Gary Molberg

President/CEO

Andrea McClintock

VP of Membership

Jason Harrison

VP of Business Development

& Governmental Affairs

Penni Bentley

Senior Director of Communications

Christy Bigler

Database Administrator

Lindsey Arbeiter

Membership Sales Coordinator

Mary Garcia

Business Development Coordinator

Denise Rayford

Director of First Impressions

Dan Quandt

VP of Convention & Visitor Council

Mary Ramirez

CVC Executive Assistant

Eric Miller

CVC Director of Communications

Tina Brohlin

CVC Director of Sales

Kashion Smith

CVC Director of Tourism

Stephanie Andrews

CVC Services Manager

Hope Stokes

CVC Interactive Media Manager

Braley Hand

CVC Tourism Coordinator

Ashley Gutierrez

CVC Sales Manager

Hollie Hawkins

CVC Sales Manager

Kendra Knowles

CVC Sales Coordinator

PO Box 9480

Amarillo, TX 79105

806.373.7800

806.373.3909 fax

Amarillo-Chamber.org

M A R 2 0 1 7

1 0 0 0 S O U T H P O L K - A M A R I L L O , T E X A S

Celebrating 25 Years of Connections

Way back in 1992 the Chamber held its first BusinessConnection® Tradeshow at the Amarillo Civic Center with a few dozen booths taking up

only one exhibitor hall in the complex. Twenty-five years later, more than 350 businesses will pack 4 rooms and the adjacent hallways showing off

their products and services to a crowd of several thousand show goers.

Don’t miss this great opportunity to have new potential customers or

clients get to know your business at this one-day business-to-business tradeshow...the largest show of its kind in the area! This event is the

perfect way to showcase the latest trends in your industry and network with other business professionals.

Returning exhibitors should have already secured their

booths. If you haven’t, you should get online or call us

to reserve it right away, as

new exhibitors and Chamber members are signing up and

filling up space daily. Booths start at just $275.

If you own a restaurant,

food/beverage, or catering

company, you can also promote your great food as

part of the Tradeshow Food Court for FREE. Space is

limited, so call Jason

Harrison at 342.2018 for details. Food Court

participants who have signed up already include: Café Venture Catering, Chick-fil-A Georgia Street/South Coulter, Fuddruckers,

Gatti’s Pizza, Hoffbrau Steaks, Jason’s Deli, Joe Daddy's, La Bella

Pizza, La Fiesta Grande, Pure Element, Sonic Drive-In, Vigil Pizza dba Domino’s, Ye Olde Pancake Station, and More!

Thanks to these 2017 BusinessConnection® sponsors: Gold

Sponsors—AGN Media, Amarillo Economic Development Corporation, Amarillo National Bank, City of Amarillo, and West

Texas A&M University. Silver Sponsors—Amarillo Wireless, Bell

Helicopter, Goodwill Industries of Northwest Texas, Southwest Airlines, Woodforest National Bank, and Zip Print.

Visit http://www.amarillo-chamber.org/businessconnection.html to

sign up as an exhibitor or purchase Food Court tickets. Contact

Jason at 342.2018 or Jason@amarillo-chamber.org with questions.

Ribbon Cuttings 2

Panhandle Days Recap 2

New Members 3

After Hours Networking 4

Renewing Members 5

CVC News & PRIME Service 6-7

Editor’s Corner 9

Thursday

May 11th Amarillo Civic

Center Complex

VIP Show

10am—4pm

FREE with VIP Ticket

or Business Card

General Public Show

1pm-4pm

$5 admission

Tradeshow Food

Court

1130am-130pm

$10 in advance

$15 at door

Gold Sponsor Representatives LtoR: Julie Imke, West Texas A&M University; Jay Ricci, AGN Media/ Amarillo Globe-News; William Ware, Amarillo National Bank; Sherman Bass, City of Amarillo/Amarillo Civic Center Complex; and Barry Albrecht, Amarillo Economic Development Corporation.

ABC 7 News One Broadcast Center

Fresh Start of Monroe, Inc. 609 S Jefferson

Click on http://bit.ly/RibbonCuttingsFeb2017 to download these pictures.

2

WoodSpring Suites 4601 I-40 East

Contact Christy at 342-2004 for

information on holding your

own Ribbon Cutting or

Groundbreaking event.

