August Luncheon
August 28, 2008
Speaker, author and entrepreneur Tony Ford will speak at the monthly meeting of the Keene Chamber of Commerce at noon on Thursday, Aug. 28, at the Keene Adventist Church Senior Center in Keene. Doors open at 11:30 a.m.
The meal will be catered by Lemon Sisters Restaurant & Bakery of Cleburne. Please note that admission has increased to $10 for those who RSVP by Friday, Aug. 22, at 817-556-2995. Admission at the door is $14.
Ford will speak about “four choices that can save your company.”
After 30 years of building world class, industry-leading organizations, Tony Ford is working hard to teach entrepreneurial leaders how they can preserver through troubled times.
He is life-long serial entrepreneur who has won both the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and the SBA Exporter of the Year Award.
During his tenure as founding executive director of the Fort Worth Business Assistance Center, the BAC was chosen by the President of the United States as “The National Model for Business Excellence” supporting the needs of over 14,000 small business owners.
Tony has served as vice chairman of the District Export Council of North Texas, board member for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and, most recently, Entrepreneur-In-Residence for the Kauffman Foundation.
Tony has also testified before the U.S. Senate as an advocate for eliminating burdensome regulations, taxes and healthcare costs that works against small business growth.
Now, having lead in the formation of eight very successful organizations, Tony speaks as a nationally recognized expert on leading high growth companies.
Tony Ford’s business career began as a general manager for Steak & Ale Restaurants during a period of national expansion in the late 1970s. After leaving to pursue two years of graduate study, he became a founding member of the Flash Foto Company as general manager/partner responsible for operations management and new store development. Six years and seven retail stores later, he began marketing high technology safety products to both national and international retail chain stores.
In 1991, his new company, SIDELIGHTS, Inc., was selected SBA “Exporter of the Year” based on Tony’s successful penetration of the European and Australian Markets. In 1992 he was one of only 40 individuals worldwide to be chosen by the Japanese government to attend the JETRO conference on exporting to Japan. That same year, he was selected by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to serve as vice chairman of the District Export Council of North Texas.
From 1995 to 1997 Tony served as the executive director of the Fort Worth Business Assistance Center. This center was created to provide strategic business information to aspiring entrepreneurs in an easy to use one-stop-shop environment. During his 2-½ year tenure, the BAC served over 14,000 entrepreneurs, created over 4,000 new jobs, and facilitated more than $30 million dollars in business loans. The combined efforts of over 70 highly dedicated service providers resulted in the BAC being selected as “The National Model for Business Innovation” by the Clinton Administration, and receiving the 1998 “SBA Vision Award” for excellence.
Tony’s efforts in leading and motivating this highly innovative group of professionals were recognized when he received the “1997 Entrepreneur of the Year Award” from Ernst and Young.
From 1997 to 2002 Tony served as an Entrepreneur-In-Residence for the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership working to enhance the climate for small business owners around the country. He has testified before Congress in support of entrepreneurship as an executive member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Counsel.
In 2007 Tony and his wife Jane sold their 14-year-old company; Salon Support, Inc., which had grown to become the nation’s second largest tanning products/equipment distribution company. Tony’s new venture is Answer Island, created to teach entrepreneurial leaders and their people how to “Preserver Through Troubled Times” through his keynote speeches and high impact vision building workshops.
Tony enjoys sailing and woodworking and is a graduate of Leadership Fort Worth and Colorado, North Carolina, Hurricane Island and Wilderness Outward Bound Schools.