The Huntsville Regional Economic Growth Initiative (HREGI ...

The Huntsville Regional Economic Growth Initiative 

(HREGI) – Special Thanks to Our Investors 

1 

Initiatives December 2010

2 December 2010 Initiatives

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Thanks to Our Investors 

Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County 

Development Partner 

($200,000+ invested annually: public sector) 

City of Huntsville 

Development Council 

(Up to $125,000 invested annually: public sector) 

Huntsville Utilities 

Tennessee Valley Authority 

Madison County Commission 

Huntsville Hospital 

City of Madison 

Huntsville-Madison County 

Airport Authority 

Chairman’s Council 

($50,000+ invested: private sector) 

Toyota Motor Manufacturing 

Alabama, Inc. 

Regions Bank 

President’s Circle 

($25,000 - $49,999 invested annually) 

The Huntsville Times 

Redstone Federal Credit Union 

ADTRAN, Inc. 

AT&T 

SAIC 

Verizon Wireless 

Chamber Trustees ($10,000 - $24,999 invested annually) 

BBVA Compass 

COLSA Corporation 

LG Electronics Alabama, Inc. 

The Boeing Company 

Lamar Outdoor Advertising, Inc. 

CINRAM, Inc. 

Emerson Network Products 

North Alabama Multiple Listing Service 

Huntsville Madison County Builders 

Association, Inc. 

Lockheed Martin Corporation 

Agility Defense & Government Services 

Beason & Nalley, Inc. 

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama 

Progress Partners ($5,000 - $9,999 invested annually) 

Jerry Damson Honda Acura 

J. Smith Lanier & Co. 

First Commercial Bank 

The Orthopaedic Center 

Intuitive Research & Technology Corporation 

Samples Properties, Inc. 

ERC, Inc. 

AEgis Technologies Group, Inc. 

Applied Data Trends, Inc. 

BAE Systems 

BASF Catalysts, LLC 

BB&T 

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP 

Coldwell Banker Commercial - 

McLain Real Estate 

Colonial Properties Trust 

Progress Investors ($2,500 - $4,999 invested annually) 

Woody Anderson Ford 

Radiance Technologies, Inc. 

Torch Technologies 

Baron Services, Inc. 

Burger King - Wesfam Restaurants, Inc. 

Fountain, Parker, Harbarger & Associates LLC 

Inergi 

Northrop Grumman Corporation 

QinetiQ North America 

4SITE, Incorporated 

Analytical Services, Inc. 

Averbuch Realty Co., Inc. - Scott Averbuch 

Bama Jammer, Inc. 

BancorpSouth 

Belzon, Inc. 

BFA Systems, Inc. 

BID Designs, LLC 

BlueCreek Investment Partners 

Brown Precision, Inc. 

Bryant Bank 

Century Automotive 

Cerqa, a division of Beacon Printing 

& Graphics, Inc. 

Chapman Sisson Architects, Inc. 

Cintas Corporation 

Booz Allen Hamilton 

Breland Companies 

Camber Corporation 

Cobham Analytic Solutions 

Continental AG 

Crestwood Medical Center 

Intergraph Corporation 

L3 Communications Corp. Headquarters 

Look Outdoor Advertising, Inc. 

Parsons Corporation 

SES, Inc. 

SportsMed Orthopaedic Surgery 

and Spine Center 

Wells Fargo Bank 

Consolidated Construction Company 

Dynetics 

Enfinger Steele Development, Inc. 

Keystone Foods, LLC 

Lanier Ford Shaver & Payne, P.C. 

Navistar Diesel of Alabama, LLC 

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Inc. 

Sirote & Permutt, P.C. 

Superior Bank 

S 3 , Inc. 

Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc. 

Turner Universal Construction 

URS Corporation 

WAFF-TV 

Wilmer & Lee, P.A. 

Yellow Book USA 

Decisive Analytics Corporation 

Decosimo Certified Public Accountants 

DESE Research, Inc. 

Digium, Inc. 

DHS SYSTEMS, LLC (DRASH) 

DRS Test & Energy Management, LLC 

FITE Building Co., Inc. 

Garber Construction Co., Inc. 

Hardin-Junkin & Company Wealth Solutions 

Huntsville Tractor & Equipment, Inc. 

Investor’s Resource/Raymond James 

Financial Services 

KPS Group 

Kudzu Productions, Inc. 

Lamb Commercial Services, Inc. 

Marriott Huntsville 

Parker Hannifin Corporation 

Progress Bank 

QTEC, Inc. 

Qualis Corporation 

Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Hampton Cove 

ServisFirst Bank 

UBS Huntsville Wealth Management Group 

United Space Alliance, LLC 

Woodland Homes of Huntsville 


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initiatives 


december 2010 

Huntsville/Madison County, Alabama is located 

in the middle of the southeastern United States, 

with more than four million people within a 

100-mile radius. The Huntsville community is 

the economic hub of the northern Alabama/ 

southern Tennessee region. Huntsville/Madison 

County’s economy is one of the strongest 

in the nation, with low unemployment, strong 

job growth and income levels leading the region. 

Business growth and investment from 

U.S. and international companies have made it 

one of the country’s top “hot spots” for growing 

a business and raising a family. 

Bridge Street Town Centre in Cummings Research Park 

Huntsville Havoc – affiliated with the Southern Professional Hockey League Huntsville Botanical Garden’s Annual Galaxy of Lights 

features 

Economic Development Highlights 10 

including Irving Burton Associates, PALCO, PPG, 

MJLM Engineering & Technical Services, Summit 7 

Systems, i3, Auburn University, WaveLink, Fountain 

Parker Harbarger & Associates 

Workshops: Tools for Workforce 16 

The Strength of HREGI 18 

Photos used on the cover are also inside beginning 

on page 18 showing company affiliations. The photos 

included were submitted by print deadline. 

Editorial: Happy 50th Marshall! 33 

Preparing to Launch Small Businesses 36 

developments 

HREGI Investors Listing 4 

Chamber Board Listing 8 

Employee of the Quarter 29 

Growth Through Networking 34 

Chamber Staff Listing 38 

Community Profile 40 

2011 Annual Membership Meeting 42 

editorial staff 

Publisher 

lead story 

Dynetics to build New High- 

Tech Manufacturing Facility 

at Cummings Research Park Campus 

pages 22-23 

Brian Hilson 

mission 

The mission of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County 

is to prepare, develop and promote our community for economic growth. 

contact Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County 

225 Church Street, Huntsville, AL 35801 

main line: 256.535.2000 fax: 256.535.2015 

online www.HuntsvilleAlabamaUSA.com 

www.asmartplace.com 

fyi 

Submissions for editorial content are not accepted. Information in this and 

other Chamber publications is at the discretion of the Chamber of Commerce of 

Huntsville/Madison County. Advertising inquiries go through The Huntsville Times. 

Executive Editor 

Editorial Designer 

Contributing Writers 

Photography 

Advertising Sales 

John Southerland 

Kristi Sherrard 

Mark Brown, Ed Buckbee, 

Lucia Cape, Harrison Diamond, 

John Southerland and Loren Traylor 

Chamber of Commerce staff, 

events & publications 

Ray Johnson 


7 


Chamber of Commerce 

Board of Directors and 

Executive Committee 2010 

Executive Committee 

Dear Chamber of Commerce Investors, Community Leaders and Friends: 

It’s a good bet that most people haven’t given much thought to the “Economic Life Cycle” of 

a community. A local economic life cycle is a process that involves such activities as growth 

planning, community development and preparation, leadership engagement, marketing, 

economic development success, announcements and recognitions, followed by more 

planning, more preparation, etc. For Huntsville and Madison County, this cycle of economic 

development has been ongoing for many years, and it has involved many different people 

and activities. Central to this work for many years, and today, is the economic development 

team staffed and coordinated by the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County. 

The Chamber is our community’s lead organization for economic development. It develops 

and maintains the community’s blueprint for economic growth, it implements the daily 

economic development process, and coordinates a broad spectrum of individual leaders and 

organizations to make certain that the economic development process, or the economic life 

cycle, is both complete and successful. 

One of the lead articles of this edition of Initiatives focuses on the Huntsville Regional 

Economic Growth Initiative, the short- and long-term economic development plan which 

was developed by the Chamber and has been recognized as our community’s economic 

growth strategy. HREGI is by no means our community’s first economic growth plan. 

