The Fort Worth Chamberletter

Marker placed on Tarrant Co. Courthouse grounds near TCU’s 1910 location

In the late 1870s, Fort Worth’s Hell’s Half Acre had too much rowdy action going on downtown for a Christian school. So the Fort Worth Board of Trade (now the Fort Worth Chamber) teamed with a landowner and Christian churches to bring the school that had become Texas Christian University back here in 1910.

TCU didn’t promise to stay more than 10 years. But 100 years later, the university celebrates a “Century of Partnership” with Fort Worth with a year-long series of events.

In the first public event, the Chamber and TCU team up again with the dedication of a Heritage Trails historical marker sponsored by TCU, Monday, August 30 at 10 a.m. on the east lawn of the Tarrant County Courthouse at the corner of Commerce and Weatherford Streets, near the site where TCU leased space in 1910.

“TCU and the City of Fort Worth have enjoyed a mutually-beneficial relationship for the past 100 years,” said TCU Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr. “Through this relationship, TCU has been able to grow and evolve into the world-class, values-centered University it is today. It is hard to imagine TCU without Fort Worth.”

“Partnership is the perfect word” to describe the relationship of the Chamber of Commerce and TCU, said Mac McLain, chairman of the Fort Worth Chamber Foundation, which funds the Heritage Trails project. “With the Foundation’s focus on education – from early childhood to post-secondary studies – it’s fitting that a Heritage Trails marker chronicles a piece of Fort Worth’s long-time support of higher education.”

Bill Thornton, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Chamber, echoed that. “Companies are looking for intellectual capital when they consider investing in or relocating to Fort Worth, and TCU’s rich history and prestige bring positive attention to our area’s strength in higher education.”

After beginning in Thorp Spring, Texas, in 1873, TCU moved to Waco, Texas. A fire destroyed the Waco campus in 1910, leading the University to seek other locations. After receiving proposals for multiple Texas cities, TCU selected Fort Worth based on its generous offer from civic leaders. The University spent a year in a series of rented buildings in downtown Fort Worth until moving to its present location in 1911. TCU will celebrate this return and partnership with the city of Fort Worth over the next year through a series of events and activities.

In about six months, the TCU marker will be mounted on granite and positioned at a two-foot slant in the same location.

For more information on the Century of Partnership, visit www.worthcelebrating.tcu.edu. For information about Heritage Trails, visit www.fortworthheritagetrails.com.

What the Heritage Trails marker says

Texas Christian University and Fort Worth’s partnership dates to 1910, although the connection began in 1869 when Ida, Addison and Randolph Clark established TCU’s forerunner academy in the area known as Hell’s Half Acre. The rowdiness of the area persuaded the Clarks to relocate their school to the country.

So began the moves and changes that led TCU to Thorp Spring, Waco and back to Fort Worth in 1910, after fire destroyed the main building on the Waco campus.

The Fort Worth Board of Trade, an antecedent of the Chamber of Commerce, the Fairmount Land Company and the city’s Christian Churches offered 50 acres, $200,000 and promises of utilities and a street car line, outbidding Waco and Dallas.

Until facilities were constructed on “the Hill” – site of the present campus – in 1911, TCU leased space downtown in Ingram Flats, a series of two-story brick buildings at Weatherford and Commerce Streets.

Background on Heritage Trails

Twenty-three bronze sidewalk markers, concentrated on Main Street from Heritage Park to the Water Gardens, tell the story of Fort Worth’s history, people, places and events. A seven-foot-tall, powder-coated steel kiosk at the corner of Main and Second Streets serves as a downtown directory and provides Heritage Trails guide maps.

A joint project of the Fort Worth Chamber Foundation, Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Downtown Fort Worth, Inc., Heritage Trails plaques educate and entertain residents and visitors who are intrigued with Fort Worth’s history and western heritage. The markers bear a signature cubistic longhorn design from 1936 by Evaline Sellors, a sepia-toned screened illustration, and a brief historical narrative. Each four-foot-tall, freestanding marker is sponsored by a local business or organization.

In 2002, Heritage Trails project was launched as the legendary Sleeping Panther sculpture by Deran Wright was installed on the lawn of the Tarrant Co. Administration Building, recalling the 1873 Dallas Herald column citing Fort Worth was such a quiet town that a panther was seen sleeping on Main Street.

