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Commerce ArkansasWindstream CEO Jeff Gardner to HeadlineCommerce Arkansas Power LunchJeff Gardner, president andchief executive officer ofWindstream Corp., will bethe featured speaker at theCommerce Arkansas PowerLunch on Tuesday, November3rd at the Governor's Hall of theStatehouse Convention Center.The lunch is the centerpieceof Commerce Arkansas: AKnowledge & NetworkingExperience, produced bythe Chamber and ArkansasBusiness.The Power Lunch will bepresented by Windstream Corp., in partnership with Arkansas BlueCross and Blue Shield, Baptist Health and Delta Dental of Arkansas.Tickets for the event are $50, with reserved, priority-seating tables often available for $500, and may be purchased online by registering atCommerceArkansas.com.An S&P 500 company, Windstream provides phone, high-speed Internetand high-definition digital TV services in 16 states. Windstream hasapproximately 3 million access lines and more than 1 million high-speedInternet customers. The company has approximately $3.1 billion inannual revenues and is ranked 4th in the 2009 BusinessWeek 50 rankingof the best performing U.S. companies.Gardner was appointed to the position in December 2005 and hasmore than 20 years experience in the telecom industry. He previouslyserved as executive vice president and chief financial officer of AlltelCorp. He joined Alltel in 1998 when the company merged with 360°Communications.In 2005, CFO magazine named Gardner one of the top two chieffinancial officers in the wireless industry. During his tenure as Alltel'sCFO, Gardner raised more than $10 billion in the capital markets as thecompany's wireless business more than doubled in size through organicgrowth and acquisitions. Gardner earned a degree in finance fromPurdue University and an MBA from William and Mary. He is a certifiedpublic accountant and serves on the board of directors of RF MicroDevices, Inc., the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, PulaskiAcademy and the Darlington School in Rome, Ga.Commerce Arkansas SponsorsPower Lunch Presented by Windstream Corp.In Partnership with Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Baptist Health,Delta Dental of ArkansasManufacturing Pavilion Presented by Arkansas Manufacturing SolutionsSales & Marketing Pavilion Presented by Custom XMSmall Business Strategies PavilionPresented by U.S. Small Business AdministrationGuest Hospitality Presented by Little Rock WastewaterName Badges Presented by Inspiration Day Treatment, Inc.WiFi Powered by Comcast Business Class and Innovative Systems, Inc.Staff Polos by Wild Wear, Inc.A Symbolof Strength.The eagle has been consideredan ideal model of strength forgenerations. That’s preciselywhy we chose it as our symbol.Metropolitan National Bank8 6 6 -7 9 M E T R O • m e t b a n k . c o m M e m b e r F D I C2009 MNB 0909 001 Strength_Rev2_7.5x5.indd 1Business Quarterly Report9/10/09 9:48:15 AM 29