Welcome to the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce Blog
The Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce Blog will discuss the news and issues impacting South Central Kentucky's business community. To join the conversation, click the comment link under any post.
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Posted by Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce - 6/28/2008 03:27:00 PM
Bowling Green Municipal Utilities Offers Services for Sustainability!Bowling Green Municipal Utilities offers many unique opportunities for its customers to promote green living, and the company embraces sustainability practices throughout its workplaces. Click here to read about BGMU's efforts in one of their newsletters.Want to see your business highlighted in the Chamber Green Scene? Send your sustainable/energy-saving business practice success stories to amanda@bgchamber.com. Labels: The Chamber Green Scene
Posted by Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce - 6/19/2008 11:04:00 AM
 Service One Credit Union to Use Reclaimed Timber in Building of “Green” AdditionService One Credit Union has purchased the timber from the historic Poole’s Mill (Poole Milling Company) for re-use in a “green” addition to its Campbell Lane Branch. The original Poole’s Mill was built in 1830. After a devastating fire it was rebuilt in 1924. The Mill served a large portion of Western Kentucky for nearly 150 years producing flour, meal, and animal feed. The Mill played a vital role in the development of Webster County Kentucky and surrounding areas. The present structure is of superior design and was built using excellent oak timber for the floor joists and vertical posts. According to local citizens, some of this timber may have been from virgin trees. The purchase of the Mill’s timber by Service One Credit Union is not only a testament to the Credit Union’s green efforts, but also preserves an important piece of Kentucky history. The building has been disassembled and the materials are currently being transported to Bowling Green, KY for the construction of the “green” addition. Dr. Marvin Russell, former Dean of Ogden College, Western Kentucky University, was born in a house across the road from the Poole Milling Company. He remembers hearing the single piston engine chugging continuously throughout the day as flour and cornmeal were ground from grain brought in by local farmers. He stated, “I have many fond memories from boyhood of time spent exploring the workings of the Poole Mill. I am delighted that the timbers and the history of this important community industry will be preserved.” He also remembers fishing and ice skating on the Mill pond. Valerie C. Brown, President and CEO stated, “Upon completion of Service One’s “green” addition, pictures and a synopsis of the Poole Milling Company’s history will be displayed prominently at the Credit Union’s Campbell Lane Branch.” Service One Credit Union was chartered in 1963 as a not-for-profit financial cooperative to assist Western Kentucky University's faculty, staff and students in attaining their financial goals. Service One Credit Union's membership now includes numerous SEGs (Select Employee Groups) throughout south-central Kentucky. It is a full-service financial cooperative serving more than 14,000 members through its four branch locations and on the internet at http://www.socu.com/. Want to see your business highlighted in the Chamber Green Scene? Send your sustainable/energy-saving business practice success stories to amanda@bgchamber.com. Labels: The Chamber Green Scene
Posted by Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce - 6/16/2008 02:53:00 PM
Today the Chamber welcomed Miller Slaughter to the team. Miller has joined us as director, regional development. In this newly created role, he will be responsible for the regional economic development efforts in the counties which have contracted with the Chamber and as a liaison with all the Chamber's partner counties as part of the newly revised South Central Kentucky Marketing Plan. Chamber President and CEO James N. Hizer, CEcD is thrilled to welcome Miller to the team. "For the past three years, Miller has worked for the Cabinet for Economic Development as a development specialist within the Cabinet for Existing Business. That position charged him with the responsibilities of encouraging capital investment and job growth in the BRADD region. His experience with the Cabinet is a great addition to our team, and I expect him to lead our regional economic development efforts in support of our new marketing plan." During his tenure at the Cabinet, Miller was responsible for approximately 30 projects which created $160 million in economic investment and 1,700 new jobs. Aside from shepherding expansion projects to a 13-county area, he also provided assistance and consulting services to entrepreneurs starting new businesses in the South Central Kentucky area. Hizer added, "Now that Miller has joined our team, the Chamber boasts nearly 65 years of economic development experience combined. With such a lengthy history of experience, we're further enhancing our proven track record and increasing our effectiveness to expand and recruit more business to the South Central Kentucky region." Prior to joining the Cabinet, Miller was vice president of sales and minority owner for Bowling Green Recycling, and was responsible for identifying new sales leads and converting them to longtime satisfied customers. His marketing experience is lengthy, as he worked as marketing manager for Pig Improvement Company (PIC), vice president of marketing, activewear for Fruit of the Loom, Inc., marketing director