Chairman Joachim Hofmann, MBUSI Vice Chair/Chair Elect Arndt Siepmann, City of Auburn Vice President Education Dr. Anna Gramberg, Auburn University Vice President Business Development Greg Barker, Alabama Power Company Vice President Communication Anne Marie Seibel, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP Vice President Culture Gerhard Graf, Ashford Advisors, Inc. Vice-President Membership Alan Wood, SS Nesbitt and Co. Inc. Secretary/Treasurer Lamar Smith Immediate Past Chair Al Reisz, Reisz Engineering

J. Bruce Jones

Judy Benson, CRH North America Grey Brennen, Ala. Bureau of Travel & Tourism Michael Brooks, Ala. International Trade Center Victor Brown, Birmingham Regional Ch. Of Com. Billy Joe Camp, World Business Advisors, LLC Al Cook, Opelika Economic Development Dr. Thomas Fox, University of Alabama Ed Gardner, Jr., St. Clair County Eco. Dev. Council Ethan Hadley, Huntsville / Madison Cty Ch. of Com. Michey Harbin, AT&T Andreas Hackstedt, ISE Innomotive Syst. US, Inc. Rita Powell, FDSK Glen Pringle, Retirement Systems of Alabama Jim Robertson, Rödl Warren Averett, LLC Jim Schmalz, Regions Bank Mark Sheppard, Alabama State Port Authority Tom Stroud, Moreson Conferencing Ted vonCannon, Metropolitan Dev. Board Dr. Robert Weigel, Auburn University Bryan Winter, Adcox Lewis Smyth & Winter, PC

Rex Lysinger, Bill Mathews , Don Erwin, Dr. Phillip Crunk, Lamar Smith, Dara Longgrear, Dr. Jane Stanfield, Dr. Clara Gerhardt, Jim Robertson

Patricia Coghlan, AlabamaGermany Partnership

Executive Director

Past Chairs

Board of Directors

Honorary German Consul

Executive Committee

Volume VI Issue 2: April 2009

Editor: Anne Marie Seibel, Managing Editor: Patricia Coghlan, Assistant Editor: Julia Böhm-McKay

The AlabamaGermany Partnership Execu-tive Director’s Trip to Mobile took place from March 11 to March 13, 2009. The trip was attended by AGP Vice Chair Arndt Siepmann (City of Auburn), AGP Vice President of Culture Gerhard Graf (Ashford Advisors), AGP Vice President of Member-ship Alan Wood (SS Nesbitt and Co.), Jim Robertson (Rödl Warren Averett), Chris-toph Bata (Rödl Warren Averett), Chela Canter, Andrea Taylor (Merrill Lynch), Lau-ren Goodson (Cornerstone Recruitment), Alexander Maier (Hofmann Services), James Kimbrough, III (Hofmann Services) and AGP Executive Director Trish Coghlan.

(Continued on page 3)

IN THIS ISSUE

2009 Annual Dinner & Business forum 1 AGP Executive Directors Trip to Mobile 1, 3 Event Review: Berlin Airlift 2 Member Spotlight: Bert Steel Pipe Corp. 3 Member News: Lufthansa 3 NBA Game in Atlanta 4 Member News: Moreson Conferencing 4 New Members 4

This year’s Ala-bama Germany Partnership An-nual Dinner, Si-lent Auction and Business Forum will take place April 23 and April

24, 2009 in Montgomery at the Renaissance Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center. The nominees for the 2009 Rainer Bauer Award and Education-Culture Award have been selected and will be presented at the Annual Dinner on April 23, 2009. There will be many great speakers for this year’s Business Forum, which will be held on April 24, 2009 with the topic ‘Continuous Improvement, How to stay ahead of the game’. Among the speakers are Bill Taylor (MBUSI), Mike Carver and John Anderson (CRH North America), Joe Fadool (Continental Corporation), and Matthew Hughes (Alabama Department of Postsec-ondary Education). The Annual Dinner and Business Forum will be a great opportunity for networking and learning. If you would like to attend any of these events and haven’t registered yet, it is not too late. You can still register until April 17 at our website at alabamamgermany.org. If you or your company are interested in sponsoring this event, please call Bryan Winter at (205) 553-5353. Should you have any items you that you would like to donate to the Silent Auction, please call Gerhard Graf at (205) 982-9938.

AGP Event Review Executive Director’s Trip to Mobile

AGP Event Outlook 2009 Annual Dinner and Business Forum

(L-R) Mobile Chamber member Christopher Schatzman (Citi Smith Barney), Trish Coghlan (AGP), J. Bruce Jones (Honorary German Consul), Mobile Chamber member Allen Fowler (Citi Smith Barney), Sheryl and Tom Bates at the American German Business Club (AGBC) Stammtisch at the SkyView Lounge in Mobile.