For years, the Chamber followed the process adopted by most local/regional economic 

development organizations around the country, which was to develop a strategy, solicit local 

funding support for it, execute the plan over a four- to five-year period, and then repeat 

the same process, over and over again. In 2003, Chamber leaders recognized that it would 

be much more effective to maintain a longer-term strategy that is updated annually, and 

that’s exactly what stimulated the planning and implementation of the Huntsville Regional 

Economic Growth Initiative. Developed in 2003 and first implemented in 2004, HREGI is 

central to the overall strategic plan of the Chamber of Commerce. It includes an increased 

emphasis on public and private sector financial support, ongoing investor relations with 

supporters of HREGI, and economic development benchmarks which help identify how 

Huntsville and Madison County’s achievements compare with other key metro areas. 

The plan also includes a more proactive and organized approach to targeted economic 

development marketing. In its seven years of implementation, local economic development 

growth has essentially doubled the original announced jobs and capital investment goals, and 

Huntsville/Madison County has achieved unprecedented rankings and recognitions. 

One of the stellar economic development announcements made in our community in recent 

years was a plan for a $50 million, 350-employee new facility for Dynetics in Cummings 

Research Park. The current national economic downturn has impacted local economic 

growth in Huntsville and metropolitan areas throughout the country – no doubt about 

that. Regardless of the national economy, it is important that our community have a resultsoriented 

plan, and that we stick to that plan, so that Dynetics, BRAC and many other 

successes that create job opportunities can continue. 

If you and your company are already investing in the Huntsville Regional Economic Growth 

Initiative, we thank you for your support. We thank you for recognizing that your investment 

in HREGI truly is an investment in our community’s future, and will be of direct benefit to 

you and your company. If you’re not already a HREGI investor, or a member of the Chamber 

of Commerce, we invite you to contact us and let us share with you how HREGI and the 

Chamber can benefit you. 

Brian Hilson 

President & CEO 


Don Nalley, Chair, Beason & Nalley 

Charlie Kettle, Chair-Elect, First Commercial Bank 

Irma Tuder, Immediate Past Chair, Analytical Services 

Tommy Beason, Chamber Foundation Chair, consultant 

Ron Poteat, Secretary/Treasurer, Regions Bank 

Jim Bolte, Vice Chair - Economic Dev., Toyota Motor Manufacturing Ala. 

Joe Alexander, Vice Chair - Governmental Affairs, Camber Corporation 

Jan Smith, Vice Chair - Investor Relations, S 3 

Jeremiah Knight, Vice Chair - Workforce, Verizon Wireless 

Danny Windham, Vice Chair - Small Business, Digium 

Robert Mayes, Vice Chair - Research & Info. Svs., BlueCreek Investment 

Angie McCarter, Vice Chair - Image Development, Davidson Technologies 

Mayor Tommy Battle, Chair-Appointed, City of Huntsville 

Chairman Mike Gillespie, Chair-Appointed, Madison Co. Commission 

Elizabeth Morard, Chair-Appointed, Qualis Corporation 

Joe Ritch, Chair-Appointed, Sirote & Permutt 

Brian Hilson, President/CEO, Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison Co. 

Elected Board 

Cynthia Achorn, ASRC Federal 

Rose Allen, Booz Allen Hamilton 

Rey Almodóvar, Intuitive Research & Technology Corporation 

Clayton Bass, Huntsville Museum of Art 

Penny Billings, BancorpSouth 

Greg Bragg, Consolidated Construction Company 

Everett Brooks, Consultant 

Micah Bullard, Turner Universal Construction 

Frank Caprio, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings 

Tracy Doughty, Huntsville Hospital 

John Eagan, Wells Fargo 

Kerry Fehrenbach, Intergraph Corporation 

Elizabeth Dotts Fleming, Public FA 

Ron Gray, Gray Research 

Jeff Hamilton, The Orthopaedic Center 

John Holly, Lockheed Martin Corporation 

Dr. Pam Hudson, Crestwood Medical Center 

Dr. Andrew Hugine, Alabama A&M University 

Tony Jones, The Boeing Company 

Simon Kim, LG Electronics Alabama 

Frederick Lanier, J. Smith Lanier & Co. 

John McMullan, BancorpSouth 

Dan Montgomery, Strategic Defense Solutions 

Caroline Myers, Foreign Language Services 

Joe Newberry, Redstone Federal Credit Union 

Jim Owens, BBVA Compass 

Tony Palumbo 

Crystal Shell, WILL Technology 

Dr. Ashok Singhal, CFD Research Corporation 

Todd Slyman, Village of Providence 

Keith Smith, SAIC 

Dr. O’Neal Smitherman, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology 

Tom Stanton, ADTRAN 

Al Sullivan, Alpha Beta Technologies, Inc. 

Dr. Dave Williams, UAHuntsville 

Dr. Ernie Wu, ERC 


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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HIGHLIGHTS 

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF HUNTSVILLE/MADISON COUNTY 

Milken Institute Recognition Gives Huntsville Another Top-5 National Ranking 

The Milken Institute, an independent economic think tank, 

recently ranked Huntsville the third best performing metro 

in the nation in its 2010 list of best performing cities. 

Huntsville jumped five spots from last year’s ranking of 

eight. 


Board Chairman Don Nalley said the recognition is significant 

in the Chamber’s economic development and workforce 

recruitment efforts. 

“Not everyone is seeing every ranking or recognition 

that our community is receiving,” Nalley said. “But it is 

apparent that many of our targeted industries or potential 

workforce candidates from other parts of the country are 

seeing some of these rankings. This Milken Institute recognition 

is another top five ranking that illustrates that our 

local economy remains one of the best in the United States. 

Increasingly we see companies approaching us wanting 

more information about expanding into our community – 

because of some ranking or recognition such as this one 

that they may have seen.” 

The Best-Performing Cities index was designed to measure 

objectively which U.S. metropolitan areas are most 

successful in terms of job creation and retention, the quality 

of jobs being produced and overall economic performance. 

Specifically, it pinpoints where jobs are being created and 

maintained, where wages and salaries are increasing, and 

where economies and businesses are growing and thriving. 

“Our city is on an unprecedented roll in receiving 

national recognition. Rankings like these give us a quick 

gauge of where we stand as a city, not just in our state, but 

nationally. Huntsville has a strong economy, a diverse workforce 

and a growing job base. When those factors combine 

with an incredible quality of life, it’s hard to find a better 

city than ours,” Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle said. “We 

are proud of our rising place on the Milken Institute’s ‘Best 

Performing Cities’ list and thankful for our local businesses, 

employers and residents for the work they do in getting 

us there.” 

The report cites the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure 

(BRAC) decision that is bringing more than 4,600 

jobs to Huntsville and a high-tech economy as reasons for 

Huntsville’s high ranking. 

“Huntsville is benefiting from base consolidation decisions 

made in 2005 but adds high-tech to the mix of 

reasons it is a consistent performer. Redstone Arsenal is 

home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, the Missile 

Defense Agency, and more than 60 government agencies 

and organizations with more than $50 billion in total annual 

budgets. Slightly more than half of the 35,000 people 

who work behind the Redstone Arsenal’s gates every day 

are civilian government employees, and the remainder are 

government contractors,” the report states. 

The report continues its analysis of the community’s 

economy by saying: “Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and 

Lockheed Martin all have a major presence and spawn thousands 

of jobs in other industries. Huntsville is reported to 

have the nation’s highest concentration of engineers per capita. 

Excluding federal, state, and local government, three of 

the top five private-sector industries are high-tech services.” 

The Top 10 included: 

1. Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX 

2. Austin-Round Rock, TX 

3. Huntsville, AL 

4. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX 

5. Kennewick-Richland-Pasco, WA 

6. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV* 

7. Raleigh-Cary, NC 

8. Anchorage, AK 

9. El Paso, TX 

10. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX • 


~ continued on page 13 

Huntsville Metro Named 

7th Most Attractive 

Investment Location 

The Huntsville Metro area was recently selected the 7th most 

attractive metro region for “Attractive Investment Locations” 

in the September edition of Area Development magazine. 

The significance of the recognition is that the magazine 

is targeted to site selection consultants around the nation – 

those organizations that help companies make decisions on 

where to locate or expand their operations, according to Brian 

Hilson, President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of 

Huntsville/Madison County. 