Some Chamber members may be asking “Who moved my cheese?” when looking for their Small Business professional and personal development programs.  But as the best-selling book of that title declares, “movement in a new direction helps you find new cheese.”

The Chamber’s Minding Your Business and Lunch & Learn programs for small businesses have been combined into one series called “Impact Your Business,” which will include breakfast, lunch and happy hour networking events. Presenting sponsor of the series is Sandler Training; platinum sponsor is Charter Business.

Because small businesses comprise about 90 percent of the Chamber’s membership, this segment is critical to our organization and to our local economy.  So members of the Chamber’s Small Business Council (SBC) Committee have re-invigorated the group’s programs.

The committee, chaired by Ray Dickerson, Fort Worth market president of American National Bank of Texas, includes past Small Business of the Year winners, sponsors, regular attendees to SBC programs and some “new blood” that had not been previously engaged.

“This committee is made up of a diverse group of businesses that are a great representation of the overall demographics of the chamber, so we can be most effective,” said Scott Sherwin, president of Sandler Training. “The council focused on topics that would benefit small businesses, putting them as the primary focus and including sessions that are pertinent to them today.”

Lydia Hall, the Chamber’s senior director of business services, pointed out a need to expand the program to a broader membership audience.

“Previously, we had good programming and the participation was steady, but we had a lot of no-shows that would prohibit other members from attending,” she said.  “With the changes, we’ve gone from about 40 to 50 attendees to sold-out luncheons with 100 attendees.”

Hall began the SBC program revamp with a survey of member small businesses with 150 employees or fewer.  Questions about time of day, value and quality of the programs, and desired topics yielded data for staff and the committee to base decisions. The committee focused on topics and speakers, while staff researched affordable venues conducive to networking, learning, ease of parking and other factors.

“I am really excited about some of the changes the committee has made for this year,” said Pepper Hudson, owner of Pepper-L-Specialties. “Reducing the length of time of the morning meetings, starting them earlier and allowing time before the meeting for networking will be a great benefit. It will allow us to be back in the office a little after 9 a.m. to start the day.”

Next up, the SBC committee will look at continuous improvement of the Small Business of the Year award program and encourage more businesses to nominate or apply for the recognition.

“Winning Small Business of the Year has been the biggest boost to Alexander Chandler Realty than anything else we have done,” said Alexander Chandler, president of Alexander Chandler Realty. “The recognition has been nothing short of phenomenal and I encourage anyone who is a member to apply and nominate your peers.”

A schedule of the year’s programs is here. Please contact Lydia Hall with suggestions or comments.

Areli Casiano counts many blessings this first week of her freshman year at the University of Texas in Austin.

High on her list is the college preparatory program, Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID), in which she excelled at South Hills High School for three years, recently graduating in the top 10 percent of her class. All Fort Worth Independent School District high schools and middle schools are AVID sites.

Areli reveres her AVID teacher, Kristen Bulger, “who always received me with a bright smile and her arms wide open,” Areli recalls. “Without her, I would not be going to college. She always told us: ‘Never give up the ship.’”

Areli Casiano and AVID teacher, Kristen Bulger

And Areli treasures the $500 scholarship she won in an essay contest sponsored by a partnership of the Fort Worth Chamber’s South Area Council and First Command Educational Foundation, a Chamber member whose chief executive officer, Vickie C. Mauldin, serves on the council’s board. South Hills is the council’s adopted high school.

Areli won first place, focusing her essay on how she benefitted from AVID, which strengthens “students in the middle” with academic rigor, goal-setting and other challenges, including learning good citizenship and how to give back to the community.

The program “gave me the hand I needed to stand up and start walking toward a better future,” Areli wrote in her essay.

Bulger describes Areli as “the epitome of what AVID stands for,” but “her dedication to others shines most to me.” An example, Bulger said, is the support group for newly arrived immigrant students that Areli and a classmate organized, led and passed along to other AVID students to continue this coming year and in the years to come.

Among Areli’s greatest blessings, she says, is her mother’s advice: Hija, siempre ve hacia delante. “Daughter, always look forward.”

That view has guided Areli through many challenges.