(L-R) James Kimbrough, III (Hofmann Services), Alexander Maier (Hofmann Services), host and tour guide Uwe Arenz (Plant Manager, Berg Spiral Pipe Corp.), Lauren Goodson (Cornerstone Recruitment), Alan Wood (SS Nesbitt and Co.), Gerhard Graf (Ashford Advisors) and Andrea Taylor (Merrill Lynch) touring the Berg Spiral Pipe facility in Mobile.

Volume VI Issue 2: April 2009

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A SPECIAL THANKS

TO OUR SPONSORS!

Red Level

Gold Level

Flag Sponsors 2008

AGP Event Review

Berlin Airlift Opening Ceremony

Black Level

The AlabamaGermany Partnership was founded in 1998 to foster ties and serve as a resource for members and others interested in a strong

business and cultural relationship between Alabama and Germany.

For additional information, please visit our website at www.AlabamaGermany.org.

On February 27, 2009, the Alabama Veter-ans of the 1948-1949 Berlin Airlift were celebrated, honored, and awarded special Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) Friend-ship Awards in Birmingham, Alabama. Remarkably, 19 out of the 22 known Berlin Airlift veterans in Alabama were present at the celebration, reception and dinner at the Southern Museum of Flight. This celebration was lead by Trish Coghlan, Executive Director of the Alabama Germany Partnership (AGP), with the help of AGP volunteers and Board Members, along with the support of the Government of the FRG, the German Embassy in Washington, D.C., the Office of the Consul General of the FRG in Atlanta, GA, the Office of the Honorary Consul of the FRG in Alabama, the United States Air Force, the Alabama Air National Guard’s 117th Air Refueling Wing, the Ala-bama Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, the United States Air Force Auxiliary, the South-ern Museum of Flight (SMF), and several German and American companies, such as ISE Innomotive Systems, Hofmann Services, Friends of German Culture, Huntsville, Magic Express Airlines, the Joseph H. Brady Assembly of the Knights of Columbus, and individual donors.

(L-R) Gerhard Graf, Col. Pollyanna Padden (Maxwell Air Force Base), Dr. Jim Griffin (Director of the Southern Museum of Flight) and June Griffin.

(L-R) Toni Dutton, Fay Bachus, Veteran Harry Bachus, Congress-man Spencer Bachus, Linda Bachus and German Consul Gen-eral Lutz Görgens.

(L-R) Trish Coghlan, David Carter and Berlin Airlift Veteran Herschel Carter at the dinner following the celebration.

The Honor Guard from the 117th Air Refueling Wing of the Alabama Air National Guard unit based in Birmingham at the beginning of the celebration. Amy Hulteen performing national anthems.

During the Berin Airlift Celebration at the Southern Museum of Flight.

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Volume VI Issue 2: April 2009

In addition to touring the Alabama State Docks in Mobile, ThyssenKrupp Steel plant facility in Calvert and Berg Spiral Pipe’s plant in Mobile, the trip included an eve-ning at the Stammtisch held with the local American German Business Club (AGBC) at the SkyView Lounge in Mobile, a meeting with AGBC Board President Klaus Jeschke and AGP board members and an ABGC luncheon at the Holiday Inn Downtown

Mobile. “I enjoyed meeting Klaus Jeschke and his group of the American German Business Club in Mobile. It was great to see a local group so enthusiastic and energized want-

(Continued from page 1)

AGP Member Spotlight

Berg Steel Pipe Corporation Berg Steel Pipe Cor-porat ion was founded in 1979 by two companies of the Bergrohr family, a group of German large-diameter pipe companies.

In 1992, EUROPIPE GmbH became 100% owner of BSPC. EUROPIPE is headquartered in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany and is a joint venture between AG der Dillinger Hüt-tenwerke and Salzgitter Mannesmann GmbH. EUROPIPE owns large-diameter pipe facilities in Mülheim an der Ruhr (Germany), Dunkerque (France) and Serra (Brazil). The EUROPIPE North American pipe manu-facturing operations are represented by Berg Steel Pipe Corporation (BSPC) in Pa-nama City, Florida and Berg Spiral Pipe

Corp. (BSPM) in Mobile, Alabama. The Berg Spiral Pipe mill in Mobile was officially opened on November 11, 2008 and is designed to employ up to 150 work-ers and for an annual capacity of approx. 200,000 tons, producing 24-meter long spiral-weld pipes from 24 to 56 inches in diameter and with wall thicknesses be-tween eight an 20 millimeters.

