Oklahoma Business Roundtable Newsletter September 2013 A Message from President Carl Edwards The Oklahoma Business Roundtable s fall membership meeting will be held October 15 at 4:30 p.m. at the Governor s Mansion in Oklahoma City. Governor Fallin, Lt. Governor Lamb and state commerce officials will give remarks along with our keynote speaker, Steve Felice, President and Chief Commercial Officer for Dell. Roundtable officers met in mid-september to review the current budget and prepare recommendations for the upcoming Executive Committee meeting. A report will be given to you on October 15. As you may know, Governor Fallin now serves as Chairman of the National Governors Association. In her role, she has announced a major national workforce initiative, America Works: Education and Training for Tomorrow s Jobs, which spotlights improving education and workforce training systems and aligning those systems with the needs of individual state economies. (See announcement below).
We appreciate the hard work of our Governor, Lt. Governor, Commerce Department and statewide economic development partners. The state continues to benefit from their strategic efforts to create more wealth by attracting jobs and new corporate investment. Secretary of State Larry Parman was the guest host at an annual business recruitment event in New York City. Commerce Department staff and state economic development partners hosted several dozen guests, including targeted business executives and site location consultants. During the next few months we will review our budget and work directly with our state s leaders to, hopefully, provide additional assistance to help open more doors for economic growth statewide. Carl Carl Edwards Welcome to the Table! The Roundtable is pleased to welcome the following new member companies and their representatives: BizJet International, Tulsa Manfred Gaertner, President & CEO Braum s, Oklahoma City, Mark Godwin, Chief Financial Officer Irish Realty, Oklahoma City, John Kennedy, Founder and CEO NBC Bank, Oklahoma City and Statewide, H.K. Hatcher, President WPX Energy, Tulsa, Marcia MacLeod, Senior Vice-President of HR & Administration
FALL MEMBERSHIP MEETING Oklahoma Business Roundtable Fall Membership Meeting October 15, 2013 Governor s Mansion 823 NE 23 rd Oklahoma City 3:00 Executive Committee 4:30 Membership Meeting 6:00 Cocktail Reception Mansion Security requires that all attendees pre-register with full name and date of birth Photo ID required to enter Mansion grounds Parking available in Capitol lot on Phillips Avenue west of the Mansion Register with Ann McVey at (405) 235-3787 or by email to amcvey@okbusinessroundtable.org Keynote Speaker for October 15 Steve Felice serves as president and chief commercial officer for Dell. In this role, he leads the Dell sales and marketing teams that deliver innovative and practical technology solutions to consumers, small and medium businesses, public institutions and large enterprises worldwide. Prior to his current role, Steve was senior vice president and president of the Consumer, Small and Medium Business group, and also led operations for Dell in the Asia-Pacific and Japan regions. He has also been responsible for global corporate customers based in the United States and has held various executive roles in sales and consulting services organizations. Steve joined Dell in 1999 from DecisionOne Corp., where he served as chief executive officer and president. Under his guidance, the company became the largest independent provider of multivendor computer maintenance and technology support services in North America. Steve also worked for Bell Atlantic and served as vice president, Planning and Development, with Bell Atlantic Customer Services. He also spent five years with Shell Oil in Houston.