Panhandle Days Close to 80 representatives from the Panhandle of Texas traveled down to Austin this past February to spend a couple of days visiting with state legislators. The group was made up of community and business leaders who came together as a unified voice to talk about issues affecting the area. This issues included Agriculture, Arts & Tourism, Education, Healthcare, Insurance, Transportation and others. The “Panhandle Days” delegation broke into two large groups, with one group going to both the Senate and House floors to hear the readings of the proclama-tion and to support our local elected officials. The other group was further split into teams of 4-6 people representing the various issues as they visited with key committee members on how these affect the Pan-handle. The delegation was also able to discuss key issues with each other and legislators from around the state at an evening reception. The entire group was given a “State of the State” address by Comptrol-ler Glen Hegar at a breakfast event. Thank you to the following Sponsors for making this event possible and a big success…Amarillo Economic Development Corp, Atmos Energy, High Plains Water District and Xcel Energy. Top Right: the Panhandle Days group on the steps of the capitol. Lower Right: Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Barry Albrecht, Eddie Edwards, Lance Andrews, Michelle Reichert, Brooke Trammell, Senator Kel Seliger

3

Welcome New Members Thanks for Joining in February

4JW Remodeling Justin Wheeler 204 N Taylor Amarillo, TX 79107 (806) 331-6406 Fax: (806) 331-4146 General Remodeling, Bathroom Remodeling, Kitchen Remodeling. Allstate Insurance/Ashley Mauldin Insurance Ashley Mauldin Veronica Leiva 2300 Bell Street Suite 18 Amarillo, TX 79106

Fax: (806) 355-3304 https://agents.allstate.com/ashley-mauldin-amarillo-tx.html Auto, Home, Life, and Retire-ment. We pride ourselves on being your trusted advisor and our mission is to make certain you are properly covered. Amarillo Vision Specialists (Georgia Street) Shauna Thornhill Dr. Lee Shuwarger 4215 Canyon Dr. Amarillo, TX 79110

(806) 372-1977 www.amarillovision.net Drs. Shauna Thornhill and Lee Shuwarger provide exceptional eye care at an affordable price for the entire family.

Amarillo Vision Specialists (Grand Street) Shauna Thornhill Adriana Sanchez 3700 Interstate 40 East Amarillo, TX 79103 (806) 372-1977 www.amarillovision.net Drs. Shauna Thornhill and Lee Shuwarger provide exceptional eye care at an affordable price for the entire family. Green Chile Willy's Margaret Glasscock

David Tinklenberg 13651 Interstate 27 Amarillo, TX 79119 (806) 622-2200 www.greenchilewillys.com Family owned small steakhouse located between Amarillo & Can-yon, specializing in great steaks, burgers, and made from scratch chicken fried steaks. Open Tues -Sat for lunch and dinner. My Next Step, PLLC Eric Hammer Scott Walker 6500 Canyon Dr., Suite 200 Amarillo, TX 79109 (806) 452-8006 Fax: (806) 452-8007 www.mynextstepllc.com My Next Step, PLLC is an Inten-sive Outpatient Program for peo-

We’re on Fun 99.7 every Tuesday at 8:30am to

talk about the week's events, conventions &

newest members. It’s the most jam-packed

three-minute

segment. If you

miss it live, you

can always

check out the

video recap with more information on our

YouTube Channel, Facebook page or on the

Week’s Sneak Peek page on our website.

ple struggling with substance and alcohol addiction. We are a Chris-tian organization that offers a safe place to learn and grow. My Next Step is a transitional pro-gram designed for people leaving residential treatment or for peo-ple whom are seeking alternative to inpatient. Overhead Door Company of Amarillo Hoyt Sunday Mike Butler 4111 N W 10th Amarillo, TX 79106 (806) 372-5884 Fax: (806) 372-6978 www.overheaddoorcompanyofamarillo.com Locally, family owned Red Ribbon dealer of Overhead Door Compa-ny since 1969. Servicing Amarillo and the surrounding area with over 100 years of combined ex-perience. The Local Mailer David Esler PO Box 20481

Amarillo, TX 79114 www.thelocalmailer.com The Local Mailer is an advertising and event mailer designed as an attractive marketing piece that is distributed to Amarillo and Can-yon each month.