AGP Event Review

AlabamaGermany Partnership Executive Director’s Trip to Mobile

AGP Member News Lufthansa On March 19th, Lufthansa opened the doors to its new Senator and Business lounge at Washington Dulles International Airport. Lufthansa expects to welcome more than 100,000 lounge guests per year in the new 10,000 square-foot lounge, including pas-sengers of its Star Alliance partners SAS, South African Airways and Austrian Airlines. In addition, Star Alliance Gold cardholders can access the lounge. Through Lufthansa’s partnerships with United Airlines and US Airways, Alabama passengers can easily connect from Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, Huntsville Interna-tional Airport, or Mobile Regional Airport to 5 convenient departure locations through-

out the Southeastern US.

ing to do their part to foster the relation-ships in their region between German individuals or businesses with their US counterparts. I congratulate them on their efforts. Alabama is blessed to have many such groups throughout the State focusing on business networking or cul-tural interactions. We encourage all such groups to work with the AlabamaGermany Partnership.”

Arndt Siepmann, City of Auburn

“It was great to see the interest in the German community and to observe the wonderful expansion of German busi-nesses in the greater Mobile area. The tours of ThyssenKrupp and Berg Spiral were inspiring and we are looking forward to building a close relationship with them as well as the American German Business Club.” Gerhard Graf, Ashford Advisors

"The trip to Mobile was very well organ-ized and provided an excellent opportu-nity to get to visit with German based companies such as Berg Spiral and ThyssenKrupp. We all felt very fortunate having been able to tour the ThyssenK-

rupp site, it was more than impressive! I personally also enjoyed the connecting with the members of the AGBC. Trish did an outstanding job for us!"

(L-R) Jim Robertson (Rödl Warren Averett), Michael Lutter (ThyssenKrupp Stainless), Arndt Siepmann (City of Auburn) and Christoph Bata (Rödl Warren Averett) attended the AGBC Luncheon.

American German Business Club Luncheon in Mobile.

Berg Steel Pipe Corporation’s plant in Mobile.

Visit at the ThyssenKrupp Steel plant facility in Calvert.

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Volume VI Issue 2: April 2009

C O N T A C T I N F O R M A T I O N

AlabamaGermany Partnership 500 Beacon Parkway West phone: (205) 943-4772 Trish Coghlan, Executive Director Birmingham, AL 35209 fax: (205) 943-4780 director@alabamagermany.org web: www.AlabamaGermany.org

Corporate Regular Bailey-Harris Construction Company, Auburn

Arnall Golden Gregory LLP, Atlanta

Individual Bettina Byrd-Giles, The Byrd's Nest, Birmingham

Go to the Member Directory on these and all other members at www.AlabamaGermany.org.

NEW MEMBERS

To become a member of the Alabama Germany Partnership,

please visit our website at

www.AlabamaGermany.org

DATES TO REMEMBER

Thursday, April 16, 2009 Brock International Business Speakers Series

Thursday, April 16, 2009 Southeastern Automotive Supplier Forum

Thursday, April 23, 2009 AlabamaGermany Partnership 11th Annual Dinner and Silent Auction in Montgomery

Friday, April 24, 2009 AlabamaGermany Partnership Business Forum “Continuous Improvement” in Montgomery

Sunday, April 19 , 2009 and Sunday, May 17, 2009 Bookclub, Goethe-Zentrum in Atlanta

Visit our website at www.AlabamaGermany.org/events for more details on these and other events.

AGP member More-son Conferencing is one of just eight companies that re-ceived the prestig-ious Governor's

Trade Excellence Award for 2009. The Awards were established in 2005 to identify Alabama's successful and innovative com-panies that export, promote exports, and encourage greater involvement in the global marketplace while developing and enhancing awareness of the impact of ex-porting to Alabama's economic prosperity. The award was presented to Moreson CEO Mark Jackson by Governor Bob Riley during ceremonies held at the Old House Cham-bers in Montgomery on March 12, 2009.

AGP Member News Moreson Conferencing Event Review

National Basketball Association (NBA) Game in Atlanta Even if you are not a basketball fan, attend-ing an NBA game can be quite exciting. The Goethe-Zentrum Atlanta recently hosted an event at Phillips Arena in Atlanta to see the Atlanta Hawks play the Dallas Mavericks. Now while most of you might not know why this particular game was so interesting, oth-ers may know that Dallas Maverick’s player Dirk Nowitzki #41, is from Germany and has been playing with the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 10 years.

Trish Coghlan, Executive Director of the AlabamaGermany Partnership decided to make the trip with her 14 year old daugh-

ter, Gabby, a basketball player and fan to watch the game. Goethe used the event as a fundraiser and offered the chance to the highest bidder to two individuals to be team co-captain with Dirk. The two highest bid-ders ended up being Trish Coghlan and Mi-chael Höfig, the Atlanta based Consultant for the Goethe-Institut New York, who won the spot for his 13 year old daughter Ra-chel. The event was fun for the nearly 50 people who came out for the game. It provided an opportunity to get to know folks from the German community in Atlanta and make a business contact or two.

(L-R) Gabby Coghlan, Rachel Höfig and Dirk Nowitzki. March 2009

(L-R) Dallas Maverick Coach Rick Carlisle with Rachel Höfig and Gabby Coghlan.