February 25, 2015  
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FACES & PLACES POW                                                                                  
It shouldn't be a surprise that the Royal Blue Group led by CPA Allyson Baumeister of Sanford, Baumeister & Frazier won the Chamber's massive, two-day membership campaign last week. All Baumeister had to do was casually mention her close friendship with the IRS. Eight groups and 150 volunteers signed up 234 new members, bringing the Chamber total to 2,161 and making it even more difficult to win a B2B Insider giveaway. L to R: Jimmy Cusano, Your Chamber Connection; Netty Matthews, Fort Worth Chamber "Goodfella"; Allyson the "Godmutha"; Bill Thornton, Fort Worth Chamber; and a "Top Dawg" Cynthia Sadler, Frost.

View additional photos of the event here and see more details below.
PRESS YOUR LUCKPrizes
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Mystery solved: Mr. B knows how the downtown Frost Bank robber could disappear -- poof! He got lost in the adjacent Grace Restaurant wine list. Have you seen that volume of vineyard-ry? Page after page of wines, more wines, beer and cocktails, so much so that Wine Spectator designated Grace its Best of/Award of Excellence from 2011-14. And Mr. B hasn't even gotten to the food menu. Hope you're not too hungry because here's a tease: If you were to order a steak with this dinner for two, here is a sampling of toppings -- caramelized red onion and mushrooms; black truffle butter, house-made thick cut bacon, chimichurri, American artisan blue cheese, espresso horseradish, butter poached Maine lobster or lump crab, asparagus and béarnaise (Oscar).

 

Hashing out a speech: Because it is called the Mayor Price Is Right's State of the City address, the first lady knows the Chamber wants her to speak during the March 4 luncheon at the Fort Worth Convention Center. Without a chief of staff -- Jason Lamers took the last train to BNSF Railway -- she turned to Mr. B for writing help. Mr. B emceed a Q&A with the Mayor once and she loved him. Sent him a selfie thank you with a note, "What a wreck!" B always is glad to help the Mayor and for her speech, he X'd-out anything about budgets, customer service, neighborhoods, transportation and I-35. What's in is a short talk on her favorite Kardashian, tweets and bike helmet designs. Then she X-d me in favor of your questions. Go to www.YourFortWorth.org and submit your ideas and comments. If you'd like to attend as Mr. B's guest, send your favorite Mayor Price Is Right hashtag. 

 

Green beer vs. green veggies: Cowtown Goes Green is the bestest St. Paddy's Day celebration/parade in Fort Worth. This year's event is Saturday, March 14th from noon to 4:30 with free activities for kids, including a petting zoo, face painting, games and contests with 92.1 Hank FM Party Patrol. There's also live Irish music by 5 Second Rule, Irish dancing, gunfights and a Stockyards Station special western/green-themed parade after the 4 p.m. Herd cattle drive. Free, free, free, all thanks to Stockyards Station. So why do we need Mr. B? He's got a $50 gift certificate courtesy of rodeo sweetheart Sarah McClellan-Brandt good at any shop or restaurant inside Stockyards Station. 
 
This business is hot! Renfro Foods has new Chipotle and Ghost Pepper barbecue sauces (yes, barbecue) due out this spring. They are re-formulated with no high-fructose corn syrup and gluten-free. That got Mr. B to thinking about Shark Tank inventions. New idea? Checki Wiki. Already done.  New idea? Checki Wiki. Already done. Until he tried Ghost Pepper butter. Wiki? No! And there isn't a pre-made Chipotle, peanut butter and banana spread. No inventor's fee necessary, Mr. Doug Renfro; have at it. Meanwhile, B2B Insider readers can have at this 4-pack of jars of Chipotle, Ghost Pepper and Classic barbecue sauce and one jar of salsa.

 

Congratulations to Feb. 18 Prize Winners:

  • Alison Wise, Waterchase Golf Club
  • Cole Taylor, Gus Bates Insurance
  • Diana Dugan, THUMBTECHS
  • Todd Collinsworth, Mutual of Omaha Bank
     

Winners will be announced weekly 
Thanks to our sponsors:
 
   
 
HE SAID, SHE SAID, THEY SAIDSoundBytes
Members Only: As mentioned in the Faces and Places above, Sanford, Baumeister & Frazier's Allyson Baumeister led the top Chamber membership campaign group that raised $25,506 in new memberships last week. The team led by Transwestern's Jim Sager led with $7,850 and Sager hisownself was top individual with $4,810. Other Group chairs were Kelly Decker, Decker Jones P.C.; Tom Galbreath, Dunaway & Associates; Craig Harbuck, Higginbotham; Rosa Navejar, The Rios Group; Mark Nurdin, Bank of Texas; Becky Redman, Lockheed Martin; Whit Smith, WhitneySmith Co.; and Staci Kirpach (Runners Chair), Project Partners. More recognitions in tomorrow's Chamberletter.

3 more years, 3 more years: Fort Worth councilman Sal Espino pointed out during
a Chamber North Area Council luncheon last week that I-35 North, TexRail to the airport and Panther Island bridges projects are scheduled to be completed during 2018. "The problem for council is we have to run for re-election every two years...2017."

Pivot points: Sean Evans, today a respectable Merrill Lynch financial advisor, once was a high school scalawag, a graffiti expert of sorts. He turned that passion into a retail storefront design and paint service company during college at the University of North Texas.    
 