and strategic business unit leader for Dial Corporation, marketing manager/SBU leader for Armour Star Canned Meats, marketing director-Coppertone Suncare Products at Schering-Plough, and marketing director-Dr. Scholl's Footcare for Schering-Plough. In addition, he served as brand manager-Maybelline Cosmetics at Schering-Plough, brand manager for Amour-Dial, and brand assistant in the pet foods division for Quaker Oats. Overall, he boasts more than 20 years' experience in marketing, sales and branding. Miller holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of Kentucky and a Master of Business Administration degree in management from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He is an adjunct instructor of marketing at Midcontinent University and has attended numerous economic development training courses and workshops offered in economic development. Labels: Chamber staff
Posted by Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce - 6/13/2008 02:41:00 PM
 Teaching by Example—Warren County Public Schools Practice what they Preach when it comes to Energy ConservationBy implementing energy-saving strategies, Warren County Public Schools have avoided a cost of $3.3 million over the past five years. In addition to using energy-saving strategies when buildings are remodeled or newly constructed, WCPS is also creating “energy teams” of students in the schools to educate students and encourage involvement. “Our energy teams will begin in five elementary schools beginning in August,” says Jay Wilson, energy manager for Warren County Public Schools. “They will use NEED (National Energy Education Development— http://www.need.org/) material to guide them through the new program. NEED covers the Science of Energy, Sources of Energy, Electricity, Transportation Fuels, Energy Efficiency and Conservation, etc. This material is designed to help students understand the many aspects to energy and increase awareness for all our students and faculty.” These programs make energy conservation a real and practical part of students’ everyday lives, and learned at a young age, these methods are likely to become standard practice for them as they mature into our next generation of leaders. Superintendant Dale Brown finds the success of the program encouraging. "The aggressive steps we’ve taken to address rising energy costs and the environmentally friendly measures we’ve implemented are sure to benefit the schools and community for many years to come.” Want to see your business highlighted in the Chamber Green Scene? Send your sustainable/energy-saving business practice success stories to amanda@bgchamber.com. Labels: The Chamber Green Scene
Posted by Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce - 6/09/2008 07:31:00 AM
 Executive Public Relations (EPR), a Bowling Green public relations firm that specializes in advertising, marketing and image development, is introducing their new line of organic t-shirts for their screen printing division. This new environmentally friendly transformation is due to the awareness that today’s market needs to build, produce, and sell products that preserve and protect the world around us. With their new line of organic t-shirts, EPR is unveiling its “Trees for T-Shirts” campaign, with the support of the National Arbor Day Foundation to make Bowling Green a cleaner and greener place to live. The “Trees for T-Shirts” campaign is a one-day event at Kereiakes Park on Tuesday, June 10, at 10 a.m., when the staff of EPR will begin the campaign by planting one tree to symbolize the importance of the environment. Immediately after there will be a 10-minute presentation and free T-shirts for those that attend. This tree has been donated via Schott Gardens recognizing our eco-friendly materials. This is just the beginning of the campaign for EPR: they are willing to plant one tree for every one hundred shirts that are sold. EPR is inviting all Bowling Green businesses and residents to attend the event; that will be a beginning eco-challenge for all small businesses. Kevin Andrews, the President of EPR comments saying “We are going full circle, EPR is becoming greener in more ways than one. We use organic materials, eco-friendly inks, and renewable resources within our offices. This is just the start.” For more information please contact Executive Public Relations at (270) 842.5373 or visit them at http://www.executivepublicrelations.com/. Want to see your business highlighted in the Chamber Green Scene? Send your sustainable/energy-saving business practice success stories to amanda@bgchamber.com. Labels: The Chamber Green Scene
Posted by Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce - 6/04/2008 12:48:00 PM
-707399.jpg) "Take me out to the ballgame," sang the Past & Present Barbershop Quartet sang, joined by more than 50 attendees at this morning's groundbreaking for the new minor league baseball stadium on the corner of 8th and Kentucky. It was truly a great day in Bowling Green as the City of Bowling Green, the County of Warren, the Warren County Downtown Economic Development Authority and the Chamber celebrated this next step in WKU Gateway to Downtown Bowling Green project. Doug Gorman, who chairs the Chamber Board of Directors and was the emcee for today's groundbreaking ceremony, summed up his hopes for the project simply: "One of the great things you get to do when you are chairman of the board for the Chamber is to come up with a slogan for your year. I chose Building a Better Tomorrow...Today with the hopes that today would happen. We're participating in the largest economic development project ever seen in Bowling Green and in this part of our state--$250 million--and the ballpark is a huge part of this project. It's a great day in Bowling Green." Art Solomon, owner of the Columbus (Ga.) Catfish, which will move to Bowling Green in 2009, spoke to the crowd about his visions for the ballpark--a family-oriented, kid-friendly, entertaining center of downtown. He encouraged everyone to visit http://www.bowlinggreenprobaseball.com/ to purchase tickets ($5-$10) or participate in the Team Name Contest. He also emphasized his commitment to the community and said that his enthusiasm for the project wouldn't be possible without the supporters in Bowling Green like the Warren County Downtown Economic Development Authority, the City and County, the State, and private business owners. Labels: Downtown Redevelopment
