntsville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,206 UAHuntsville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,675 Sanmina-SCI Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,578 Source: Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County *includes on-site contractors
Aerospace & Defense Huntsville/Madison County is home to the U.S. Army Redstone Arsenal and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center which combine to drive a thriving aerospace and defense technology industry. More than 36,500 people work at Redstone Arsenal and NASA managing some of the country’s most important and sophisticated technology programs including missiles, aviation and space exploration.
Research & Technology Huntsville’s Cummings Research Park has earned a reputation as a global
For more information visit:
park in the U.S., Cummings Research Park is home to more than 285 compa-
HuntsvilleAlabamaUSA.com
nies and 25,000 people involved in technology research and development.
leader in technology development. The second-largest science and technology
Initiatives February 2011
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Q&A with Charlie Kettle New Chamber Board Chair Discusses 2011 Challenges and Opportunities Charlie Kettle, the 2011 Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/ Madison County, recently sat down with Initiatives to discuss the Chamber’s challenges, goals and objectives for 2011. Kettle, president of First Commercial Bank, said he is excited about the opportunity to help the Chamber continue the community’s economic growth, but noted there are plenty of challenges ahead that need to be met to continue that growth. What are some of the most important things you would like to see accomplished during your tenure as Chair?
CK: It is very important that we work with our local school boards and community partners to improve the educational system in this community. The Chamber is in a support role here – we want to help the appropriate groups to improve the K-12 education system in Huntsville. All communities have a brand – all businesses have a brand. And the brand of our community is our intellectual capacity. We have smart people here who do smart things. We cannot ever jeopardize that – we need to lead in our educational programs to continue our pipeline of intellectual capacity. That is critical to our economic development efforts and our workforce recruitment efforts. We also have to continue to build on our momentum in economic development. Not only will we continue to aggressively market and recruit, but we will also work to utilize the strength and skills of our current economic base to expand. There are many areas we will focus on, but also at the top of this list is working with our elected officials, locally and in Montgomery, to ensure they have an understanding of this community’s unique needs. And this outreach is critical this year with so many new officials in office – this will involve constant communication and education on our part. We want to make it as easy as possible for everyone who can help us to do so. 36
February 2011 Initiatives
What do you see as some of the key challenges facing the Huntsville/ Madison County community’s continued economic development growth?
CK: This relates to the previous question in that helping improve our local K-12 education system is so pivotal to the success of our future economic growth. It is a challenge that our community must work together to solve. Another challenge continues to be the national economic environment. We are not immune to that in this community, but we have to work diligently to overcome those trends so we can to be a community that continues to be benchmarked nationally. Our community has a rich and wonderful heritage in supporting the federal government - especially through numerous U.S. Army and NASA programs and we are going to continue to work to increase those programs where appropriate. While we work to grow and serve the federal government even more, we need to ensure that we do not become too dependent on the federal budget. Certainly there is some national focus on cutting federal government spending in the near future. We would be irresponsible not to acknowledge this. So this looks to be a challenge in the coming year.
How do you see the Chamber addressing some of those challenges?
CK: Regarding education – we cannot ever afford to lose out on attracting an educated, talented workforce because of fears that our community cannot meet the educational growth needs of their children. So a new addition to our Huntsville Regional Economic Growth Initiative, which includes the Chamber’s goals and objectives for the year, is to work closely to support the appropriate education groups in our community to raise awareness and communicate needs and the challenges that need to be met. On the state of the national economy – obviously we have fared better than many communities. And as I said, we certainly are not immune to the current national financial environment, but we cannot sit still and wait for it to work itself out. We have recently started the Chamber Technology Committee with the idea of leveraging the technical capabilities of our many small and large tech-businesses to create new capabilities, new products, new services that will in turn create more opportunities for entrepreneurs, small businesses and large businesses. This example actually helps address the challenge of being too dependent on Department of Defense and NASA budgets. Thanks to that unique technical capability we have in this community, there are great opportunities to first of all expand the number of government customers we support – doing more work with the Department of Energy is a great example. And our Chamber needs to be able to be part of a system that creates more opportunities to further diversify our technology base. We have a lot of great stories of entrepreneurs here who have created or developed technology that can be moved into a more commercial application. But we will be working with our community partners to be part of a solution that leverages those technical capabilities and to create more opportunities and more growth. Lastly, the potential growth in life sciences in many ways defines our potential future as a true tier 1 tech community that leads our country while further diversifying our economy. It is imperative that we continue to grow this area of our local economy. We will continue to be proactive in marketing and recruiting our targeted industries in aerospace, defense, computer science, life sciences and advanced manufacturing, which all are part of our HREGI initiatives.