“We talk a lot about our rankings because our community 

has received a number of top rankings and recognitions 

for its growing economy over the past several years,” Hilson 

said. “The rankings are a nice way to highlight what a lot of 

people here already know – this really is a great place to live, 

work and play. And this particular ranking is significant to us 

because of who the audience is and the fact that the other 

metros listed in the ranking are much larger, major metro 

areas than ours, so we are in great company.” 

Hilson shared the information at a recent meeting with investors 

in the Chamber’s Huntsville Regional Economic Growth 

Initiative (HREGI). 

The results were based on the magazine’s survey of site 

consultants to find out which states and metro areas would be 

the best for businesses. 

The survey asked consultants to name their top 10 state 

choices for meeting eight site selection criteria: 

Lowest business costs, most business friendly, corporate 

tax environment, overall labor climate, workforce development 

programs, fast-track permitting, rail and highway accessibility, 

and shovel-ready sites. 

Alabama ranked fourth overall, behind Tennessee, Texas 

and South Carolina. The 10 metro regions most-named as 

attractive investment locations were: 

1. Metro Dallas, Texas 

2. Metro Atlanta, Georgia 

3. Metro Charlotte, North Carolina 

4. Metro Houston, Texas 

5. Greater Indianapolis, Indiana 

6. Metro St. Louis, Missouri 

7. Huntsville, Alabama 

8. Charleston, South Carolina 

9. Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina 

10. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma • 

11 



continued from page 11 

IBA Announces Company Growth in Huntsville 

Madison Mayor Paul Finley joins Edwina Musante, IBA director of Huntsville operations, 

and Anna Ryan, President and CEO of IBA, in cutting the ribbon for IBA’s continued growth 

in Huntsville. 

Huntsville Company’s 

Logistics Expertise 

Earns European Business 

PALCO, a company that provides reverse logistics, failure 

analysis, and aftermarket services, recently expanded into 

Europe with its newest facility located near Amsterdam in 

Venlo, The Netherlands. 

PALCO will support global OEMs in the Europe, Middle 

East and Africa regions (EMA) who have turned to PALCO as 

an expert in reverse logistics. 

“This expansion reflects PALCO’s continued commitment 

to customers’ reverse logistics requirements and PALCO’s 

services deployment strategy,” said PALCO CEO Janice Migliore. 

While initially supporting companies in the EMA region, 

PALCO’s European expansion will ultimately include the 

Asian-Pacific (APAC) region. 

According to Migliore, plans are currently in the discovery 

phase for adding capabilities in the APAC region as PAL- 

CO continues to execute its services deployment strategy. 

“Furthermore, PALCO’s expansion provides a singular 

solution to support global companies, while allowing us continued 

growth in business in the Americas,” said Migliore. • 

Irving Burton Associates (IBA), which expanded its operation to Huntsville last summer, recently celebrated 

its continued growth in the Huntsville/Madison County community at a recent ribbon cutting. 

IBA, a woman-owned professional and technical services government contractor, expanded to 

Huntsville to broaden its delivery of technology and management solutions to the area’s defense community. 

Work in Huntsville includes joining contracts for the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command 

AMCOM EXPRESS contract, a contract that provides comprehensive management and support services 

to numerous Army facilities and groups. The company delivers program management and technical 

solutions to more than 40 program offices in the federal sector including the U.S. Department of 

Defense, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Interior. 

Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Board Chair Don Nalley said IBA is an 

excellent example of the kinds of companies that continue to make the local economy so competitive. 

“We feel certain the company will feel right at home in Huntsville given the increasing federal 

presence and a flourishing business environment. Great companies lead to great communities and 

today IBA is officially joining that winning formula,” Nalley said. 

Edwina Musante, IBA director of Huntsville operations, said that the company plans to add employees 

to its Huntsville office over the next year to support Redstone-based organizations. 

“IBA is leveraging our capabilities in information technology and project management to support 

the missile and aviation organizations at Redstone Arsenal. We expect to hire four new employees in 

our Huntsville office before the end of the year, and our goal for 2011 is to grow by an additional 12 

to 15 employees,” Musante said. “IBA has more than 30 years of excellent past performance with the 

Department of Defense and many other federal agencies. We look forward to an equally impressive 

record of successes with the organizations at Redstone Arsenal.” 

Madison Mayor Paul Finley said that companies such as IBA are examples of companies that need 

to be in Huntsville/Madison County. 

“This community is continuing to be on the map of places people and businesses need to be. This 

is a perfect example of just that,” Finley said. • 

PPG to Manufacture State-of-the-Art Windows for New Jet 

PPG Industries’ aerospace transparencies group was awarded a contract by Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. (MJET) to 

design and manufacture the all-glass windshields and side flight-deck windows for the new Mitsubishi Regional 

Jet (MRJ). 

Under the agreement, PPG will supply original-equipment flight-deck windows for the life of the program 

and support operators with aftermarket parts, according to Mark Cancilla, PPG Aerospace global platform 

director for transparencies. 

Cancilla said PPG will design and produce the windshields and side flight-deck windows at its Huntsville 

aircraft transparencies facility. The MRJ, which is a family of 70- to 90-seat next-generation regional jets under 

development by MJET, is expected to enter service in 2014. 

“We are excited to play a role in the advanced-technology MRJ and appreciate being able to join with MJET 

in its launch,” Cancilla said. “This program is another demonstration of PPG’s continued commitment to the 

regional jet marketplace and to our ability to meet the important needs of regional jet operators. PPG’s design, 

technology and manufacturing capabilities enable us to provide high-quality, value-added transparencies, while 

our long history of supporting the aftermarket and our global network of support centers give us the expertise 

and infrastructure to provide timely operator service on a local basis.” 

According to Cancilla, the heated windshields and side flight-deck windows will be among the largest in 

commercial aviation to afford enhanced visibility. Using three plies of Herculite ® II chemically strengthened 

glass will enable PPG to design them to be strong yet lightweight. An additional design consideration is the 

attenuation of high-intensity radiated fields, which will be addressed with use of existing coatings technologies. 

The windshields will be designed to resist impact by a 4-pound bird at 340 knots. • 


~ continued on page 14 

MJLM Engineering and Technical Services Opens New Refurbishment Facility 

Odysseus Lanier, partner and director of MJLM Engineering and Technical Services Federal Sector announced plans to grow the 

company’s presence in Huntsville at a recent ribbon cutting for its new facility in north Huntsville. 

MJLM Engineering and Technical Services recently held a 

grand opening for its new refurbishing facility in north Huntsville 

for continued support of various U.S. Army programs. 

MJLM Engineering and Technical Services in Huntsville 

provides life-cycle solutions and long-term technical support services. 

Officials with the company say the business unit is poised 

for growth in the logistics, support, sustainment, and fabrication 

service areas, as well as its growth in design services. 

MJLM provides engineering and technical support to its 

Close Combat Weapon System (CCWS) customer. This contract 

consists of 29 employees that work full-time to support 

the nation’s warfighters. 

Charlie Kettle, chair-elect of the Chamber of Commerce 

of Huntsville/Madison County, said MJLM is an example of 

the kinds of companies that help diversify and strengthen the 

local economy. 

“We have a diverse industry base that has helped the Huntsville 

economy stay strong in these challenging times. We are here 

today to celebrate a company that is succeeding in tough times 

by offering a variety of services to the U.S. Army. And providing 

them at a very high level, I might add. The facility we are having 

the grand opening for is representative of that,” Kettle said. 

Odysseus Lanier, partner and director of MJLM Engineering 

and Technical Services, Federal Sector, said the company 

was first looking into providing engineering services support 

in 2001. Since then, the company has grown tremendously, 

with more growth planned, he said. 

“This is a great day for us as a company. In 2001, we 

wanted to explore opportunities to provide engineering services. 

We started with one employee then, and now we have 

grown to 84. According to our strategic plan over the next three 

to five years we should have 250 to 300 employees here. We 

think we have a good shot getting there,” Lanier said. 

“This is a great hour for Huntsville, Team Redstone and 

our soldiers. Huntsville is going to be the beneficiary of this 

company’s success,” said Huntsville City Councilman Dr. Richard 

Showers. • 

Summit 7 Systems Finds Establishment of HQ in Huntsville to be a Smart Move 

Ben Curry and Scott Edwards of Summit 7 Systems receive a plaque from Charlie Kettle, chair-elect of the 

Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County, commemorating the opening of Summit 7’s new 

office in Cummings Research Park. 