Posted by Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce - 6/03/2008 08:44:00 AM
On May 6 we learned that the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce had qualified for Chamber of the Year, an award to be presented at the American Chamber of Commerce Executives Convention in August. We celebrated for the day, sending emails back and forth between staff and volunteers with congrats and deserved pats on the back. Qualifying in itself isn't easy; a chamber must meet four of the seven criteria to even be considered. We were encouraged when we learned that we'd met five of the seven. Soon after the initial excitement though, we dove into the application. Knowing the compitition for this honor had to be tough, we didn't want to waste any time. The Application: the test to weed out the "wanna be" Chambers of the Year from the real thing. The first few days were a thrill ride as we summarized the Chamber's recent accolades. Obviously the new building and its successful capital campaign would be a strong picture of what our Chamber has accomplished; as well, it would be a must to include the South Central Kentucky Marketing plan and the regional economic development job creation and investment numbers that have resulted. Then there is the fact that 2007 had our largest ever new partner numbers. While the national survey conducted by ACCE shows that chambers our size on average had a 0% increase, our membership growth reached greater than 9%. Though with all there was to document, it wasn't long before Dana came out of her office with her hand on her forehead and called out across the hallway, "I can't do it! I can't represent everything we've accomplished in partnership (membership) in the past year in 200 words or less. In my five years with the Chamber I've been challenged but nothing ever this hard!" I laughed. She was right. It was very hard to do! I encouraged her that I had confidence that if we could get the important points down that we had the talent on our team to edit the sections and make it sound even better, yet with less words. An even greater challenge that I'd found though was that it was really hard to build a picture of what 2007 was like with just accomplishment bullets. I wanted to share the many challenges overcome that really make the victories even greater! Moving from a non-regional economic development approach to a regional one that has advanced beyond our origional plan-- WOW what a story behind that! Locating in a new building sounds neat and simple on paper, but what a month that was! Then there is even so much more that shows the heart and drive of our Chamber; there was no way to strategically worked it all in. Additionally was the challenge to work such an intense project into a three-week window with everything else currently underway, but we did it! Our application was mailed out Monday (June 2), and now we wait for several weeks to learn if we proceed to the next stage: The Interview. This project reinforced yet another reason we qualified for Chamber of the Year that is underlying in every synopsis enclosed and all the support material submitted in the five-inch massive binders resulting from the project--the people behind it all. It is much more than words that tell our story, it is the team I work with daily at the Chamber, the board members and volunteers! Here's to an already winning Chamber! Labels: Chamber of the Year
Posted by Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce - 6/02/2008 12:05:00 PM
 Coffee News Saves Money by Going Green!
Coffee News is a fun newsletter that intersperses humorous tidbits with advertisements from local small businesses and can be found adjacent to a hot cup of joe at many local restaurants. Aside from the exclusive focus on positive news, Coffee News has set itself apart by striving to become a truly sustainable business!
In addition to using soy-based ink on 30% post-consumer recycled paper, employees take old issues of Coffee News home with them to use as compost in their gardens! “Our ultimate dream is to build an off-grid solar-powered production shop on our farm, print on 100% recycled paper and deliver using electric cars,” says Coffee News publisher Steve Champion.
So how much extra has implementing these changes cost them? Not a dime. Coffee News has actually saved money by switching to more earth-friendly business practices.
So the next time you’re savoring your morning eye opener, look around for the latest issue of Coffee News and feel good knowing that more and more companies like Coffee News are realizing that you can run a successful business while being kind to our planet! Learn more about Coffee News and Green River Publishers online. Want to see your business highlighted in the Chamber Green Scene? Send your sustainable/energy-saving business practice success stories to amanda@bgchamber.com. Labels: The Chamber Green Scene
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