With a new governor and many new elected officials taking office in the State, how is the Chamber planning to work with the State’s new leadership to ensure that the infrastructure needs of our community can be met to handle the continued growth?
CK: We will continue to clarify our community’s needs through the development and delivery of our annual state agenda. We work with all areas of our community annually to get this agenda identified, verbalized and presented to our state delegation. Secondly, with the major turnover of elected officials this past year, we need to work hard with our local representatives to give them the selling points to fight in Montgomery to meet our infrastructure needs. The State is a vital partner of ours in all of our economic development efforts. But we need to meet with them in Montgomery. We need to get the state legislators here to Huntsville so they can see what drives our economy and better understand those infrastructure needs. This involves a great deal of outreach and communication. We have great relationships with our state officials. We are excited to work with Governor Bentley and his staff. He appointed Seth Hammett, the former speaker of the house, director of the Alabama Development Office. That is exciting because Seth has spent a lot of time in North Alabama – he understands our economy and he is a champion of what we are doing here. His support has always been important and now we get the opportunity to work even closer with him. Likewise we are so excited to see John Cooper be named by Governor Bentley as the new director of the Alabama Department of Transportation. John has a great history here – having served as CEO of Avocent (now Emerson/Avocent) and Adtran, and as a board member of our Chamber. With the 2005 BRAC implementation scheduled to be completed in September of this year, do you see additional challenges related specifically to this implementation?
CK: The key to ensuring successful implementation is to make sure we meet our infrastructure needs and continue to strengthen our K-12 education programs. At the Chamber’s recent BRAC to the Future event the commands that are still in transition all reported that they were on schedule with facilities completion and getting the jobs moved. We will continue to work closely with Team Redstone, the Tennessee Valley BRAC Committee and all of our elected officials to ensure that we do everything necessary to help all commands to ensure successful completion.
What do you think makes the Huntsville/Madison County community different from other technology-based cities?
CK: This community has a lot of really smart people, but a lot of communities can make that claim. However, this community more than any I’ve ever seen has a foundation of working together here. This goes way back – you’ve long seen companies working together, businesses and government working together and our community leaders working together. There is a palpable ‘can-do’ attitude in this area and it’s clear that the people in this community do not want to settle for being second best.
You have been involved with the Chamber as a volunteer for years now. Why do you think businesses and organizations here should join the Chamber?
CK: The Chamber has long proven to be a catalyst for growth in this community. Whether it is through the specific growth of small businesses through increased networking opportunities, to training and seminars designed to assist business owners in growing their businesses, to specialized programs such as our CEO Roundtables that help decision makers of companies to help mentor each other and meet and resolve challenges that are common to multiple, diverse industries and organizations. This Chamber has more opportunities and programs for small businesses to survive, to thrive, to grow and prosper than I think you will find in any Chamber in the nation. And our small businesses are absolutely the bread and butter of our local economy.
Do you expect to see any announcements coming out any time soon for future BRAC rounds?
CK: The 2005 BRAC has been called the largest economic development project in the history of this state. Team Redstone continues to be a magnet for research, development and technology. It is an absolute gem in our nation – there is nowhere quite like it and we are the beneficiaries of great leadership, great vision from many individuals and organizations for the success and growth of Redstone. So as BRAC 2005 comes to a close, we know from the 1995 BRAC that it really doesn’t end. We expect to see continued growth in support of those moving commands. And there is always the possibility of future BRACS, you hear rumors that there could be other announcements – or that there will be future BRACS that may take a different form. The point is – Redstone is attractive to government entities just like Cummings Research Park is attractive to R&D companies. BRAC gains create growth in other ways. In 2010 the U.S. Army Contracting Command and the Expeditionary Contracting Command announced they would also relocate to Redstone to join AMC. These happened thanks to BRAC, but were not part of the initial BRAC announcement – those are the positive indicators you want to see. Why should organizations invest in the Huntsville Regional Economic Growth Initiative?
