1/20/12 WCOE Member Stephanie Hall receives award

WCOE Member Stephanie Hall receives award

Kudos to Stephanie for being selected to receive the prestigious 2012 “25 under 25” small business award. Stephanie is President and co-founder of Summit Construction Company in Lee's Summit, MO. The award is presented annually to twenty-five outstanding Kansas City area companies with fewer than twenty-five employees and is sponsored by Thinking Bigger Business Media. News reports say Summit was chosen for the honor by a panel of judges based on established selection criteria that included demonstrated financial growth, business stability, fortitude, innovation, unique company culture, and dedicated community involvement. Summit will receive the “25 Under 25” award on Saturday evening, March 3, 2012, in the Muehlebach Tower ballroom. WCOE members are invited to attend and cheer Stephanie on.

Congratulations, Stephanie, from everyone at WCOE. You can send a personal note to her at shall@summitconstructioncompany.com.

Still time to register –
don't get left out

There are still a few days left to register for the WCOE Annual Congressional and Leadership Conference in Washington DC on February 4-7, 2012. This is your one chance to hobnob with the power brokers of Washington, DC as well as the powerful WCOE members themselves. A full 4 days of interactive workshops will prove invaluable to your business with information and connections not available on your own.

Take a look at the agenda – and then register now. It's not too late!

Is this good news or bad news for small businesses?

President Obama this week unveiled a proposal to streamline the federal government by consolidating Department of Commerce, SBA, Export-Import Bank, US Trade Representative and a few other tiny agencies into one big agency. The President said combining the 6 agencies into one would make it easier for businesses to get assistance and would save taxpayers' money in duplicative efforts and bureaucracies.

Small business organizations are skeptical that the 40,000 employee Commerce Department and the 4,000 employee SBA could combine without the SBA being completely subsumed by the ten times larger Commerce. Todd McCracken, President & CEO of the National Small Business Association says his members fear the “reorganization could minimize the emphasis placed on small business by the federal government and lead to an even greater imbalance toward promoting the interests of large businesses over those of small business”. The US Chamber of Commerce's Giovanni Coratolo, Vice President of Small Business Policy is leery as well. “Small businesses should always be independently represented within the Administration and not be buried within a mega agency” according to Giovanni.

Chicago WCOE Members chalk up win!

The Chicago Caucus of WCOE has been working diligently to design a program that provides a transition period for companies that have either outgrown their "small" category or have timed out. Many are then thrust into competing for jobs against major Corporations who have significantly greater marketing capacity and back-office bid proposal resources. Mayor Rahm Emmanuel has just implemented a program called Graduated Graduation which was featured on a local TV interview. Check out the video to learn all about it.

Rosana Privitera Biondo reports that a program similar to this has been in place in the Kansas City area for several years and works extremely well. Those of you in other areas may want to check it out to see if it can be implemented in your towns/states.

Update from WCOE Legislative Advocate

Congressman William Ownes (D-NY) has introduced H.R. 3779, the Small Business Growth and Federal Accountability Act of 2012. This bill would require federal agencies to meet their small business set-aside goals. Failure to meet those goals in any fiscal year would result in that agency not being able to spend more than 90% of that fiscal year's funding in the next fiscal year. Advocate Ann Sullivan says the likelihood of the bill moving forward is unlikely, but it is a “shot across the bow”. Stay tuned!

WCOE Member Michelle Kantor to provide workshop

Illinois DOT has contracted with Michelle Kantor, McDonald Hopkins LLC, to provide an IDOT Documentation workshop “How to review your subcontract agreement” on January 30, 2012. Details are available on our website.

Michelle is also a speaker at our Annual Congressional and Leadership Conference in Washington, DC, February 4-7. Michelle will be on the Attorney Panel on Sunday afternoon, 2/5/12, and will be speaking about Government Contracting, Teaming & Joint Ventures as featured in last week's Turning Point newsletter.

WCOE Executive Director receives appointment

Penny Pompei has been appointed by the US Chamber of Commerce to their Small Business Council as a representative of WCOE. This opens many doors for WCOE and our members to have a bigger voice in the much bigger clout of the US Chamber on Capitol Hill and with the media.

Corporate Alliance Partner checks in

Dana Mattern with 84 Lumber (a woman-owned firm) reported in this week that they have just received a large contract to supply materials for new construction at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Now that contract has to present some logistical challenges.

Congratulations, Dana, and thanks for checking in.

Women Construction Owners and Executives
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