Summit 7 Systems recently celebrated the opening of its new office in Cummings 

Research Park. 

Originally founded in Minneapolis, Summit 7 Systems relocated to Huntsville 

in 2009 and has since grown its business of providing business intelligence 

management solutions to a variety of customers. The staff have authored several 

publications on the Microsoft business platform, and have been acknowledged 

by Microsoft (and throughout the industry) as experts in collaboration systems. 

Charlie Kettle, chair-elect of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison 

County Board of Directors said he thinks Summit 7 Systems’ growth and success 

mirror that of the local economy. 

“Summit 7 Systems is an excellent example of how our community is performing 

– here we have bright and talented entrepreneurs who have selected this 

community – from many across the country, to grow their business,” Kettle said. 

Scott Edwards, president and managing partner, said that he is amazed at 

the community and that the company is able to draw top talent, many of whom 

are experts in their field. 

“The things going on in Huntsville are amazing. People are wanting to come 

down here and work for Summit 7,” Edwards said. 

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle congratulated the company on its growth. 

“You are in for a big adventure. You are sitting in one of the world’s great centers 

of excellence. We have the best and brightest in Huntsville and that makes us 

a special place. This is an example of our future,” Battle said. • 

13 



continued from page 13 

Innovation Integration Incorporated (i3) recently held a ribbon 

cutting for the opening of the company’s new office in Cummings 

Research Park. 

Since its founding in 2007 with one employee, the company 

has grown quickly. The company’s first subcontract was to provide 

services for the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. 

By the end of 2008, i3 was at 18 employees and generated 

$1.2 million in revenue. In 2009, the company experienced a 

huge surge by increasing its workforce to 120 employees and 

generating $15.25 million in revenue. The company has continued 

it growth and today has more than 250 employees and has 

i3 CEO Michael Wicks 

revenues of more than $50 million. 

The company’s client base also has grown and diversified to 

include various programs with the U.S. Army, Navy and the Air 

Force, among others. 

“This company has become a huge success story in a community 

that has become one of our nation’s greatest economic success 

stories,” said Ron Poteat, secretary/treasurer of the Chamber 

of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Board of Directors. 

Michael Wicks, CEO of i3, said that Huntsville is the best place 

he could have started a business. 

Officials with Auburn University were in Huntsville recently to 

formally open Auburn’s Huntsville Research Center. 

Auburn University’s new Huntsville Research Center is already 

working closely with area industry and federal agencies, including 

plans to develop cyber security technologies designed to 

protect U.S. soldiers and information systems on the battlefield. 

“Our goal is to work in partnership with the Huntsville 

community to expand the region’s role in the national research 

agenda, bring new ideas and products to government, industry 

and consumers, and help create economic opportunity,” Auburn 

University President Dr. Jay Gogue said. 

The Huntsville Research Center is headed by Rodney Robertson, 

former director of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense 

Command’s technical center. It will concentrate on projects in 

defense, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, biotechnology, 

information technology and other federal and state 

Auburn President Dr. Jay Gogue 

government priorities. 

“Bringing the best minds and ideas together enables us to 

tackle the nation’s most difficult problems,” said Robertson. 

“Auburn researchers are passionate about discovery and innovation. 

We’re eager to bring our capabilities and resources to the 

table with our Huntsville colleagues to deliver the best results 

for Alabama and the nation.” 

Robertson said Auburn researchers will work closely with 

scientists at Alabama A&M University and the University of 

Alabama in Huntsville. 

“We look forward to building on the Alabama A&M and 

Auburn partnership with new research initiatives that are vital 

for the Huntsville community,” said Alabama A&M President Dr. 

Andrew Hugine. 

14 December 2010 Initiatives 

i3 Grows in Huntsville, Diversifies Customer Base 

“There really is no better place to start a business than in 

Huntsville. We get tickled every time we read an article in Forbes 

featuring Huntsville. All of our growth is because we do the little 

things right,” Wicks said. 

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle congratulated the company 

on it growth and lauded the company as an example of Huntsville 

growth as a community. 

“You really have to realize the economic impact companies 

such as this have. It really contributes to the economic engine of 

this state,” Battle said. • 

Auburn University Opens Research Center to Work 

with Local Industry, Academia and Government 

“UAHuntsville plays a crucial role in the intellectual development 

of Huntsville, and these collaborations, particularly with 

other state institutions, are one of the most effective ways that 

we can respond to the challenges facing our community, state 

and nation,” UAHuntsville President Dr. Dave Williams said. 

Each year, more than $30 billion in federal funding flows 

though the Huntsville area in government contracts. Collaboration 

among scientists, whether they work in universities, 

government or industry, is essential to solve today’s complex 

research challenges, according to Robertson. 

Auburn’s work in cyber security and information assurance 

includes training wounded soldiers. Training that occurred last 

month in Huntsville prepared them for cyber positions in government 

and industry. •

~ highlights compiled by 

John Southerland & Harrison Diamond 

WaveLink Celebrates Opening New Office in Huntsville 

Chamber Board Chair Don Nalley with WaveLink President Tamela Gibbs. 

WaveLink, a small woman-owned defense contractor, initially began providing commercial software development to telecommunications 

companies. Its products and services have expanded to providing high-end technical services and systems engineering support 

for government clients, including numerous U.S. Army aviation and missile programs and program management offices. 

Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Board Chair Don Nalley praised WaveLink’s success and said the company’s 

continued growth helps the local economy. 

“At the Chamber, we often discuss how fortunate we are to have such a diverse industry base that helps our local economy stay 

stronger than most in these challenging financial times, and WaveLink has proven to be a wonderful example of this community’s 

economic growth,” Nalley said. 

Tamela Gibbs, president of WaveLink said of the opening of the new office, “I am so glad to be from Huntsville and so glad to 

be in the business that we are in.” 

Joe Vallely, economic development director with the City of Huntsville, said that WaveLink is a prime example of the many 

“home-grown” companies that are succeeding in Huntsville. 

“Congratulations to you and for all that you have accomplished. You represent the kind of home-grown growth that we like to 

see in this community,” Vallely said. • 

Local Insurance Agency Makes Distinguished List 

Fountain Parker Harbarger & Associates recently earned the highly-coveted “Best Practices” designation from the Independent Insurance 

Agents & Brokers of America, an honor few insurance companies can claim. Of the more than 37,000 independent insurance 

agencies in the country, only 260 received the honor of “Best Practices” for 2010. Of those 224 companies that made the list, 

there were only six from Alabama. • 

15 


Chamber Workshops Provide Tools to Area Workforce 

Matching job seekers with employment opportunities is the Chamber’s goal 

The Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison 

County hosted a series 

of workshops over the past few months 

designed to help local job seekers who are 

experiencing the challenges of a career in 

transition get the tools they need to make a 

smooth career move. 

The workshops covered diverse topics 

such as financial planning, how to find federal 

employment – including opportunities 

with the Missile Defense Agency – and how 

to deal with change. 

With recent layoffs by NASA and the Base 

Realignment and Closure workforce transition 

entering its final phase, the Chamber’s 

workforce recruitment efforts not only emphasized 

recruiting new workers to the area, 

but also in retaining the incumbent educated 

and trained workforce. 

“With Huntsville/Madison County having 

the highest concentration of engineers 

in the country and the parallel need of a 

highly skilled knowledge-based workforce 

to fill current industry requirements, it is very 

important that we retain the talent that lives 

here today in our community,” said Jeremiah 

Knight, the Chamber’s vice chair of workforce. 

According to Lucia Cape, Chamber workforce 

vice president, the workshops were 

developed as a way to help local companies 

provide support and resources to employees 

affected by the downturn in the economy 

and also to assist trailing spouses and family 

members who moved to the community as a 

result of the BRAC decision. 

“We get a lot of questions from both local and 

potential residents about how to find a job in 

Huntsville,” said Cape. “As a result, we designed 

these workshops to make it easy for them to find 

their way through the maze of opportunity.” 

During the workshops, the Chamber highlighted 

its recruitment site www.asmartplace. 

com to attendees. Funded by a grant from the 

State of Alabama, the site is designed to connect 

jobseekers to employers throughout the 

Tennessee Valley region. The site enables job 

seekers to search and apply for jobs within 

a 90-mile radius of Redstone Arsenal based 

on specific search criteria the user inputs. In 

addition, registered users can upload their resume 

into a database that area employers can 

use to search for available workers. 