VH Photo and Video Victor Rosas Rosy Rosas 3801 Wolflin Ave Amarillo, TX 79102 (806) 282-0686 www.vhfoto.com Provide photogenic services to people needing pictures for wed-dings, corporate events/headshots, high school seniors, sports photography, etc. We specialize in moments & keep-sakes that will last forever!

WoodSpring Suites Aaron Mullennax Bob Gass 4601 E Interstate 40 Amarillo, TX 79104 (806) 342-0222 www.woodspring.com At WoodSpring Suites we believe you shouldn't have to choose between a good value and a good night's sleep. You only pay for what you need. It's a re-freshingly simple approach to travel. It's Simple done better.

Check the Week’s Sneak Peek for a

list of upcoming ribbon cuttings,

groundbreakings, committee

meetings, and more!

http://bit.ly/ChamberWSP

Free Networking at Chamber After Hours April 6 If you have yet to join us at one of these fun events, you can expect to meet some new faces, connect with some old

friends, hand out some business cards, maybe win a door

prize, enjoy some great food and beverages, and network, network, network. Best of all, they are FREE. We invite

Chamber members to take advantage of this great way to meet new people who might want to know about your

business.

For more information about After Hours hosts and to view

photos from our last event at The Venue, visit http://bit.ly/AmarilloChamberAfterHours. If you would like

to host a future After Hours at your business, call Jason at 806.342.2018.

Thursday, April 6 5:00pm—7:00pm

Rockwood Furniture Co. 11570 Interstate 27

(exit Sundown Lane)

Chamber Members & Guests are invited to join us for another FREE Business Networking event.

There will be hors d’oeuvres, drinks & door prizes. Adults only please.

4

Join the event on Facebook at http://bit.ly/AfterHoursRockwood040617

View more photos from our last After Hours

event at The Venue at

http://bit.ly/AfterHoursVenuePics

REMEMBER: You can pay your Chamber invoices online and even update your membership listing, including address, phone, fax, email, website, description of services and more. Visit the MEMBERS ONLY section of our website or email Christy@amarillo-chamber.org for your login name and password if you have forgotten it. Need help? Give her a call at 342-2004.

Click here to go to the Members Only Login Section: http://bit.ly/MembersOnlyLogin

5

41 Productions 806 Barber & Beauty 806 Sports ABC 7 News Accent Embroidery Adam's Air Affiliated Foods Airport Amarillo Fairfield Inn & Suites All World Travel Allergy A.R.T.S. Amarillo Advertising Federation Amarillo Area Tennis Association Amarillo Bulls Hockey Amarillo Consolidated Travel Inc. Amarillo Gear Company LLC Amarillo Greentree Village Ltd. Amarillo Independent School District Amarillo National Bank Amarillo Symphony Amarillo Travel Network American Cancer Society Apex Plumbing Heating and Air

Asset Max Assiter & Associates, LLC Attorney Dean Boyd, PLLC Auto Inc. Autoplex Automotive, LP Battery Joe Belmar Bakery & Cafe Benchmark Business Solutions Bivins-Childers, Inc Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas BNI West Texas Buckthal, W P C&B Marketing Cameron Monroe Casters of Amarillo Inc. Cenveo Trafton Printing Chambers Electric, LLC Childers Brothers Inc Clarendon College - Amarillo Cosmetology Center Clift Land Brokers Cobblestone Custom Home Design Inc.

Commercial Industrial Builders Country Inn & Suites by Carlson Crossroads Technologies Davidson Oil Company Denman Building Products, LTD. Diversified Waste Management Double D Siding, Windows, & Gutters Fairly Group FIMC Commercial Realty First Mortgage Home Lending First United Bank Fluhman Outdoor Media Fountain of Health, Inc. George's Shoes Golden Spread Redi-Mix, Inc Goodcare Health Services Goodin's Jewelry Griggs Schooler-Gordon Funeral Directors Groovy Pop Gourmet Popcorn High Plains Dermatology Center Highland Park Village Hoffbrau Steaks