In 2004, commitment to looking forward brought the Casiano family from the mountainous Mexican town of Teziutlan, Puebla state, near the border of Veracruz state, to Fort Worth.

“My parents wanted to give my brother and me a better future,” she said. “They wanted us to learn a new language and to give us the tools to be successful.

“When my parents told me that we were immigrating to the United States, I thought I was living in a nightmare. I thought my life was over.”

But, in looking forward, Areli mastered English and amassed numerous academic achievements through middle school and at South Hills.

For now, Areli hasn’t decided on a career path. She’s interested in either architecture or communications. “I’ll probably change my mind,” she said. But, as Bulger and AVID taught her, that’s a natural blessing of growth.

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Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program in Fort Worth schools.

This school year’s opening bell rang in a new era at the Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD).

Beginning now and by the fall of 2011, Gold Seal Programs of Choice will be changing students’ focus from just getting a high school diploma to graduating with certified strengths for post-secondary career paths. Those paths may lead to either higher education or immediate entry into the workforce with marketable credentials for jobs in many industries.

“We are preparing for a world we can’t even imagine, because it’s changing so quickly,” said FWISD Superintendent Melody Johnson. “This is just the beginning.”

Tailored to students’ interests, plans call for each high school to offer Gold Seal programs next year for careers in high-demand areas in North Texas such as health science technology, architecture/construction, aerospace engineering, information technology, arts and audiovisual technology, culinary arts and advanced media.

“Goodbye, old mass-production model of education,” the district’s annual report states. “Hello, new Gold Seal Programs of Choice. These highly specialized courses of study target areas that strongly interest students and provide hands-on, real-world experiences to prepare them for the job market of the future.”

“A workforce pipeline can’t be built by classroom education alone. Students must see a purpose in classroom instruction to remain motivated,” said Cynthia Miller, the Chamber’s senior director of Workforce/Education. “Gold Seal will help employers easily identify high school programs that correlate with their business endeavors.”

Budgets and program lineups should be ready for school board consideration by October, administrators say.

The programs eventually will extend into middle schools where students will select and begin studies for career paths. “We know kids might change their mind, but we want them going into high school with a (career) vision in mind,” Mike Sorum, FWISD chief academic officer, told the school board in a March presentation.

Two Gold Seal programs launched this month:

– Young Women’s Leadership Academy (YWLA) at 1066 W. Magnolia Ave., Fort Worth’s first single-gender public school, provides 75 sixth-grade students and 75 seventh-grade students with advanced academics and a focus on Science, Math, Engineering and Technology (STEM) courses. Students were selected according to a number of criteria, including academic performance, attendance, student leadership and behavior, teacher assessment and an essay.

A Young Men’s Leadership Academy will open next year. Both single-gender academies will relieve students of social and cultural pressures found in coeducational settings, administrators say, and will help them to concentrate on studies and development of personal strengths. Both academies eventually will extend through the 12th grade.

Led by Principal Mia Hall, YWLA partners with the Addison-based Foundation for the Education of Young Women; Girls, Inc. of Tarrant County, and Motorola, which has provided a $25,000 grant.

– Texas Academy of Biomedical Sciences (TABS) at W.C. Stripling Middle School opened with a $720,000 grant from the Sid Richardson Foundation.

The “school within a school” partners with the University of North Texas Health Science Center in preparing 74 eighth graders gifted in math and science for degree programs and careers in biotechnology, biomedical science research and medical fields.

Administrators expect TABS enrollment to grow to more than 400 students in grades 9-12 by 2013.

A third Gold Seal program, Southwest High School’s Southwest Academy of Petroleum Engineering and Technology, began its second year this month. The academy partners with the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA). Students will graduate fully prepared for college or the energy-related workplace where they can begin careers in areas such as chemical, graphic or computer engineering, geology and computer science.

Industry experts provide extra training for teachers. The IPAA brings engineers into the classroom to mentor students and share special insights. Field trips include visits to production sites where students see how their lessons apply in the professional world.

Such private-sector involvement and mentoring are vital to Gold Seal students’ success, Johnson said.

Gold Seal programs “will require time and resources, human and financial,” Johnson said. “But we owe this to our children, to their future and our own.”