“We have received very positive feedback 

from both jobseekers and employers who 

have attended the workshops,” said Cape. 

The Chamber will be hosting additional 

workshops that are relevant to supporting the 

region’s workforce and employers in 2011. 

• Staff Reports 

For more information on the Chamber’s workforce activities visit 

www.huntsvillealabamausa.com/workforce/workforce.html 


17 


The Strength of HREGI 

Investors Ensure that Huntsville 

Regional Economic Growth Initiative 

Remains the Catalyst for Targeted Industry 

Expansion in Huntsville/Madison County 

Special Thanks to Our 

HREGI Investors 

Mayor Tommy Battle 

City of Huntsville 

Development Partner 

For more than 100 years, the Chamber HREGI investors include more than 150 

of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison companies and public entities that annually 

County’s primary mission has been to prepare, 

invest more than $1,500,000 to stimulate eco- 

develop and promote the community nomic growth. Consequently, Huntsville has 

for economic growth. Through the efforts of been able to weather the recent nationwide recession 

Mayor Paul Finley 

progressive community leaders and strong 

partnerships with local, state and federal officials, 

this region has grown and prospered 

much better than most communities, 

both larger and smaller, across the country. In 

fact, the community is being recognized for the 

City of Madison 


in all that it has attempted to accomplish. strength of its economy almost monthly with 

Since the 1950s the local economic base has the latest accolade coming from Area Development 

diversified from cotton farms to missiles, 

magazine, which named Huntsville the 

and magnified into what residents see today seventh “Most Attractive Metro for Business.” 

bringing more opportunities to succeed for “Huntsville/Madison County has many assets 

Chairman Mike Gillespie 

that make it so competitive, including 

all area businesses. 

Madison County 

This astronomical success did not happen 

overnight. It required the coordination ucated and productive population,” said Bill 


great sites, a strong workforce and a well-ed- 

Commission 

of an organized vision with numerous partners 

Fredrick, managing director of the Wadley 

working toward a common goal – in- 

Donovan Group, an economic development 

creasing the economic growth of the Huntsville/Madison 

consulting firm that advises economic de- 

County community. Local velopment agencies, workforce development 

economic development efforts are funded groups, and local and state governments on a 

and supported by many private businesses variety of economic development and workforce 

Waymon Pace 

development issues. 

and public sector entities and their leaders, 

who look beyond what the Chamber of Major advantages that make the area 

Authority 

Tennessee Valley 

Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County unique, Fredrick said, include its “organized, 


can do for them directly and instead support 

energetic, can-do political, business and 

a program that is designed to help the Chamber leadership and a consensus-built 

entire region grow and prosper. 

strategic plan.” 

As a result, almost seven years ago, the “Our focus is on creating and sustaining 

Huntsville Regional Economic Growth programs that prepare our community to effectively 

compete in the global economy and to 

Bill Pippin 

Initiative (HREGI) was established by local 

business and community leaders as the provide opportunities for our local businesses 

roadmap and investment tool for funding 

Huntsville Utilities 

to grow,” said Jan Smith, investor relations 


continuous growth through the Chamber. vice-chair for the Chamber. “It is up to them 

The Chamber’s mission is simple, but its impact 

to take these opportunities and turn them into 

profound. The result of this investment growth for their individual business.” 

is that more targeted industries in primarily The HREGI plan includes working with local 

high-tech fields and more highly qualified 

businesses to address their needs; recruiting 

and educated workers are coming into the targeted industry; protecting and growing the 

region to accelerate the potential for growth aerospace and defense industry; developing capacity 

David Spillers 

for new and sustained economic growth; 

that benefits all companies. 

Huntsville Hospital 

HREGI accounts for about one-third of developing and recruiting a skilled workforce; 


the Chamber’s annual budget and provides 

enhancing the community’s image; and 

a vehicle for public and private companies remaining accountable to the Chamber’s 

and organizations to invest in the continued 

stakeholders. 

growth and prosperity of the region. 

story continued on page 24 

photos continued on page 

20

19 


HREGI Investors, continued from page 18 – 

Rick Tucker 

Port of Huntsville 


Jim Bolte 

Toyota Motor 

Manufacturing 

Alabama, Inc. 


Ron Poteat 

Regions Bank 


John Gully 

SAIC 


Dave Hargrove 

AT&T 


Jeremiah Knight 

Verizon Wireless 



Bob Ludwig 



Joe Newberry 

Redstone Federal 

Credit Union 


Tom Stanton 

ADTRAN, Inc. 


Joe Alexander 

Camber Corporation 

Chamber Trustees 

Rose Allen 

Booz Allen Hamilton 


Garth Bloxham 

Cobham Analytic 

Solutions 


continued on page 25 

21 


Dynetics to Build New 

High-Tech Manufacturing Facility 

at Cummings Research Park Campus 


Recent Announcement Will Add 350 Jobs Over Three Years 

Above: Alabama Gov. Bob Riley is greeted by Madison County Commission Chair Mike Gillespie at the announcement of Dynetics’ 

new facility as Don Nalley, Board Chair of the Chamber of Commerce, and Dave King, Executive Vice President of Dynetics, look 

on. Renderings of the new facility shown below and on opposite page. Site of new facility on Explorer Blvd. shown at top of page. 

Perhaps the most efficient way to prepare for 

growth is to plan for that growth. While 

there are many variables that can be attributable 

to a company’s success and expansion, one key 

element is to have plans in place to handle the 

growth should it occur. In the case of Dynetics, 

a Huntsville-based success story with its corporate 

headquarters in a stunning facility in Cummings 

Research Park, this growth seems to be 

occurring rapidly, but the plans for that growth 

have long been in place thanks to the vision and 

the strategic planning of its leadership. 

Dr. Marc Bendickson, CEO of Dynetics, said 

it has been important to keep focused on the 

future, so much so that it became part of the 

company’s daily focus. When Dynetics recently 

announced plans to build a new facility on its 

Huntsville campus that will create 350 jobs 

over three years, the announcement was several 

years in the making. 

“We put a committee together two years 

ago, and they began developing requirements 

for this building then, but the vision goes 

back probably 10 years. As we moved more 

into products, we wanted to have a facility designed 

to prototype and manufacture those.” 

The facility will be 226,500 total square feet 

with about 110,000 square feet of prototype development 

and low-rate production space. The 

remaining portion will be office space. The facility 

will expand the company’s capabilities in 

research and development and production for

aerospace, defense and cyber products. It will 

be a high-tech design, development and prototyping 

facility, incorporating the latest resources 

available to produce quality products rapidly 

and affordably for both commercial and government 

customers. The new facility will provide 

space for the company’s hardware integration; 

specialty item production; space systems work 

(including satellite integration); and specialized 

systems, subsystems and tools development. 

The announcement was met with great fanfare 

among the many partners and team members 

that would normally be involved in a project 

of this magnitude. 

“The development of this facility will take 

our capability to design, develop and produce 

complex hardware systems and equipment to 

a whole new level. It has been specifically tailored 

to address some of the most challenging 

aerospace and defense problems our nation 

faces today,” Bendickson said. 

United States Sen. Richard Shelby praised 

the company for its high standards and for 

what it does and will be doing to enhance the 

nation’s security capabilities. 

“This facility will be an outstanding asset for 

our national security capabilities, the continuation 

of U.S. supremacy in space and the North 

Alabama community,” Shelby said. 

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, a key partner in 

area economic development projects, said the 

news was good for all of Alabama. 

“It’s always great to welcome new jobs to 

Alabama, especially these high technology 

jobs that are absolutely vital to Alabama’s 

future,” Riley said. “With the outstanding 

leadership of Dynetics, Alabama is moving 

forward.” 

Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/ 

Madison County Board Chair Don Nalley 

said the project involved a number of regional 

economic development partners. 

“Dynetics is a wonderful story, an employee 

owned company that continues to 

expand its facilities and its employment with 

the kinds of jobs that will keep our local 

economic engine running strong for years to 

come,” Nalley said. “Announcements of this 

stature typically include many long hours of 

work that occurs behind the scenes involving 

the company and our team of economic 

development partners, from the State of Alabama 

and the Alabama Development Office 

to the City of Huntsville, the Madison County 

Commission and other state and regional 

partners such as the Tennessee Valley Authority 

and Huntsville Utilities.” 