Holiday Inn Express & Suites - Amarillo West Interstate Insurance Agency Jack Knight Insurance Associates Jane Juett Jenkins Doors & Windows Jimmy Fincher Body Shop Junior League of Amarillo Karr and Hardee Dentistry Keller Williams Realty KHIVA Shrine Center La Quinta Inn LAV-Amarillo Le Chateau Pet Resort Lift With Your Legs Movers, LLC Logan's Roadhouse Lovett Chiropractic Pain Relief Clinic Lowe's Mary Kay Cosmetics/Cathy Welch Maxwell's Pumpkin Farm LLC McDonald's

Millers Cleaners Morgan Stanley Mullin, Hoard & Brown LLP NAACP, Amarillo Branch National Livestock Insurance Agency Neighbors Emergency Center NuStar Energy Office Service Systems Inc. Omega Electronics ONEOK, Inc. Pablo Energy II, LLC Pampa Chamber of Commerce Panhandle Human Resources Association Panhandle Presort Services Ltd. Physicians Surgical Hospitals Plains Internet Pop-A-Lock Public House Public Steel Inc Republic Services Richardson Seeds, Ltd. Rick Lovelady Carpets

Ridgewood Apartments Rosa's Cafe & Tortilla Factory Scarborough Specialties, Inc. Sharp's Motorsports Inc Shepherd Concrete Smile Workshop St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral & School State Farm/Bill McDonald State Representative Four Price State Senator Kel Seliger Suite Escape Tasco Tascosa Brick and Fireplace Tascosa Road Fellowship/ Oneighty Texas Air and Space Museum Texas Blue Lake Pools Inc Texas Dodge Texas Legacy Land Title, LLC The Arbors The Canyon Lands, LTD.

Top of Texas Square & Round Dance Assoc. Tri State Ford U.S. Cleaners United Healthcare of Texas Upshaw Insurance Agency Vendors Flea Market, LLC Vibra Rehabilitation Hospital West Texas A&M University Western Builders of Amarillo Wiley Hicks Jr Inc Wilson Haag & Company P C Witt Flooring Center

Convention & Visitor Council

2016-17 Year-To-Date Statistics

Tourism

Occupancy Rate (February) 52.5%

Group Tour Buses (Fiscal YTD) 82

Film Commission

Information requests (Fiscal YTD) 3

Sport & Convention Groups

# of Conventions/Groups in Amarillo (Fiscal YTD) 25

Delegates (Fiscal YTD) 47,605

Room Nights (Fiscal YTD) 2,361

Convention Delegates Booked-Future Conventions (Fiscal YTD)

1,225

Convention Delegate Room Nights Booked (Fiscal YTD) 1,822

Attendees Booked-Future Sport Events (Fiscal YTD) 4,245

Room Nights Booked (Fiscal YTD) 4,174

Communications / CVC Website

CVC Website Visits (Google Analytics—February)

48,206

CVC Website Unique Visitors (Google Analytics—February)

39,736

CVC Website Page Views (Google Analytics—February)

69,691

CVC Website Average Visit Duration (Google Analytics—February)

1:45

Social Media

Facebook Page Likes Thru February (VisitAmarilloTX)

38,162

WELCOME THESE SPORT &

CONVENTION GROUPS TO AMARILLO April 7-8 Mission 2540 20 Feed, Clothe, Love and Lift 8-9 Southwest Trampoline & Tumbling Association 250 STTA Texas & New Mexico State Championship 10-13 Rural Association for Court Administration 65 Court Coordinators Conference 10-14 Texas Dept. of Transportation Travel Info Division 105 Texas Travel Counselors Texas Travel Fair 17-20 West TX Justices of the Peace & Constables Assn. 85 West Texas JPCA Annual 19-23 Construction Specification Institute 85 CSI South Region Conference 20-22 Panhandle Press Association 64 107th Annual Convention 28-30 NexStar National Talent Competition 100 Amarillo Talent Competition May 5-7 National Club Baseball Association 175 NCBA DI/II District VII Playoff Tournament 5-7 Toastmasters International 70 District 23 Spring Conference 20-21 Panhandle Reined Cow Horse Association 40 Windy City Warm Up Horse Show 22-24 American Quarter Horse Association 150 AQHA Affiliate Workshop/Training 26-28 Tascosa High School Class of ‘67 200 50th Reunion June 14-18 American Quarter Horse Association 540 Region 8 Quarter Horse Show 20-23 National Corn Growers Association 24 June Board Meeting 22-24 Jane Phillips Society 50 National Convention 75th 30-7/2 Fields Family Reunion 65 July 4-9 Amarillo Gun Club—Texas Trapshooters Assn. 300 Texas State Trap Shoot 11-13 American Quarter Horse Association 360 Youth Excellence Seminar (YES) Leadership Conf.

