December 2015

Nor th Channel Area Chamber of Commerce
“Your Channel to Success”
The Navigator
VOLUME XXX NO. 10
DECEMBER 2015
Grant Taylor to Speak At Annual Gala
by Margie Buentello, President&CEO
Grant Taylor, the General Manager of Buck
Commander, will be the
speaker at the 39th Annual North Channel Area
Chamber of Commerce
Annual Awards and Membership Gala. The gala will
be Saturday, January 30,
2016 at the Houston Marriott Hotel located at 9100
Gulf Freeway. Social hour
begins at 6:30 PM and
dinner at 7:30 PM.
Grant Taylor was born
and raised in Huntsville,
Texas, where he grew up
hunting with his dad and
brothers all around the
state. Since joining the
Buck Commander team in
2011, Grant spends a lot
of his time in the office
managing the business side
of Buck Commander while
Inside this issue:
Board of Directors
2
New Members
2
Renewals
3
Port Briefs
3
Chamber Pictures
4
the Buckmen tend to their
day jobs. But when fall rolls
around, he enjoys hitting
the woods just as much as
the rest of the crew, and
does so any time he gets
the chance. "There's never
a dull moment with this
bunch and hardly ever a
day when it feels like work.
I'm blessed to work with a
great group of guys and
have a blast doing it," said
Grant. He lives in Duck
Commander territory,
West Monroe, La., with his
wife, Katelyn, and their two
sons, Judson and Townes.
Grant Taylor is sure to
entertain us with his
“behind the scenes” stories
of how a small, obscure
company known as Duck
Commander went from
producing 50 duck calls a
day to handling 5,000 orders a day and become a
household name with the
TV show “Duck Dynasty.”
To make your reservations: go online to www.
northchannelarea.com; call
the Chamber office at 713450-3600; or email blanca@ncachamber.com.
Please consider supporting
the Chamber through a
sponsorship. A Gold Sponsorship includes the best
table in the house, two bottle of wine and top billing
on the annual report, program and all marketing
materials. A Gold Sponsorship is $2,500. A Silver
sponsorship includes a premium table for eight;
recognition on marketing
flyers and Annual Report;
and one complimentary
bottle of wine at table.
Silver Sponsorships are
$1,000; corporate tables
for eight are $600; and
individual seats are $75
per person. We are also
seeking donations for the
Silent Auction.
A big THANK YOU
goes out to those who have
already committed to a
sponsorship: Gold Sponsor,
Platinum Copier Solutions; and Silver Sponsors,
East Houston Regional
Medical Center, LyondellBasell, CenterPoint,
PhysciansER, Port of
Houston
Authority,
Legend
Oaks
Healthcare and Woodforest National Bank.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
December 24-25
Christmas Holidays
Chamber office closed
December 31—Jan. 1
New Year Holiday
Chamber office closed
NO JANUARY
LUNCHEON
Tuesday, January 5
Ribbon Cutting
1st Priority Driving School
507 Dell Dale, 77530
Tuesday, January 12
Ambassador Meeting
11am @ Holiday Inn
Saturday, January 30
39th Annual Gala
Houston Marriott
9100 Gulf Freeway, 77017
T HE NA V I G A T O R
PAGE 2
V O LU M E X X X NO . 1 0
2015 Board of Directors
Kimberly Gonzalez— Chairman
Platinum Copier Solutions
Lucia Bates— Chairman-Elect
LB Marketing Solutions
Adam Lund– 1st Vice Chairman
Capital Bank
Shalonda Dawkins– Treasurer
United Community Credit Union
John Moore— Secretary
Galena Park ISD
Greg Ollis – Immediate Past Chair,
Channelview ISD
Alice Adams, East Houston Reg. Med. Center
Marcile Barnett, Bates Collison Centers
Angela Broussard, Broussard’s Real Estate
Inv. Rick Brown, Arkema, Inc.