Tom Baumbach, company president, said, 

“As Dynetics continues to grow and expand 

our customer base, we wanted to be able to 

offer our customers more solutions right here 

locally. Our customers have relied on us for 

the past 36 years to provide them with responsive, 

low-cost solutions, and we will continue 

to do that more effectively than ever.” 

And many of those solutions will be 

space-related. 

“This new facility will enable us to expand 

our space systems development and 

production capabilities,” said Dave King, 

executive vice president for Dynetics. “This 

includes the development and integration 

of small satellites, our missile work and our 

work for commercial customers such as Bigelow 

Aerospace, Boeing, Lockheed Martin 

and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. We will 

be able to offer enhanced support to NASA, 

including support for the agency’s new direction 

to build heavy lift rockets and implement 

new technologies.” 

Bendickson said there has long been a 

need to have great “anchor tenants” in the 

building – and with a couple of classified 

programs that constitute at least one of 

those anchor tenants, the time was right for 

construction. And rest assured company 

leaders already have an eye on the next wave 

of growth. 

“We’re considering additional growth beyond 

the facility,” he said. “There’s a lot of 

unknown out there, but we might one day 

need more of a dedicated facility to manufacture 

a unique product. There’s a lot of opportunity 

out there if we can land some of 

these big programs.” 

• John Southerland 

23 


The Strength of HREGI, 

continued from page 18 – 

Investors in the Huntsville Regional Economic Growth Initiative (HREGI) were recently invited to attend a special reception at 

the Chamber, where President/CEO Brian Hilson and Chair-elect Charlie Kettle provided a brief economic update to attendees. 

As a result, during the seven years that 

HREGI has been in existence, Huntsville/ 

Madison County announced more than 

27,000 new and expanding jobs with a total 

capital investment of more than $1.7 billion. 

These achievements far exceeded the 

HREGI goals of 17,500 new and expanding 

jobs and $900 million in capital investments 

for the same period. Additionally, these results 

far outpaced the state and U.S. averages 

in every growth category. In fact, since 2000, 

the Huntsville metro area more than tripled 

the growth rate of the state in employment 

and led other peer communities such as Austin, 

Charlotte, Raleigh and Durham in professional 

and technical employment. 

As result of the active engagement and 

support of the entire community, both large 

and small companies continue to make a 

difference. In recognition of their special investment 

in economic development, special 

update meetings and investor-only events 

are held throughout the year for HREGI investors. 

The investments are paying off in other areas 

as well. Huntsville, Madison and Madison 

County recently received national recognition 

from publications such as the Milken Institute, 

Forbes and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance 

as well as being listed by Entrepreneur as the 

nation’s leading small city with big opportunities. 

These accolades make it easier for 

Huntsville/Madison County to sell itself to 

businesses looking to relocate to the community 

and to recruit a skilled workforce to fill 

the jobs that are currently available. 

But, the best is yet to come. Through HRE- 

GI, the Chamber continues to plan for future 

growth, with an emphasis placed on meeting 

infrastructure, workforce and education 

needs of a growing, vibrant community. 

“Working together, the partners and investors 

of HREGI ensure that we remain ahead 

of our competition and that we continue to 

prepare, develop and promote our community 

for economic prosperity,” said Don Nalley, 

Chamber Board Chair. 

• Loren Traylor 



Joe Cosumano 

Agility Defense & 

Government Services 


Mark Curran 

L3 Communications 

Corporate HQ - 

Huntsville 


John Eagan 

Wells Fargo Bank 


Kerry Fehrenbach 

Intergraph 

Corporation 


Oscar Gonzales 

North Alabama 

Multiple Listing Service 


Mark Harris 

Huntsville-Madison 

County Builders 

Association, Inc. 


Steve Hassell 

Emerson 

Network Products 


John Holly 

Lockheed Martin 

Corporation 


Dr. Pam Hudson 

Crestwood 

Medical Center 



25 



The Boeing Company 


Tony Jones 

Simon Kim 

Don Nalley 

Tom Ray 


LG Electronics 

Alabama, Inc. 


Beason & Nalley, Inc. 


Look Outdoor 

Advertising, Inc. 


Clay Vandiver 

BBVA Compass 


Mike Watkins 

Blue Cross Blue Shield 

of Alabama 

Chamber Trustees

Rey Almodóvar 

Intuitive Research 

& Technology 

Corporation 

Progress Partners 

Marcus Bendickson 

Dynetics 


Greg Bragg 

Consolidated 

Construction 

Company 


Micah Bullard 

Turner Universal 

Construction 


Frank Caprio 

Bradley Arant Boult 

Cummings, LLP 


Derrick Copeland 

Applied Data 

Trends, Inc. 


Deke Damson 

Jerry Damson 

Honda Acura 


Rex Geveden 

Teledyne Brown 

Engineering, Inc. 


Jeff Hamilton 

The Orthopædic 

Center 



27 



Steve Hill 

AEgis Technologies 

Group, Inc. 


Eddie Hoff 

BB&T 


Doug Johnson 

URS Corporation 


Charlie Kettle 

First Commercial 

Bank 


Scott Kowerduck 

BAE Systems 


Tracy Lamm 

Pratt & Whitney 

Rocketdyne, Inc. 


Frederick Lanier 

Rich Marsden 

J. Smith Lanier & Co. 

Lanier Ford Shaver 

Payne, P.C. 



Joe Ritch 

Jan Smith 

Sirote & Permutt, P.C. 

S 3 , Inc. 



John Wilmer 

Ernie Wu 

Wilmer & Lee, P.A. 

ERC, Inc. 



Ken Barnett 

Shari Barnum 

Analytical 

Investor’s Resource/ 

Services, Inc. 

Raymond James 

Financial Services 

Progress Investors 


Scott McLain 

Coldwell Banker 

Commercial McLain 

Real Estate 


Sandra Steele 

Enfinger Steele 

Development, Inc. 


Scott Averbuch 

Averbuch Realty Co, 

Inc. – Scott Averbuch 


Bob Baron 

Baron Services, Inc. 


continued on page 30

E M P L O Y E E O F T H E Q U A R T E R 

Lori Warner 

Financial Assistant 

Keeping track of timely payments for all the Chamber of 

Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County’s numerous 

events requires meticulous attention to detail, the ability to 

multitask and a team-based attitude. These are all qualities that 

the Chamber’s latest Employee of the Quarter, Lori Warner, has. 

Warner is responsible for accounts payable at the Chamber. 

In this capacity, she handles the timely payment for services to 

vendors and payroll to the Chamber’s employees. This keeps 

Warner on her toes, but according to her, she would not have it 

any other way. 

“I assist with payroll as well as handling all the accounts payable 

responsibilities. It keeps me very busy and that is just the 

way I like it.” 

To Warner, being named Employee of the Quarter is important 

because of the respect she has for her fellow Chamber employees 

and the professionalism they show every day working for 

the community’s lead organization for economic development. 

“This is such a great honor for me. I am thrilled to be part 

of such a professional team. The team atmosphere here at the 

Chamber really makes this a fun and rewarding job. 

“Lori is smart, hard working and willing and able to research 

and analyze options that provide solutions and efficiencies to 

Chamber operations. She does it with a great attitude,” said Christy 

Nalley, director of finance and administration for the Chamber. 

Warner said that among the things she enjoys most about 

working at the Chamber is seeing the numerous events it holds 

and meeting new people. 

“There’s always some exciting event that the Chamber is putting 

on which has given me the opportunity to meet so many 

fascinating and talented people.” • 

29 



Penny Billings 

BancorpSouth 


Dan Bodeker 

BFA Systems, Inc. 


Brian Bourque 

Robert Trent Jones 

Golf Trail at 

Hampton Cove 


Kathy Broad 

QTEC, Inc. 


Greg Brown 

Brown Precision, Inc. 


Charley Burruss 

Kudzu 

Productions, Inc. 



Jerry Cargile 

4SITE, Inc. 


Mike Chapman 

Chapman Sisson 

Architects, Inc. 


George Clark 

Radiance 

Technologies, Inc. 


Ken Conner 

Decosimo Certified 

Public Accountants 


Kim Doering 

United Space 

Alliance, LLC 


Jack Fite 

FITE Building 

Co., Inc. 



31 



Melissa Friday 

Woodland Homes 

of Huntsville 


Lee Hoekenschnieder 

Progress Bank 


Andy Kattos 

ServisFirst Bank 



Ron Gray 

Gray Research, Inc. 