6

7

Members of the CVC’s Convention & Tourism Committee as well as other Chamber volunteers recently dropped in on the follow-ing businesses to deliver an AMA Prime Service lapel pin to these employees who provided someone with PRIME customer service. If you receive outstanding service at an area business, nominate that person for a Prime Service award. Just call the CVC office at 374-1497 or visit www.visitamarillo.com/about-amarillo/primeservice/

Congratulations to these Prime Service

Award Winners in February

62nd ANNUAL TEXAS TRAVEL COUNSELORS CONFERENCE DISCOVERS AMARILLO By: Eric Miller, CVC Director of Communications

What has 160 legs, is all ears and greets millions of visi-tors to Texas each year? The 80 travel counselors from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), Texas Parks and Wildlife Depart-ment (TPWD) and city convention and visitor bureaus participating in the 62nd Annual Texas Travel Counselors Conference in Amarillo April 9-13. TxDOT’s Travel Counselors are the friendly people staff-ing one of the 12 Travel Information Centers across the state. These travel counselors are well-trained and very knowledgeable about Texas. Each year, this conference visits a different part of Texas and spends several days on the road exploring area attractions and experiencing the area’s flavor. "The travel counselors are considered Texas’ Goodwill Ambassadors. They influence more than 93% of visitors to extend their stay, visit more attractions, or plan future trips,” Joan Henderson, TxDOT Director of Travel Ser-vices, says.

Do you get the Tuesday morning email updates for what’s

going on around town with tourism, conventions, attractions and events? Email Eric Miller to be added to this fun and

informative weekly email blast at eric@visitamarillo.com.

Blake Becker Joe Daddy’s

Sabrina Perkins (Dept. Mgr)

Walmart Grocery Pickup (Georgia)

Nicole Banse Walmart Grocery Pickup (Georgia)

Nicole Boughton

Walmart Grocery Pickup (Georgia)

Brittney Gomez Walmart Grocery Pickup (Georgia)

Margarita Mercado

Walmart Grocery Pickup (Georgia)

Akira Tropez-Price Walmart Grocery Pickup (Georgia)

Moshtak Rhema

Walmart Grocery Pickup (Georgia)

Andrew Sammons Walmart Grocery Pickup (Georgia)

Toni Wood

Walmart Grocery Pickup (Georgia)

VisitAmarillo.com

Arts Committee Phyllis Nickum has accepted the open seat left by the passing of

committee member, Ann Crouch. Special thanks go out to the en-

tire arts committee for their hard work on the 35th Annual Golden

Nail Awards Gala coming up on April 6th including: Angela Knapp

Eggers—Chair, Kathy Sheldon, Carol Lovelady, Bobby Steele, Kev-

in Ball, Mary Jane Johnson, Neal Nossaman, Sherman Bass, and

Phyllis Nickum.

Does your business have a Facebook

page? Write on our Facebook timeline

and we’ll share your information with our 7,000+ fans. http://bit.ly/ePVylz

http://on.fb.me/5DZVNH

http://bit.ly/hvluwj

7,495 Fans on

Facebook

4,530 Followers on

Twitter

20,794 Photos on

Flickr

8

Visit our website at:

Amarillo-Chamber.org

Penni Bentley, Editor News@Amarillo-Chamber.org

The Chamber eNewsletter is published by the Amarillo Chamber of

Commerce, 1000 South Polk, Amarillo, Texas 79101. It is provided

free of charge to Chamber members. Address correspondence to

Chamber Communications at the address listed above, call

806.373.7800 or fax 806.373.3909.