CK: HREGI is going to be the future of this community’s economic growth. Without HREGI, this Chamber cannot recruit our targeted industries. We cannot market our community. We have seen just an amazing amount of great business rankings and headlines from national and even international media over the past several years. Much of that is due to our image development program, which is part of our HREGI strategic goals. This cannot be done without HREGI investment. The development of our federal and state agendas, which help protect and grow our programs, prioritize our needs, could not be done without HREGI. Quite simply – HREGI is the way this community can literally be part of the solution that brings more people, more potential clients and more potential growth to our community. Initiatives February 2011
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Donna Dingler Reource Desk Coordinator
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hen people call the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/ Madison County, they are greeted by the cheerful, helpful voice of Donna Dingler, Resource Desk Coordinator, and the most recent Employee of the Quarter. The Illinois’ native helps people get in contact with the right people at the Chamber to find the right information that they need. According to Dingler, the questions range from who to contact about getting a business license to questions about the many events happening around Huntsville. As the Chamber’s first line of assistance, Dingler has probably been asked anything the mind could imagine. Dingler also plays a role in helping people who are looking to move to Huntsville with their job or to create a fresh start for themselves. Every year, the Chamber mails out nearly 5,000 relocation packages. Dingler mails each one of them. “I like working at the Chamber because of all the people I get to interact with, that includes coworkers, Chamber members and the
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general public. I have learned a lot about Huntsville and Madison County in two years and every day I continue to learn something new,” Dingler said. “It is very gratifying to be recognized by my peers for Employee of the Quarter and I am blessed to work with such a great group of people at the Chamber and the Huntsville/Madison County Community.” Dingler’s fellow employees commend her on her professionalism. “Donna is wonderful at making people feel at ease. As often the first person interacting with the public, she is the face and voice of the Chamber to many visitors, families and companies looking to move to the area. Her professionalism and commitment to helping people presents the community and the Chamber in a positive light and makes a great first impression,” said Ken Smith, director of research and information services. Dingler has an MBA from the University of Phoenix. She and her husband Cameron have a 2-year-old daughter, Caitlin. •
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Future-Focused Chamber Technology Committee Pairs Business with Innovation
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echnology is what makes Huntsville tick. From rockets to robotics, biotech to ballistics – our economy relies on the application of science, technology, engineering and math in the fields of aerospace, defense, telecommunications, life sciences, and advanced manufacturing. And as a community we have been very successful in winning contracts, creating jobs and garnering media recognition and national rankings, such as “second-highest concentration of high-tech workers in the country” (TechAmerica Foundation, Cybercities Report, December 2010) and “one of the country’s leading hotbeds for high-tech growth” (Area Development, December 2010). See the Newsroom link at www.huntsvillealabamausa.com for a complete list of media recognition and economic development highlights. To build on this success, the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County has formed a technology committee to facilitate collaboration and innovation for the benefit of regional economic development and job creation through new products, services and markets. Chaired by John Gully, SAIC senior vice president and Systems and Technology Solutions business unit general manager, the committee consists of small, medium and large Chamber technology companies and federal partners with a wide variety of interests and expertise. “This committee enables key stakeholders in our community to join together to work on important projects, engage small businesses, anticipate the needs of our customers , and explore new opportunities to build on our collective strengths,” said John Gully. “Large companies like SAIC will benefit from collaborating with other leaders in the technology arena to 40
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Marty Kress, executive director of the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation, addressing the technology committee. identify innovative technologies needed for the future. Likewise, smaller companies and entrepreneurs will benefit from the resources of larger companies, their established contract mechanisms, and their network of relationships across industries resulting in a win-win-win scenario for our customers, businesses and community.” At the first meeting in January, the Technology Committee heard an overview of the Huntsville Advanced Defense Technology (ADT) Cluster Initiative led by the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation and a presentation on Cyber Huntsville, a cyber security task force led by Dr. Rodney Robertson at the Auburn University Huntsville Research Center. The committee was also asked to provide input to the Chamber’s state agenda on science and technology. Five subcommittees have been identified, tracking with the ADT Cluster Initiative: small spacecraft, environmental monitoring, intelligencesurveillance-reconnaissance, robotics/interoperable systems, and innovation energy applications.
Additional subcommittees will be created as new technology focus areas are identified. Participation on subcommittees is open to any Chamber technology company. “The Chamber Technology Committee is something that will differentiate Huntsville/ Madison County from other regions,” said Marty Kress, executive director of the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation, “And something that will provide key capabilities to key customers.” In addition to the technology focus areas, the committee will identify and address enabling technologies that cut across subcommittees, such as telecommunications and data transfer. This attention to both horizontal and vertical technologies will ensure that all types of tech companies will benefit from the committee, and it opens the door to commercialization of both end products and system components. • Lucia Cape
For a list of companies on the Technology Committee or to become a part of a subcommittee, go online to
www.huntsvillealabamausa.com/techcommittee.html
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The Chamber’s 2011 Annual Trip to the State Capitol brings key leaders in state government together with the elected and business community leadership from Huntsville and Madison County to discuss the Chamber’s State Agenda and other critical state and local issues. The trip features a reception for the entire legislature, Governor and members of the Governor’s Cabinet and meetings with select Cabinet Members and the leadership of the Alabama Legislature.
Tuesday-Wednesday, March 22-23 Prices (not including hotel): Registration and charter bus to Montgomery $225 Registration only
$175
Hotel Information: Embassy Suites Hotel & Conference Center Downtown 300 Tallapoosa Street Montgomery, Al. 36104 Direct: (334) 551-4035 Fax: (334) 269-1746
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