Greg Junek: Sunday Briefing

East Texas people and organizations will pick up honors from the Small Business Administration Dallas/Fort Worth District on May 1 in Arlington for their contributions.

A.P. Merritt of Merritt Tool Co. in Kilgore, Judy Loden of the Greater East Texas Certified Development Corp. in Tyler and the Greater East Texas CDC itself will take home awards.

That’s a pretty good percentage coming this way, considering that the chapter will give out 11 or 12 awards to recipients in a 72-county area of Texas.

The event is in conjunction with the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Week 2008, which will be celebrated this week in Washington, D.C.

Locally, the SBA of Dallas/Fort Worth will present the awards at a May 1 luncheon where Jim Sundberg, executive vice president of communications and public relations for the Texas Rangers and former all-star major league catcher, will be the keynote speaker.

The event will run 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the Sheraton Arlington Hotel, 1500 Convention Center Drive, Arlington. For more information and to purchase tickets, call the Arlington Chamber of Commerce at 817-543-4298.

Merritt, president and chief executive officer of Merritt Tool Co., was named 2008 Small Business Person of the Year.

“It is such an honor to receive this award. All of our employees work very hard to make Merritt Tool successful,” Merritt said. “I know my dad would be very proud of what this company has become.”

A.P. Merritt Sr. founded Merritt Tool in 1928 as an oilfield tool manufacturing company. The company had early success with its “gold fishtail” bit used to drill hundreds of oil wells in East Texas.

The company diversified, and Merritt Tool was awarded its first government contract in 1949 when it was chosen to repair and manufacture bomb loading carts at Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio. It is now involved in multiple civilian and defense aerospace contracts, ranging from the Boeing 737 to military technology, such as the F-22 Raptor, the V-22 Osprey tilt rotor aircraft and the Joint Strike Fighter.

In 1988, Merritt Tool was a national winner of the organization’s Small Business Subcontractor of the Year competition for contract work performed for Boeing Helicopter Co. The company was one of 197 small businesses out of several hundred thousand government subcontractors nationwide at the time to receive the award.

Ms. Loden will receive the Financial Services Champion of the Year honor and the Greater East Texas CDC will receive the Most Improved Certified Development Corporation award.

Ms. Loden began the CDC in 1995 in Athens. She turned it over to John Hart in 2000.

She recently rejoined it as vice president of servicing.

The CDC recently relocated its offices to Tyler and increased its full-time staff to accommodate growth.

The company provides longterm, fixed-rate financing to small and medium sized businesses for real estate and fixed asset acquisition, construction and expansion throughout the state.

“The district office is privileged to recognize some of the brightest and most talented entrepreneurs and champions for small business. The competition was very tough and the winners were selected from nominations submitted from North, Central, and East Texas,” SBA Director Herbert Austin said.

Tourism Conference

The East Texas Tourism Association announced it will have its 45th Annual Tourism Conference May 6-8 at the LaQuinta Conference Center in Marshall. The Marshall Convention & Visitors Bureau will be host of the event, which is likely to attract tourism promoters from across East Texas.

This year’s conference is titled “Movie Magic,” and speakers will share information about movie-making in the area and the state.
They include:

Pam Minick, marketing director for Billy Bob’s Texas. She has appeared in more than 1,000 nationally televised rodeo, equestrian and country music specials and has worked with people such as George Strait, Tim McGraw, Brooks & Dunn, Reba McEntire, Bo Derek, Larry Mahan, Walt Garrison and Reggie Jackson. She also appeared in the movies, “The Sacketts” with Tom Selleck, and “Rodeo Girl” with Katherine Ross.

Carol Pirie, deputy director of the Texas Film Commission. She will speak about Gov. Rick Perry’s Film Friendly Texas program, which emphasizes how on-location filming is good business for a community. Filmmakers and production staffs spend money on products from lumber to groceries to gasoline to hotel rooms to furniture rentals. Film Friendly Texas provides information to communities on how to effectively handle on-location filming for large or small film projects.

Jonathan de la Luz, an East Texas filmmaker, will present a case study on the economic impact of his recent production, “Agenda” which was filmed in Longview. His production company Aziza Pictures implemented several strategies to work with local business and governmental agencies to achieve their goals.

Registration forms are available on the tourism association Web site, www.etta.com.

Business Editor Greg Junek may be reached at 903-596-6280, or by e-mail at business@tylerpaper.com.

Greg Junek
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