North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting

Last night was the North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting, held at the Magnolia Greens Golf Course Club House.

Below, Chamber Ambassador Gina Schiess with outgoing President George Murray and incoming Board Member James Shoemaker.



New NBCC President Bruce Brown with now ex-officio President George Murray.
George is of course staying very active with the Chamber.



Photographer Bob Baer and Susan Cruse, Manager of East Carolina Bank.



Butch Pope and his wife Beverly - Butch is running for District Attorney.



Board member Jeff Harvell of Nancy Hall Publications and Bruce Brown.

Marge Brown of Quantum Results Coaching with Barry Eagle, Managing Partner of the Comfort Suites Magnolia Greens Hotel.



Also from Comfort Suites the newly married Lee Ann Mitchell Bolton, with Marge.



Bruce and Lee Ann.



Board member and NBM and SBM magazine publisher Justin Williams.



Nick Arbia of ADT (he's also pro DJ), board member Terry Grillo of Capeside Animal Hospital, Frank Doherty of Oak Island, and Justin Williams.



Justin Smith of Whiteville is working on U.S. Representative Mike McIntyre's campaign.



Marge with board member Alice Razzano of the Newcomers Club.



Justin and I were two of only a few men wearing shorts. Because there was an HVAC malfunction in the facility, I think we were lucky.



Connie Reeves, an outgoing board member who also was in charge of organizing the Annual Meeting spoke to the crowd. Connie is also very active with the Cape Fear Chapter of the American Red Cross.



Introducing new board members (L to R) James Shoemaker, Ken Schiess, Peggy O'Leary, and Alice Razzano. To Bruce's left is Executive Director Dana Fisher. Terry Grillo,  between George Murray and Dana is also new board member as is Drew Roper of BB&T who was not able to attend the meeting.



Despite the warmth, we had a fine time and great food. I want to personally thank the many North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce directors, ambassadors, and members as well as the representatives of our area who came to the event and who help in so many ways to benefit the economic development of North Brunswick County.

Strictly Business at Grand Union Pub

Sea-Comm Media's Strictly Business, Wilmington, NC's weekly business networking event (every Wednesday from 5-7PM) met for the first time at  Grand Union Pub yesterday.

As Marge and I  walked to the restaurant the first person we saw was Russ "Call me Doug" Hauptmann, Sea-Comm sales guy. Russ was planted in that spot with his mug of root beer and cell phone talking and smiling.



We paused for a moment at the door, before entering.



Inside  it was a bit dark, but inviting and full of happy networking folk. From left to right below are Patricia Pietropaolo of Permanent Makeup, John Pietropaolo from the Metropolitan methadon center, Ezell and Anne Willard of All Kinds of Stuf promotional products, and Sea-Comm news guy Joe Catenacci.



At this table were Sea-Comm producer Paige Freeman, Scott Estrich owner of Complete Car Care, Sea-Comm account exec Amy "Just call me Jackie" Besterfeldt, photographer Robert Paige, and, with her back to the camera, PrePaid Legal's Trista Goforth.




The Cape Fear Rotary club was the beneficiary of this week's raffle ticket sales for sponsor supplied  prizes.



Designer Kelly Cain Smith and new UNCW MPA grad Shamair Raison.



From N2 Publishing, Steve West and Robert Ridgeway.



Cape Fear National Golf Course Marketing Director Brad Walker and East Carolina Bank's Susan Cruse.



That's Marge Brown of SendOutCards, Vince Prisco who is starting a new venture and a new networking group, Lauren Formalarie of Carolina Coastal Concepts, and Barbara Nelson of Northwestern Mutual.



John and Patricia are not only photogenic, they're also always happy to stop and smile.



Marge and Stephanie Williams from Edward Jones.

The Huston's: Rick of InSphere Insurance Solutions and Elaine of Pre-Paid Legal. She also has a company that sells great bed sheets and Rick is passionate about cooking.

Two good guys, Michael Byrd of WordWrightWeb and (sorry, Fred) with his back to the camera, Fred Kumpel  of Strickland's Window Coverings. I spent a lot of time talking about passions and business at this networking event and it turns out that Michael, besides being a runner, has great interest in dance. He takes weekly classes in Carolina Shag and Argentine Tango! What a great combination - I think Marge and I will go to the classes he attends to at least check them out.



Grand Union Pub has this great pool table, but notice that no one was playing. That's because the rooms were packed with busy networkers.  Once again, it was fun, it was busy, and it was Strictly Business.



When we left after an hour or so, Russ was still outside. He put his phone down for a few seconds so I could grab this shot.



Next week Strictly Business will be at Beau Rivage Golf & Resort of Carolina Beach Road. Wednesday, 5-7. See you there.

John Formica, the "Ex-Disney Guy" Brings Business Magic to Brunswick County

Yesterday my new friend John Formica wowed the crowd at Brunswick Community College's Making Business Magical seminar sponsored by the Small Business Center. This free seminar, including breakfast, didn't have an empty seat or a frowning face in the room.

I'd heard that John, better known as "the Ex-Disney Guy" gave good seminar and now I know it for sure. I won't even attempt to summarize his message, in part because it's impossible without John's essence and energy. The room got it, though, from the secret meaning of "DREAM" to the wonder of working in a place where managers and employees all buy into the true purpose and use that understanding to create a great experience for customers and clients.


John meeting people before the seminar.












Among the enthusiastic attendees were Misty Doan and Ann Parvin of Plantation Builders in Southport, NC.

The Small Business Center's seminars, counseling and coaching are all offered for free and are a great county resource.

Want to know more? Call (910) 755-7380.

Or, click on this link to go to the BCC Small Business Center page or this link for a listing of the Spring 2010 free seminars.

Oh, and in case some folks don't quite get it, these seminars and services are for small businesses (startups and existing) and there is no charge. Cool, huh?

Dinner with John Formica

I had the pleasure of having dinner with John Formica, the Ex-Disney Guy at Elijah's Restaurant in downtown Wilmington, the evening before his presentation at Brunswick Community College Small Business Center on March 16th.