SBOY, oh boy: During a reception before the State of the City luncheon next Wednesday, the recipients of the Chamber's Small Business of the Year Awards, presented by NorthStar Bank, will be announced. They will be recognized again during the luncheon. See the 12 finalists here.                

 

Divided she stands: Anna Brewer grew up in hoops-crazed Lawrence, Kansas, three doors down from the home of basketball founder James Naismith. She attended TCU and stayed here, a CVA working in the healthcare consulting group at accounting firm JTaylor. How smart is bandwagon Brewer? She is a Frogs football fanatic and equally boisterous about KU basketball.  

 

Money talks: Jon Winkleried had nearly 30 years' association with Goldman Sachs, leaving in 2009 as co-president. He spoke last week during the Tandy Speaker Series breakfast, a program of the TCU Neeley School of Business. Some highlights:   

  • "Ben Bernanke (Fed) and John Paulsen (Treasury) -- without them, we wouldn't have made it through the recession. Two people willing to act without a road map and with a vacuum of leadership." 
  • "You can't have a risk culture without a risk management culture."
  • Winkleried today is very involved with technology companies. Asked to compare Google, Facebook and Apple, he said: "Google has a great footprint. I love the diversity of its businesses; Facebook ... its management is tops. Zuckerberg is unbelievable; Apple is an amazing company. It has to figure how to keep expanding. Apple Pay will be a big deal."
     

Ya'll come back: Jason and Elizabeth Weeks of Aflac were gracious hosts at the Cowtown Coliseum rodeo to the 14 Latin American business folks visiting Fort Worth and hosted by TECH Fort Worth through last Saturday. David Scott works for Jason and is a former bull rider (13 years) and a heck of a country dancer. He explained the different events to the visitors and told of his time bull riding. After the rodeo, at Billy Bob's Texas, David and Elizabeth taught the visitors a little line dancing and two-stepping.  

 

You are my sunshine: Great weather earlier this month (remember that?) and a year's worth of growth allowed Fort Worth Bike Sharing to post startling comparative numbers recently. Feb. 6-8, 2015 vs. Feb 7-9, 2014 shows 225 more rider rentals, 322 more trips and 118 more miles logged.
"I'm excited for our firm to be nominated. I'd be more excited to win."
                                                 -- Tonya Veasey, owner OCG PR
on Chamber Small Business of the Year competition
Time to be gun shy: "I probably shouldn't say 'guns up' since I work at the police department," wrote Jami Hoffman with the City of Fort Worth Police Department when trying to win tickets to see Texas Tech men's basketball team.

Dynamic duo: Raymond Davila received Reliant's coveted Reliant Pinnacle Award for 2014. He was the Top Business Development Manager for the Commercial Mid-Market Channel. "I attribute a large portion of my success to the Fort Worth Chamber and networking events." Raymond received an all-inclusive paid trip to Jamaica this April. "I plan on bringing my beautiful wife, Norma Rae Davila." Another smart move. Norma is no sales slouch herownself. She was the top data and phone seller during January at Charter Business.

Richly deserved: Am-Bass-Adorable Bridget Shelton, sales manager at Embassy Suites Hotel Downtown, on potentially winning a Powerball lottery...if only -- "I would purchase a home on the water somewhere. It would have a boat, a couple jet skis and a hammock.  I would then invest the rest of it.  (My father is a Financial Advisor so I have to say that.)"

Watershed thinking: The amount of water pumped last year by the Tarrant Regional Water District would fill AT&T Stadium 140 times. Heck, just the water saved would fill it 40 times. Jim Oliver, GM of the TRWD, can drown you in impressive numbers and facts:
  • The planned pipeline from Lake Palestine is 150 miles long and big enough to drive a car through. More than 250 local businesses are involved to the tune of $330 million.
  •  Lawns only need a drink twice a week.
  • Fort Worth water supply is at 63% capacity, compared to Hill Country at 35% and N. Central Texas at 24%. Still, lakes are low and the drought persists.
  • For years, we turned our back on the river. Today, Trinity River Vision has projected a $3.4B economic impact from developments.
Is there enough ribbon? Wonder if Am-Bass-Adorables still will be smiling or might they be sleeping after five ribbon cuttings during the next eight days. Today they are (eating?) at Vivo 53 at 525 Taylor Street; tomorrow at 10:45 they are plumbing news at North Texas Winsupply, 201 East Risinger Road; Friday (eating?) at 11:45 at Golden Chick, 3409 North Tarrant Parkway; Monday (thieving?) at BankSNB, 301 Commerce Street, Suite 3100 (check out that view) and Wednesday at 9:45 at the groundbreaking of another EECU. (Heritage Trace Branch at 3451 Texas Sage Trail) Photos from many Chamber ribbon cuts can be seen here.

Ensuring a smile: Show-and-tell joke time from Allstate agent Diana Troy -- Question:  What's the difference between a life insurance actuary and a Mafia don? Answer: The actuary can tell you how many people will die this year.  The Mafia don can tell you the names of all of them. 

Fireside chat: Laura Kinkade of Texas Boys Choir and THE artistic Kinkade family says DreamVision got Thomas Kinkade's blessing before he passed away to use his winter paintings as a guide to build the landscapes. DreamVision has preliminarily announced a multi-billion winter park on 5,000 acres somewhere near Fort Worth.
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