Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross recently appointed 15 new members to the Arkansas District Export Council.
The new members, who began serving their four-year terms this month, are:
- Phil Brandon, Rock Town Distillery Inc.
- Doug Brooks, A.E.R.T. Inc.
- Mihir Desai, Welspun Tubular LLC
- Ken Gaines, The Steco Corp.
- Angela Hofmann, World Strategies LLC
- Edward King, Grapette International
- Samuel Rothschild, Slim Chickens
- Russell Owen, Pernod Ricard USA LLC
- Gina Radke, Galley Support Innovations
- Max Rodriguez, Guardian Payment Systems
- Curtis Schneekloth, Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.
- John Sinclair, Lycus Ltd. LLC
- James Smith, Keith Smith Company Inc.
- Dennis Truelove, Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control
- Ashvin Vibhakar, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
The ArDEC will recognize the new members at a Feb. 15 reception at the Governor’s Mansion. Reception sponsors are the Arkansas Capital Corporation, Arvest Bank, Catlett Law Firm PLC and the Impact Management Group.
The council is a private, nonprofit organization that brings together experienced international business people who provide support, advice and assistance to Arkansas companies interested in entering into or expanding into international markets.
There are 35 council members who participate in training seminars, one-on-one business counseling, and work with the U.S. Department of Commerce to help companies leverage government resources and information to assist in exporting. All services are offered at no charge to the exporter.
The council said in a news release that exports to world markets support 50,000 Arkansas jobs and brought in $5.7 billion of revenue to the state’s economy in 2016. In addition, exporting has helped sustain 2,365 Arkansas companies, 80 percent of which are small and medium sized firms.
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