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• Young Women’s Leadership Academy
• Texas Academy of Biomedical Sciences
• Southwest High School’s Southwest Academy of Petroleum Engineering and Technology

You may have seen in last month’s Chamberletter that the Fort Worth Chamber has enthusiastically endorsed Journal Communications as the new publisher for our 2011 Newcomer and Economic Development Guides.

We are thrilled to announce that companion websites will also feature fresh, new expanded content, video, photo galleries and more.

“The Chamber conducted an extensive RFP process, with the guidance of a task force of Chamber members in health care, real estate, education and marketing,” said Marilyn Gilbert, executive vice president of marketing. “We were impressed by Journal’s 22 years of success in both producing and marketing chamber-specific magazines. We think advertisers will be delighted with the quality of the magazines as well as the addition of digital opportunities.”

Journal publications are distinguished by strong photography and video images, attractive graphic design and well-written editorial content. Journal also produces stand-alone websites for additional content and search engine optimization.

Journal’s clients include the Texas Economic Development Division of the Office of the Governor, the Greater Pueblo, Co. Chamber of Commerce, and the Greater Akron Chamber. Last year, they delivered 94 magazines across the United States.

Showcasing the best of Fort Worth’s people, places and progressive business climate, these magazines will reinforce the area’s favorable quality of place while also targeting prospective residents, employees, businesses and visitors.

The magazines will be distributed by the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce as well as through key local businesses, trade shows, conferences and events throughout 2011, including Super Bowl guests!

“Forward-thinking communities like Fort Worth are what every person considering a move, and businesses seeking to relocate, want to find out about,” says Ray Langen, executive vice president for Journal Communications. “What better way to get this information to this specific audience than through a magazine and website containing the exact information they need? We are proud to partner with such a progressive area.”

Journal’s advertising rep Rhonda Graham will be contacting members in August with specifics. For more information, or contact Cindy Hall, Sales Support Manager at (800) 333-8842 or at chall@jnlcom.com.

When Eric Schrader and Gil Laserna sought a name in 1997 for their new fence company, they took their clue from the busy buzz of honey bees’ teamwork and human word-of-mouth news about something exceptional.

The result: Buzz Fence Services, now known as Buzz Custom Fence, a small business that has followed future-focused strategic planning, research and other best practices to expand across the Metroplex while adding new products and services every year and picking up a wide range of awards along the way.buzz 1

They won the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce’s 2006 Small Business of the Year Award in the 1-10 Employees category. This year they won the award in the 11-50 Employees category, reflecting company growth even during economic recession.

Buzz Custom Fence’s President Denise Schrader, Vice President Eric Schrader and General Manager Gil Laserna lead a two-time winner of the Small Business of the Year award.

Presented by American National Bank of Texas, 2010 SBOY winners were announced during Mayor Mike Moncrief’s State of the City address at the Fort Worth Convention Center. Sponsors included the Fort Worth Business Press, The Neely Entrepreneurship Center at TCU and Raymond James & Associates Inc.

Certified as woman-owned, Buzz Custom Fence serves a diverse mix of residential and commercial customers, including producers in the Barnett Shale natural gas play.

“I am proud to say that we work for every major producer in the Barnett Shale and many other suppliers and vendors that support the industry here,” said Mishelle Lancaster, Buzz Custom Fence marketing manager.

President Denise Schrader, Vice President Eric Schrader and General Manager Laserna focus the company on customer satisfaction, strong relationships with suppliers and building employees’ expertise. “A knowledgeable and experienced employee is a premium,” Lancaster said, “and the key to the Buzz success story.”

During winters, she added, “we spend countless hours designing and developing our game plan for the upcoming year. By doing this we can be staffed correctly, resolve weaknesses, have viable goals and targets for the new year and have a map that keeps us pointed toward our original vision.”

Quality control measures involve a 6-step program that includes Sales Quality Audit cards with which customers evaluate the design specialist’s performance after the initial presentation. Customers also receive Service Quality Audit cards after completion of a job.

Buzz Custom Fence gives high priority to community involvement. “We are fortunate that our industry lends itself to being able to help others,” Denise Schrader wrote in the SBOY application. The company has donated materials and labor to numerous non-profit operations, from churches and charitable agencies to downtown Fort Worth events.