Marlene Clowers, Congressman Gene Green
Matt Davis, Individual
Ronny Dwairy, Bestway Oilfield
Pedro Garcia, Port of Houston Authority
Christie Gates, Sheldon ISD
Dr. Vickey Giles, Sheldon ISD
Dr. Allatia Harris, San Jacinto College
Gretchen Knowles, Harris County Pct. 2
Erika Koehler, Wendel D. Ley YMCA
Bill Palko, Amegy Bank
Carlton Porter, CenterPoint Energy
Garland Rutherford, LyondellBasell
Joe Stephens, Farmers Insurance
Jim Wadzinski, Community Toyota/Kia/Honda
Mike Williams, Edward Jones
NEW MEMBERS
Channelview Fire Department
Erika Eureste, Administrative Assistant;
E-mail: admin@channelviewfire.com
Jimmy Sumbera, Administrator;
E-mail: jsumbera@channelviewfire.com
16010 Ridlon
Channelview, TX 77530
(281) 452-5782
www.channelviewfire.com
Fire Departments
Prozign Architects
Alan Sadeghpour, ALA; E-mail: asadeghpour@prozign.com
701 Shepherd Dr., Suite 200
Houston, TX 77007
(713) 977-6060
www.prozign.com
Architects
San Jacinto Memorial Park and Funeral Home
Michael Garcia, Matthew Godfrey, Diane Lee; E-mail: diane.lee@sjfunerals.com
14659 East Freeway
Houston, TX 77015
(713) 453-7114
www.sanjacintofunerals.com
Funeral Directors
STAFF
Margie Buentello, President & CEO
Margie@ncachamber.com
Blanca Beltran, Member Relations
Coordinator
Blanca@ncachamber.com
Joselin Escobar, Administrative Assistant
Joselin@ncachamber.com
North Channel Area Chamber of Commerce
13301 I-10 East Freeway, Suite 100
Houston, TX 77015 (713) 450-3600
The North Channel Area
Chamber of Commerce’s
mission is to promote
economic development and
provide real solutions for business
and community prosperity.
T HE NA V I G A T O R
V O LU M E X X X NO . 1 0
PAGE 3
MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS
A special thank you to the following members who have shown their dedicated
support of the Chamber and the community by renewing their membership
investment.
21-38 Years
Foster Fence
Don White & Co. Realtors
Havard Welding
Reichold, LLC
The Honorable Mike Parrott
34 years
33 years
32 years
32 years
24 years
6-20 Years
Harris County WCID #36
15 years
Houston Community College—NE 12 years
Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White,
Williams & Aughtry
Trinity Dental
Community Toyota/Kia/Honda
9 years
9 years
8 years
1-5 Years
Debbie Palko
Dr. Maria Meija
Jacob Stern and Sons—Texas
5 years
2 years
1 year
PORT BRIEFS
Port Commission Approves 2016 Budget
Solid financial performance is expected to continue in 2016 with projections by the Port Authority of revenue growth after a very strong fiscal 2015 in terms of cargo tonnage. Total revenues are projected to increase by 2 percent next
year with a steady growth in container units.
Cash flow generated in 2016 will help support
a capital improvement program of $314 million.
Those capital improvements will include strategic
projects to support new growth opportunities,
along with recapitalization projects and channel
projects to benefit the entire Houston Ship Channel.
The global economic outlook suggests 2016
will be slightly stronger than 2015, with most key
economies either growing or remaining steady
during the upcoming year.
(Taken
from the Port of Houston website)
PAGE 4
V O LU M E X X X NO . 1 0
T HE NA V I G A T O R
CHAMBER OPEN HOUSE
Pictured above: Bill Anders with North
Channel EMS and Dr. Angi Williams,
Superintendent of Galena Park ISD.
Pictured above: LaTonya Ross and Kristi
Claypool with Meador Staffing.
CONGRATULATIONS to
Meador Staffing for 47 years in
business!
Pictured left (L-R): Mari Vasquez
with the Holiday Inn East; Lucia
Bates with LB Marketing Solutions;
Lindsay Swanagan and Linda Tijerina
with East Houston Regional Medical
Center.
BUSINESS
AFTER
HOURS
A great evening at the
Sylvan Beach Pavilion,
hosted by Shafaii.