Four firms win minority council honors

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Oct 6, 2000

Niemann Fencing, B.E.N. Construction and Thrifty Office Supply have been selected as the outstanding minority businesses of the year by the Oklahoma Minority Supplier Development Council. Phillips Petroleum was selected as the Outstanding Corporation of the Year, which recognizes a corporate member for strengthening minority business enterprise in Oklahoma.

Niemann Fencing, a Native American-owned company in Ponca City, received the award in Class 1, companies with annual sales of less than $1 million. Donald Niemann is the owner.

B.E.N. Construction, a Native American-owned company in Broken Arrow, received the award for Class 2, companies with annual sales between $1 million and $10 million. Benny Benge is the owner of the general contractor.

Thrifty Office Supply, a Hispanic-owned company in Oklahoma City, received the award in Class 3, annual sales of more than $10 million. Jo Elda Aragon is the owner.

Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin was the speaker at the Myriad Convention Center awards banquet.

Aaro has distribution contract

Aaro Broadband Wireless Communications on Thursday announced its first regional distribution contract.

The contract is with Aaro Broadband Wireless of Missouri, said Ron Baker, CEO of Oklahoma City-based Aaro Broadband Wireless Communications. Aaro Missouri is to pay a $250,000 distribution fee to provide service to Springfield, Mo. This allows Aaro Missouri rights to use the Aaro name, as well as use of Aaro's National Operations Center in Oklahoma City and the Aaro national data distribution network.

Baker said Aaro will realize a substantial portion of the gross billed revenue over the life of the agreement with a monthly minimum. At the end of the contract, Aaro Missouri has two, five-year renewable options.

Baker said Aaro technicians will make the initial installations in Missouri and will train Aaro Missouri's engineering staff. "From that point forward, they will be a completely self-sustaining operation," Baker said.

Lounge car added

Acceding somewhat to consumer demand, Amtrak is putting an extra car on the Heartland Flyer this weekend.

The Heartland Flyer is the passenger train that operates daily between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth. Normally hauling only three coaches and a cafe car during the weekends, the train will have an extra lounge car added.

It will be only a trial run for this weekend, emphasized officials of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.

"With fall finally coming to Oklahoma, we wanted to offer our passengers traveling this weekend a little treat," said Joe Kyle, the department's manager of rail programs. "They can make their way to the lounge car and take in the beautiful scenery as they ride the Heartland Flyer."

Reservations are not required to ride in the lounge car. It's available on a first come, first served basis. The lounge car has clear glass upper sides and roof to allow full view by passengers. The lounge car will be brought to Oklahoma City Friday and will continue as part of the train through Sunday morning when it arrives in Fort Worth. There is only one daily round trip.

Since Amtrak returned to Oklahoma in June of 1999, more than 87,800 passengers have ridden the train. In August, there were more than 5,461 passengers.

Expanding the MBA

The University of Oklahoma's Price College of Business will introduce a new MBA concentration in supply-chain management in response to the growth of that sector of the economy. School officials believe Price College MBAs who focus on supply-chain management and marketing will find many employment opportunities thanks to Oklahoma's geographic location. The Oklahoma City- Dallas corridor is the home of hundreds of distribution centers and is a major transportation hub. And NAFTA business along I-35 has fostered additional business growth.

Price College also plans to introduce an MBA concentration in e- commerce. The interdisclipinary concentration will consist of the MBA core requirements plus nine to 12 approved classes in from the Divisions of Management, Marketing and MIS. It will focus on business- to-business and business-to-consumer issues.

As with the other concentrations, Price College's e-commerce program will have a hands-on, real-world focus. In a marketing class, students will work with local companies to solidify or even define their Internet strategy. They will plan and design web sites, help companies decide site hosting and server questions, and find customers and how to drive them to businesses' sites.

Enrollment steady

Enrollment at Oklahoma's public colleges and universities remained virtually unchanged, according to a report from the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.

The report shows 162,843 students are enrolled in public institutions this fall, a decrease of 0.4 percent, or 713 students, from the 163,556 student enrollment figure in the preliminary fall 1999 report.

"The fall preliminary enrollment report provides a snapshot of enrollment activity but does not present trends or patterns," said Chancellor Hans Brisch. "However, as higher education programs expand to better prepare Oklahoma students for college, we anticipate consistent growth in college and university enrollment figures."