Such involvement reflects character, Lancaster said, as does the SBOY award. “Winning the award shows a high level of integrity, and we are most proud of that. It’s our goal to promote small business, and all business, in Fort Worth. Winning the SBOY of 2010 has given us a magnificent platform from which to do that.”

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Buzz Custom Fence website.

2010 Small Business of the Year Award winners.

A bilateral trade partnership between Fort Worth, Germany’s Free State of Lower Saxony and its capital, Hannover, is taking shape in moves that may pay off within a year.

“Our goal is to have Fort Worth companies doing business with Germany by 2011,” said David Berzina, the Chamber’s executive vice president of Economic Development. “Germany is the No. 1 economy in the European Union. They have a history of producing quality product,” and their businesses and industries match up well with Fort Worth’s.

There’s also interest in expanding trade relationships between Fort Worth and cities in China, Berzina said.

China

In early May, representatives from the Chamber and the City’s Economic Development Department joined a six-day Fort Worth Sister Cities trip to Zhaoqing, China, just northeast of Hong Kong — a “small town” with a population of more than 4 million.

They also visited the modern, industrial “forest city” of Guiyang, population around 4 million, more than 400 miles farther northeast in the Guizhou Province. Guiyang’s green mountainous setting makes it one of China’s top tourist destinations.

Both cities were finalists to become Fort Worth’s eighth sister city. Guiyang won the recommendation.

Chamber Research Manager Lacy Kreger posted daily blog descriptions of developments as the delegation explored each city’s rich cultural and education strengths and business possibilities with help from Fort Worth executive Walter Chaing, CEO of CP&Y engineering consulting firm, who served as translator and advisor.

Germany

In Lower Saxony and its capital city of Hannover, the June 21-25 trade mission established numerous relationships that are opening a path to bilateral trade.

Berzina and Melonye Whitson, the Chamber’s director of Local Business Development, met with business, industry and university representatives who are key players in the state’s recovery from global recession-related challenges.

Ulrich Hartmann, a Hannover native who holds a B.A. and MBA from Texas Christian University and who considers Fort Worth as his second hometown, began discussion with the Chamber last year about the trade mission.

Hartmann supports and facilitates business development for key businesses in Hannover Region and Lower Saxony – a role that involves monthly trips to Fort Worth for meetings with business and industry leaders here.

“I have always been interested in seeing a business exchange between Fort Worth and Hannover Region since my days at TCU business school,” Hartmann said. “The dominant industry sectors in Fort Worth and Hannover Region are complementary: production technology, logistics, energy solutions, IT and communications technology.”

Whitson reported on the trade mission with daily blog posts on the Chamber website, including sessions with Deutsche Messe, which manages Hannover’s 11-million-square-foot, 27-hall convention complex, the world’s largest and home of CeBIT, the world’s largest computer trade show, and Hannover Fair, the world’s largest industrial show.

At every meeting, Chamber representatives “were enthusiastically welcomed, and the conversations were positive and productive,” Hartmann said. “We are encouraged.”

Deutsche Messe will share its massive database of participants with the Chamber and will assist with other details as Kreger, Whitson and Berzina refine matchups between businesses and industries here and in Lower Saxony and Hannover.

Hartmann will bring a trade delegation from Hannover and Lower Saxony to Fort Worth October 26. Part of the mission will include sessions on Texas accounting rules, laws, banking and real estate.

The Chamber is weighing a trade exchange in the spring of 2011, Berzina said, and is considering how to communicate with members who may want to participate in the 2011 CeBIT in March and Hannover Fair in April.

“You’ll see us get behind an awareness campaign with Germany,” he said, while searching for additional domestic and international business. “We’re out there looking for opportunity.”

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Trade Mission details, Oct. 24-28

Hannover economic report.

Lower Saxony state profile.

Football fans at this year’s Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl won’t want to miss the Armed Forces Adventure Area presented by Armed Forces Insurance (AFI, www.afi.org ) on December 30 and 31. Located at the entrance of TCU’s Amon G. Carter stadium, this special two-day exhibition of helicopters, tanks and military might, along with fun and adventure for the whole family, is free to the public.

New this year, guests at the Adventure Area will have the opportunity to cheer on their favorites when the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders take on active duty soldiers in Iraq via webcam in a “Guitar Hero” Challenge, courtesy of AFI, Pro vs. GI Joe and the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. The battle will take place at the AFI booth from 3-5 p.m. on December 30. Families of competing soldiers will have reserved seating in the booth to view the competition.