George Jones 

Century Automotive 


Wally Kirkpatrick 

DESE Research, Inc. 


Kristine Harding 

KPS Group 


Robert Junkin 

Hardin-Junkin & 

Company Wealth 

Solutions, LLC 


Ron Klein 

Belzon, Inc. 


continued on page 35

Editor’s Note: Ed Buckbee has been associated with the U.S. space program for four decades. He was commissioned a U.S. Army officer in 1958, 

working for the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Redstone. In 1961, Buckbee transferred to the newly formed NASA Marshall Space Flight Center 

where he worked for rocket scientist Dr. Wernher von Braun. He was selected by von Braun in 1970 to be the first director of the Alabama Space & Rocket 

Center. He is the author of “The Real Space Cowboys”; the editor of “50 Years of Rockets and Spacecraft”; and the producer of “Wernher von Braun – The 

Rocket Man” and brings in-depth, first-hand knowledge of the history and successes of Marshall Space Flight Center, which is observing its 50th anniversary. 

Happy 50th Birthday Marshall! 

Light the Candle 

Astronaut Alan Shepard is hurled into 

space atop a Mercury-Redstone rocket. 

The booster used in the Project Mercury 

launching was provided and launched 

for the Space Task Group by the 

Marshall Space Flight Center. 

(Photo courtesy of NASA) 

It’s been four decades since U.S. astronauts 

Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael 

Collins rode an Apollo spacecraft atop a 

Huntsville-developed Saturn V rocket to the 

moon. Perhaps Sir Arthur C. Clarke, author of 

2001: A Space Odyssey captured the full magnificence 

of the feat when he noted, “Apollo 

will be the only achievement this generation 

will be remembered for a thousand years 

from now.” 

The organization that created the Saturn V, 

the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center is 

observing its 50th anniversary. It grew out of 

the U.S. Army’s missile program at Redstone 

Arsenal. This is where space exploration for 

America began under the leadership of Marshall’s 

first director, Dr. Wernher von Braun. 

Programs like Mercury-Redstone, Saturn, Skylab, 

Space Shuttle, Spacelab, Hubble, Chandra, 

International Space Station and Constellation 

became symbols of America’s achievements in 

the peaceful exploration of space. 

The early programs, while devoted to 

developing Army missiles, provided the infrastructure 

for space flight – the facilities, 

equipment, processes and most importantly, 

the working relationship between people and 

organizations. The early years also served to 

define the roles and interfaces between the 

myriad technical, scientific, administrative 

and management disciplines required for the 

complexities of manned space flight. 

The human element has always been the 

heart of the Marshall rocket team – civil service 

and contractors. The dream of going to 

the moon and exploring the planets stirred 

within man’s consciousness long ago. The 

soul of an explorer lives in us all. The ideas 

that brought this dream to reality sprung 

from the minds of creative people within the 

Marshall team. The hardware was the handiwork 

of thousands of members of the team 

– the engineers, secretaries, technicians, inspectors, 

scientist and managers – each individual 

and their work as important as the other. 

Spread across several decades, they were 

bound together in common purpose. Difficult 

goals were set. Schedules were tight. Money 

was limited. The difficulties were immense, 

but the challenge of manned space flight was 

and still is exciting and irresistible. 

The Marshall team began manned space 

flight with Alan Shepard’s flight aboard a 

Mercury-Redstone rocket in 1961. In the 

past 50 years, this team has successfully 

launched numerous unmanned flights such 

as the Hubble and Chandra spacecraft and 

man-rated, nine Saturns to the moon, six 

Saturns into earth orbit and 132 Space Shuttle 

flights. These team members are people 

who assumed responsibilities for certifying 

the launch vehicle as reliable and safe to fly 

with humans aboard. That final decision to 

launch was made by a handful of people 

who depended upon data and information 

furnished by colleagues. This special breed 

of rocketeer had to be disciplined and skilled 

in the system. Each accepted the challenge of 

working in a highly sophisticated and technical 

field that often required fast, critical, 

calculated and intuitive decisions. Von Braun 

was known to say to his managers, “remember 

you are on the critical path,” meaning 

their work impacted the nation’s abilities to 

get men safely to the moon and back. 

The Marshall team led the effort to create 

what is regarded today as the nation’s space 

crescent of human space flight consisting 

of NASA’s Marshall Center, Kennedy Space 

Center, Michoud Assembly Facility, Stennis 

Space Center and Johnson Space Center. 

Space flight is not easy. It is rocket science 

and the laws of physics have not changed. 

It is no less complex getting into low earth 

orbit today than it was when the Marshall 

team launched pounds instead of tons. The 

men and women of the Marshall Space 

Flight Center today possess the will, intellect 

and imagination to continue mankind’s 

peaceful exploration of space through new 

programs and missions. 

Happy 50th birthday to the Marshall 

team, the world’s premier rocket center. We 

are proud to have you in the Rocket City. 

• Ed Buckbee 

author of The Real Space Cowboys 

33 


The Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County hosts numerous events 

each month to create networking and business growth opportunities for members 

and to coordinate efforts to grow our community. Examples of recent events 

include: 

Growth Through Networking 

Breakfast & Biz 

Washington Update 

October 4 at the Von Braun 

Center, presented by 

Northrop Grumman 

U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions 

updated Chamber members 

on what Washington was doing 

to help the community. 


September 30, presented 

by Verizon Wireless and 

located at the Holiday Inn 

– Downtown 

Chamber members spent an 

energetic morning speed 

networking and growing 

their businesses. 

2010 Business EXPO 

October 28 at the Von Braun 

Center, presented by RJ Young 

With more than 230 vendors and 

3,000 attendees, the 2010 Business 

Expo was the largest and most 

successful ever. 

Chamber members benefit from networking events, electronic and printed publications, 

educational programs for small business and, perhaps most importantly, the 

knowledge that they are part of a collective effort to establish Huntsville/Madison 

County as a stronger, more visible community in the global competition for economic 

growth.


Daniel LaBoudiere 

Marriott Huntsville 


Donna Lamb 

Lamb Commercial 

Services, Inc. 


Christopher Luchtefeld 

BID Designs, LLC 


Steve Mann 

UBS Huntsville 

Wealth Management 

Group 


Garrett Martz 

QinetiQ 

North America 


Robert Mayes 

BlueCreek 

Investment Partners 


Elizabeth Morard 

Qualis Corporation 


Bill Roark 

Torch Technologies 


Greg Schmann 

Decisive Analytics 

Corporation 


Gary Smith 

DRS Test & Energy 

Management, LLC 


Jean Templeton 

Burger King – WesFam 

Restaurants, Inc. 


Kelley Zelickson 

Northrop Grumman 

Corporation 


35 


Scientists and engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight 

Center along with their partners from across the country 

have built the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer, HIRAD 

for short, to contribute to the effort. HIRAD is small, 

lightweight, relatively inexpensive, and has no moving 

parts, giving it a big advantage as it flies through hurricanes. 

It is mounted for testing in an anechoic chamber, 

a chamber outfitted with foam spikes to eliminate all 

ambient microwaves so that scientists can properly test 

the instrument. The instrument will fly on a WB-57, one 

of the few aircraft capable of operating at 60,000 feet, 

an altitude so high that the pilots have to wear special 

pressurized suits to withstand the harsh conditions. 

(Photo courtesy of NASA) 

Preparing to Launch New Small Businesses 

Federal funding will help grow area’s high-tech small businesses and stimulate job growth 

The Von Braun Center for Science & Innovation 

(VCSI) was recently awarded 

a $600,000 Small Business Administration 

(SBA) grant for the SBA’s “Innovative Economies” 

pilot program to help existing small 

high-tech companies create jobs and to support 

the development of high-tech start-ups 

in support of advanced defense technologies. 

SBA’s funding will be provided to the 

VCSI, a local non-profit group and the cluster’s 

organizing entity, to create more opportunities 

for small businesses. The grant’s 

goal is to provide advanced defense technology 

solutions to the federal government. 

The funds can be used to provide services 

including mentoring and counseling, small 

businesses commercialization and technology 

transfer services, business matchmaking 

events, business coaching and other services 

that support the growth and development of 

small businesses in the cluster region and its 

industries, based upon a plan that each cluster 

organization developed. 