Oklahoma Quality Foundation Best Practices Conference The Oklahoma Quality Foundation provides an array of organizational and leadership development training and support to Oklahoma companies and groups. The high quality programs are designed to help organizations improve results and become more competitive through performance excellence. The Roundtable supports these events and invites members to participate at no cost. Limited space is available. Upcoming events include: Best Practices Conference (OKC) The conference will feature industry leaders throughout Oklahoma and the region to share best practices on driving performance, excellence, including the techniques for new generation learning and breakthrough performance. Friday, November 8, 2013 Cox Convention Center / OKC 8am-4pm Contact: Heather Griswold at heather@oklahomaquality.com or call 405-815- 5295. Visit the OQF website at http://www.oklahomaquality.com/events/ for details on this and all upcoming events. From Office of the Governor Governor Mary Fallin, Chairman of the National Governors Association recently announced her chair s initiative, America Works: Education and Training for Tomorrow s Jobs, which spotlights improving education and workforce training systems and aligning those systems with the needs of individual state economies. Improving our workforce and ensuring it remains internationally competitive issue that calls for national attention and demands gubernatorial leadership, Gov. Fallin said. Our future
economic security will require significant improvements to our education system and workforce training programs. It also will require closer relationships among our high schools, colleges, workforce training providers and employers. Nearly 50 years ago, more than 75 percent of jobs required only a high school diploma or less, and most paid a good wage. Today that number has dropped to roughly 40 percent for jobs available to high school graduates and dropouts and less than a third of those jobs pay more than $25,000 a year. Nationally, just more than three-quarters of public high school students make it to graduation. And of those who continue their education, only about half finish a degree or workforce certificate program. While a high school diploma was usually sufficient for our parents generation to have access to a good life, today a postsecondary degree or relevant workforce certificate is the new minimum, Gov. Fallin said. Failing to provide all of our students with opportunities to successfully navigate postsecondary education will cap far too many students potential and limit their access to the middle class. America Works: Education and Training for Tomorrow s Jobs will specifically focus on: Engaging education, business and government leaders in a dialogue about what governors can do to more closely align K-12, universities, community and technical colleges and workforce training providers with future labor demands; and Supporting governors and their staff in using data and information to identify states future labor demands, prioritize changes in state education and workforce training systems to meet those demands and take action to achieve desired results. Oklahoma In New York The Oklahoma Business Roundtable helped sponsor the 13 th Annual Oklahoma Business Reception at the 21 Club September 19 th. There were approximately 60 guests representing site location consultants and executives representing various businesses who have Oklahoma operations. The Oklahoma Department of Commerce led a contingent of Oklahoma economic developers who went on 20 appointments to promote Oklahoma in offices throughout New York. Secretary of State Larry Parman and his wife Darlene also attended this year s event and were a big asset in talking up Oklahoma. Special guest, author Meredith Whitney, appeared
and made a few short remarks commenting on how well positioned Oklahoma is for growth. She was the economic analyst who in 2007 predicted the housing bubble in 2008. Her recent book, Fate of the States: The New Geography for American Prosperity, argues that a new map of prosperity: is emerging in the wake of the bust, with jobs moving away from the coasts and toward 17 central corridor states in the Midwest and the Mountain West. Oklahoma is included in this grouping of states. Commerce Department Produces Oklahoma NOW Recruitment Video The Oklahoma Department of Commerce has unveiled a new business recruitment video that highlights the state's business ecosystems and boasts the state's national rankings and advantages for each industry. It was developed to encourage further investment in Oklahoma and bring about interest from in-state and out-of-state jobseekers in key areas of economic opportunity. "The Oklahoma NOW video is a valuable recruitment tool for employers, economic developers, and community leaders in Oklahoma," said Governor Fallin. "It will help Oklahoma gain attention on a global scale, while igniting passion and civic engagement at a local level. This is a video about the many things we have to be proud of as a state, and I am excited about sharing it with our community and with the world." The video production was a statewide effort resulting from a strong private-public partnership, with over 40 entities from private industry, education and state and local governments contributing. The video represents the official launch of a global media campaign to promote Oklahoma to national and international stakeholders. Oklahoma NOW can be viewed at www.okcommerce.gov. The Good News Tulsa s BOK Center ranked 17 th in the U.S. and 43 rd in the world in Pollstar Magazine s Mid-Year Top 100 arena Venues. Oklahoma City ranked 4 th among the nation s Top 15 Aspirational Cities, by the Daily Beast. The survey was based on economic and quality of life factors. The top three cities were Austin, New Orleans and Houston.
The 2013 Information Week 500 List of Top Technology Innovators includes American Fidelity Assurance, Sonic Corporation, University of Oklahoma and OGE Energy. In a recent residential customer satisfaction survey, J.D. Power ranked OG&E as the top utility in its region for the second time in three years. ONG has also received the highest regional rating for customer satisfaction by J.D. Power for the second straight year. Public Service Company of Oklahoma s parent company (AEP) has been selected as one of Site Selection Magazine s Top Utilities in Economic Development for 2013.