2016-17 Board of Directors

Executive Committee

Chair Jeff Mitchell

Chair-Elect William Ware

Finance Chair Michelle Reichert Past Chair Brice Sheets

President/CEO Gary Molberg

Membership Council Chris Reed

Business Council Wes Wright

Governmental Affairs Council Bob Murray

Quality of Life Council Penelope Davies

Ag Council Leon Church

Convention & Visitor Council Stephanie Price

City of Amarillo Mayor Paul Harpole

Directors

Barry “Bear” Albrecht

Randy Arceneaux

Spanky Assiter

Mark Bridges

Brian Bruckner

Randy Castillo

Corey Cowart

Dusty Doyle

Bryan Kauffman

Brandon Kuhn

Sherry Kunka

John Luciano

Shannon Massey

Greg Meador

Cindy Miller

Ed Nichols

Garry Rich

Aaron Sage

Brandy Sanchez

Ernesto Sanchez

Joe Street

David Terry

Toby Tucker

Dr. Dana West

Mark Your Calendar:

4/6 After Hours Networking at Rockwood Furniture

4/6 Golden Nail Awards

5/11 BusinessConnection

5/5-13 National Tourism Week

6/1 Cattle Drive Downtown

6/8 After Hours Networking at Nistler’s Lawn & Landscape

6/15 Summer Celebration

7/13 After Hours Networking at Scarborough Specialties

7/27 Chamber Open Golf Tournament

8/3 After Hours Networking at Keller Williams

9/14 Good Times Celebration Barbecue Cook-off

TBA Chamber Challenge

10/5 After Hours Networking at Casey Carpet One

10/19 Annual Banquet & Business Excellence Awards

11/2 After Hours Networking at FirstCapital Bank

12/7 After Hours Networking at Street Volkswagen

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Editor’s Corner By: Penni Bentley, Senior Communications Director Direct: 806.342.2005 Cell: 806.674.7334 penni@amarillo-chamber.org Work should be fun. That doesn’t mean that every day has to be completely stress free and without deadlines, but I think it’s im-portant to find “fun” in everything you do.

Sure, we are the Chamber and our whole focus is about business. Serious business. But if you’ve been to any of our events, you see we like to incorporate a little bit of

fun in them too. Last week I coordinated a photo shoot with the awesome staff of Adair Photography to create the marketing pieces for our upcoming BusinessConnection® tradeshow to feature our Gold Sponsors. The picture on the cover of this newsletter was just one I just snapped

with my iPhone as a teaser. (The professional ones are coming soon.) I asked these 5 business professionals to show up, and that we were trying to create an image that represented us celebrating 25 years of the event. So...think party for a silver anniversary. I LOVE that each one of these awesome leaders didn’t just show up to smile and stiffly pose, but they really made the most of the theme and had fun with each other and the props. That made my job, and the photographer’s, a whole lot easier. Isn’t it funny how just a smiling and pleasant face or demeanor can instantly relax you and make you feel more at ease? Leaders that know how to laugh and cut up occasionally make it easier for peo-ple to follow them into the trenches when the real tough work has to be done.

I personally think a happy person is seen as more...human—or relatable maybe. The grouchy stiff who never smiles can’t possibly have hobbies or favorite shows or kids or grandkids that bring them joy. You think of them as some sort of Mr./Mrs. Grinch that no one wants to be around. But Santa, for instance, is happy and jolly and has tons of elves willing to do what it takes to bring joy to others. Sure, that’s a really simple comparison, and none of us probably have a boss like Santa Claus, but going to work with happy people every day sure beats the alternative. Unless of course, YOU are the Grinch of your office, and then...you probably won’t see the point of any of this and are truly annoyed by the happy people around you. And it’s you Grinches that should pay attention. People (your employees, coworkers, customers, family, friends) want to feel special...or at least valued. A simple way to make someone feel important is to take time to smile at them, ask about their day, take interest in them and appreciate the fact that they are spending their time or their money with you. I hate handing over my money to a grumpy or unpleasant clerk. Or giving up my time to someone that doesn’t care if I’m there. Happiness is a choice. So if your employees seem to always be miserable, maybe you could encourage them to try to be more pleasant. But you might also make sure that their demeanor is not a direct reflection of your leadership or example. If you haven’t heard the song “Happy People” from Little Big Town, you can listen to it here or read the lyrics here. It’s a catchy little

tune that should make you smile. Unless you’re a total Grinch.

As always, tell us how we are doing. Give us your suggestions, feedback, and input. Feel free to write on our Facebook wall. Get involved. We are proud to be YOUR Chamber.