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle said the 

award represents the best of Huntsville’s technology 

development. 

“Technology is, was and will forever be a 

foundation of the Huntsville economy. This 

recognition of the Von Braun Center for Science 

& Innovation not only gives us the opportunity 

to further capitalize on Huntsville’s 

combined strength in defense technology, but 

also showcases our collaboration in defense 

technology between government, academia, 

contractor and commercial organizations,” 

said Battle. 

Marty Kress, executive director of VCSI, 

highlighted the strength of the team. 

“VCSI is honored to have been able to secure 

this award from SBA for the Huntsville 

region. VCSI was created to foster and promote 

collaborative activities, and like so 

many things that happen in the Huntsville 

region, it took a team effort to put a winning 

proposal in place,” Kress said. “The team 

went after this award because we all believed 

that the Huntsville/North Alabama region 

was a technology cluster worthy of national 

recognition. SBA has concurred.” 

The Huntsville proposal was one of only 

three plans awarded in the “Advanced Defense 

Technologies” category and one of 

10 overall. The 10 “Innovative Economies” 

awardees were selected from among 173 applicants 

to participate in the pilot program 

and represent a wide range of diverse geographic 

areas and industries. From urban to 

rural and clean energy to robotics, the applicants 

focused on leading research and commercializing 

new products. 

SBA worked with the Department of Defense 

to identify areas around the country 

where innovation clusters can help meet 

critical defense technology needs such as advanced 

robotics, advanced defense systems, 

power/energy innovations, cyber-security 

and applied lightweight materials. 

In addition to VCSI, the other key members 

of the Huntsville Team include the 

Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison 

County; UAHuntsville; Alabama A&M 

University; the Women’s Business Center of 

North Alabama; Biz Tech; and Defense Acquisition 

University. 

The Huntsville team performed a gap 

analysis of its Department of Defense customers. 

Based on information gained from 


If your company has 

technology in any of these 

five focus areas: 

• Small Spacecraft 

• Environmental Monitoring 

• Intel-Surveillance-Recon 

• Robotics-Interoperable 

Systems 

• Innovative Energy 

Applications 

the Huntsville ADT Initiative 

can assist with the following: 

• Help identify and 

In 2008, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, DoD Space Test Program, and VCSI entered into a Flight Opportunity Agreement 

for the development of a microsatellite that would fly experiments for DoD. This new spacecraft will be called FASTSAT-HSV, 

short for the Fast Affordable Science and Technology Satellite – Huntsville. Future contract rights now belong to Dynetics. 

understand DOD customer 

requirements 

• Provide intelligence 

on opportunities or 

procurements from 

the government that 

could benefit from your 

technology 

• Facilitate teaming with 

prime contractors 

• Assist with contract vehicles 

to sell the solution to a 

federal customer 

• Develop a community of 

technology companies 

that can work together to 

provide system solutions to 

the federal customer 

that analysis and customer inputs, the team 

will have five Technology Focus Areas that are 

considered well-aligned with emerging DoD 

requirements, including: 

(1) Small spacecraft, airships and nanosats 

(2) Environmental monitoring and security 

(3) Intelligence-Surveillance-Reconnaissance 

(4) Robotics-interoperable systems (such as 

unmanned ground vehicles, unmanned aerial 

vehicles, and others) 

(5) Innovative energy applications 

A sixth area, cyber security, is also being 

supported by the grant activities. 

The Huntsville team proposed an expansion 

of existing business services for small 

businesses in the 10-county region to help secure 

advanced defense technology contracts 

and subcontracts. The team also proposed development 

of a core set of key technology and 

market intelligence services identified as critical 

requirements by regional small businesses. 

“This award will strengthen our community’s 

ability to support and grow our small businesses 

in the area of advanced defense technologies. 

This will allow us to grow our region 

by creating more jobs and to help these businesses 

compete on a global scale,” Don Nalley, 

chair of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison 

County Board of Directors. 

SBA Administrator Karen Mills praised the 

award winners for capitalizing on their economic 

strengths. 

“Maximizing a region’s economic assets 

is one of the best ways to create long term 

job growth, and that’s what SBA’s new Innovative 

Economies pilot initiative is doing,” 

Mills said. “Today we are announcing 

funding support for 10 regional economic 

clusters. SBA’s support will help expand the 

opportunities and the role small businesses 

play in these regional collaborations, which 

are enhancing the ability to create jobs locally 

and compete on a national and global 

scale. I’m thrilled to announce the Von 

Braun Center for Science and Innovation’s 

participation. They’re creating jobs in the 

community and making Huntsville an industry 

leader.” 

“The overall quality and diversity of 

proposals reflects the ingenuity of the 

American people and the vitality of highgrowth, 

high-impact small businesses in 

the U.S.,” said Gary Fontaine, SBA contracting 

officer. 

The team has already begun to put its 

technical approach in place on behalf of regional 

small businesses. Markeeva Morgan, 

a NASA project manager with experience in 

both NASA and the Department of Defense, 

will serve as project manager for this activity 

following the next space shuttle launch. For 

more information, visit the website at www. 

HuntsvilleADT.vcsi.org. 

• Lucia Cape & John Southerland 

37 


Chamber of Commerce 

of Huntsville/Madison County 

Staff 2010 

Brian Hilson, president & CEO 

Kristi Sherrard, graphic designer 

Laura Kendrick, executive assistant 

Economic Development 

existing industry 

coordinator 

industry assistant 

Governmental Affairs 

Mike Ward, VP, governmental affairs 

Research & Information Services 

Ken Smith, director, 

research & information services 

Hiroko Sedensky, 

web designer/research specialist 

Workforce 

Lucia Cape, VP, workforce 

Mitzi Floyd, workforce coordinator 

Investor Relations 

Loren Traylor, VP, investor relations 

Jenni Jeffers, director, 

small business/membership services 

Donna McCrary, investor relations & 

membership specialist 

Laura Patterson, events coordinator 

Finance & Administration 

Jamie Gallien, IT manager 

Mary McNairy, accounting specialist 

Lori Warner, financial assistant 

Joe Watson, facilities supervisor 

Associated Organization 


John Southerland, communications director 

Ethan Hadley, VP, economic development 

Steve Finnell, director, industrial development/ 

Rick Davis, director, Cummings Research Park 

Harrison Diamond, economic development 

Amy Locke, industrial development/existing 

Tina Leopold, governmental affairs assistant 

Kathleen Byrne, information services specialist 

Donna Dingler, resource desk coordinator 

Mark Brown, director, workforce recruitment 

Terrie Ledbetter, investor relations representative 

Mike Brazier, investor relations representative 

Jason Hopkins, small business coordinator 

Christy Nalley, director, finance & administration 

WBCNA (Women’s Business Center of North Alabama) 


225 Church Street, Huntsville, AL 35801 

phone 256-535-2000 / fax 256-535-2015 

www.HuntsvilleAlabamaUSA.com

39 


community profile 

Madison City of City of Huntsville 

Population County Huntsville Madison Metro Area 

2000 Census 276,700 158,216 29,329 342,376 

Current Estimate* 327,744 179,653 39,876 406,316 

Households & Income 

# of Households 127,342 69,278 14,624 153,326 

Avg. Household Income $73,430 $65,159 $93,488 $71,267 

Per Capita Income $30,334 $28,444 $35,847 $28,779 

*July 2010 

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov), 

2007 American Community Survey 

TOP 10 EMPLOYERS 

Redstone Arsenal* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,373 

NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,177 

Huntsville Hospital System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,126 

The Boeing Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,006 

Huntsville City Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,000 

CINRAM, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,800 

SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,303 

City of Huntsville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,199 

Madison County Schools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,150 

Sanmina-SCI Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,971 

Source: Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County *includes on-site contractors 

Aerospace & Defense 

Huntsville/Madison County is home to the U.S. Army Redstone Arsenal and 

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center which combine to drive a thriving aerospace 

and defense technology industry. More than 32,000 people work at 

Redstone Arsenal and NASA managing some of the country’s most important 

and sophisticated technology programs including missiles, aviation and 

space exploration. 

Research & Technology 

For more 

information visit: 

HuntsvilleAlabamaUSA.com 

Huntsville’s Cummings Research Park has earned a reputation as a global 

leader in technology development. The second-largest science and technology 

park in the U.S., Cummings Research Park is home to more than 285 companies 

and 25,000 people involved in technology research and development. 


41 



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