Donations will be accepted at the booth and used to create and send care packages to men and women serving overseas in active military duty through Give 2 The Troops, a nonprofit organization. In addition, fans also will have the opportunity to win prizes by competing in Guitar Hero contests, which will be ongoing in the AFI booth all weekend.

The fun will continue on December 31 as the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl begins the New Year’s Eve festivities with an 11 a.m. kickoff. Join thousands of other fans at Amon G. Carter Stadium to pay tribute to the men and women of the United States armed forces and ring in the New Year.

Tickets range from $20-$50. As a thank you for their service, military veterans receive half-price tickets, and active military personnel may attend for free due to our corporate ticket underwriting program. For more information or to purchase tickets, please call 817-810-0012 or visit ArmedForcesBowl.com.

Data provided by Strategic Insight Group
Intelligence Research Partner of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce

The Fort Worth Transportation Authority is moving along on plans to add new, more modern buses to its fleet, and to extend Molly the Trolley service from downtown to the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District… The T plans to purchase eight of the buses…and [they]are expected to be on Fort Worth streets in the fall of 2010.
Fort Worth Business Press, Aug 24, 2009

VirtualHealth Technologies, Inc. announced that its subsidiary Secure eHealth, LLC has entered into a preliminary agreement with DRM Security of Fort Worth, TX to license CIFRA, a secure messaging and data delivery platform that will change the way healthcare practitioners collaborate with one another.
Pharma Investments, Ventures & Law Weekly, Aug 2, 2009

The Dannon Company, Inc. awarded Tarrant Area Food Bank $30,000 in support of its Operation Frontline nutrition program, which serves families and their children in north central Texas. The Dannon Next Generation Nutrition Grant is aimed at promoting childhood nutrition education programs in Tarrant County.
Medicine & Law Weekly, Aug 28, 2009

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas is pleased to announce it has awarded Z’s Cafe a $3,000 economic development grant through Southwest Bank in Fort Worth, Texas… Z’s Cafe is the brainchild of Fort Worth caterer and personal chef Janet Z. Capua, and her son and business manager, Carlo Capua. The Capuas opened the cafe in February, and now employ 11 Samaritan House residents.
GlobeNewswire, Aug 31, 2009

Andre McEwing, president and CEO of Southeast Fort Worth Inc., is aggressively working on a program to pump exterior improvement dollars into existing homes in the city’s Southeast section in hopes of starting a domino effect. And so far, McEwing has $40,000 in commitments to get the program rolling.
Fort Worth Business Press, Aug 3, 2009

More links:

• View the full list of Economic Updates online.

Data provided by Strategic Insight Group
Intelligence Research Partner of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce

Construction of the planned shopping and residential development at the former Masonic Home and School in southeast Fort Worth should be in full swing by October. The commercial development is called Renaissance Square. A site plan shows about 480,000 square feet being divided among 30 retailers. The layout designates a 63,000 square-foot grocery store, an 89,000 square foot department store, a pharmacy, and junior anchor and casual dining restaurants. Star-Telegram, July 15, 2009

Bell Helicopter will begin deliveries this month of a new, light twin-engine helicopter, the 429, after having receiving certification from the Federal Aviation Administration and Transport Canada Civil Aviation…Final assembly will take place in Bell’s plant in Mirabel, Canada, but several major components, such as the blades, rotor hub and transmission will be manufactured in Fort Worth, according to Bell officials. Fort Worth Business Press, July 2, 2009

Fort Worth was the 10th-fastest growing city in the country in 2008 and three other Texas towns were in the top 10, according to the U.S. census population estimates released Tuesday. Star-Telegram, July 1, 2009

Houston-based LGI Homes is expanding into the Fort Worth market, buying 210 finished lots in an unfinished Wall Homes development in far south Fort Worth. Star-Telegram, July 13, 2009

The architecture and engineering firm, Freese and Nichols, was named No. 7 among the Best Medium Companies to Work for in America by the Society for Human Resource Management and the Great Place to Work Institute. Star-Telegram, July 2, 2009

More links:

• View the full list of Economic Updates online.