MAGNOLIA—Southern Arkansas University and the Golden Triangle Economic Development Council will host the second in a series of statewide business and economic discussions on Wednesday, March 17, at 7 a.m. in the Donald W. Reynolds Campus and Community Center. Via videoconference, the Arkansas Economic Breakfast Series links seven locations throughout the state and provides an interactive setting for learning about the latest economic trends that affect businesses in the state.
The event will focus on Arkansas’ infrastructure. A panel of speakers will address current issues, followed by local discussion sessions.
An important aspect of the event program is public participation. After the panel discussion, the individual events will provide time for attendees to participate in conversations about unique local and regional aspects of the issues. Feedback from participants around the state will be tabulated and summarized on the Economic Issues Breakfast Web site.
The panel discussion participants will include: Jim McKenzie, executive director of Metroplan and a member of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Highway Finance; Michelle Stockman, broadband entrepreneurship program director at Arkansas Capital and vice president of Connect Arkansas; and Keena Smith, of Governor Mike Beebe’s Recovery Office. The program will also include a brief economic update report by Kathy Deck of the Center for Business and Economic Research, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and Michael Pakko of the Institute for Economic Advancement, University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
The Arkansas Economic Issues Breakfast Series is designed to encourage economic development in Arkansas through the dissemination of high quality information and analysis to business, community, and government leaders. The event links people from across Arkansas via videoconferencing technology and provides an interactive setting for learning about the latest economic trends that affect businesses in Arkansas. This opportunity is the result of collaboration among higher education institutions in Arkansas and an understanding that Arkansas citizens must leverage their resources to compete successfully in the global economy.
The series is coordinated by the Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in cooperation with the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas, the Delta Center for Economic Development at Arkansas State University, the Economic Research and Development Center at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, the College of Business at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, the University of Arkansas at Monticello, and Southern Arkansas University. The series is sponsored by Arkansas Business.
To register online, visit http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/iea_register.asp. To register locally, call 870-235-4924 or e-mail dglewis@saumag.edu for additional information.
