On Thursday March 25, 2010 I had the pleasure of attending the first Executive Roundtable offered by the East End Chamber at Brady’s Landing. The breakfast meeting was attended by well over 100 participants and the content of the panel as well as the networking was very good.
The panel consisted of the following:
Master of Ceremonies- Byron Hebert, Director of Entrepreneurial Advisory Services, PKF Texas(Current Chair of the East End Advisory Board)
Panel Moderator-Phil Morabito, CEO of Pierpoint Communications
Panel:
Steve Stewart, President of Gulf Winds International
John Ryan, President of Alexander Ryan and Marine Safety Co.
Pat Studdert, President & CEO of Buffalo Marine Services
Keith Cole, President & CFO of Delcor
The panel answered a series of questions over a 45 minutes period. Their candor and feedback was simply outstanding.
Mr. Stewart indicated that Global Shipping Tonnage was a good indicator of business impact in the Houston area.
Mr. Studdert indicated that as a result of the Port, Houston comes into contact with over 76 different cultures.
Mr. Ryan indicated that his biggest challenge was going to be health care insurance for his employees.
Mr. Cole noted that because his Company’s business was upstream, its current economic impact was lessened somewhat.
In response to meeting the current challenge;
Mr. Stewart indicated that he expanded into markets, locations that he wouldn’t have considered before.
Mr. Studdert indicated that his Company is lean and mean. That allows them to fight for business.
In response to some questions about people;
Mr. Ryan said that their turnover was down considerably.
And regarding innovation:
Mr. Cole talked about ways of using the Internet to gain competitive knowledge and information.
Mr. Morabito was simply fabulous and was a great moderator.
I want to thank all four of these CEOs for their time. Their wisdom was not lost on this young man of 52 years. I can’t wait for the next roundtable.