Wyoming Business: Wyoming embraces economic mainstay

There’s an old adage in Wyoming – “Dance with the one that brung ya.”

So as Cowboy State economic developers push economic diversification, they aren’t forgetting the basic core industries that have historically been the mainstays of the state’s economy.

The Wyoming Business Council, the state’s new economic development arm, has unveiled a five-year strategic plan that emphasizes retaining existing businesses and industries while attempting to attract and enhance manufacturing and technology businesses to grow the state’s economy.

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The Business Council presented its plan to generally favorable reactions from legislators, though several agreed the proof will be whether the council will be able to meet performance benchmarks set by the Legislature.

Business Council CEO John Reardon called the strategic plan a “work in-progress” and said it will be refined as the council moves forward.

Gov. Jim Geringer praised the strategic plan for recognizing the importance of existing businesses and the main industries of agriculture, tourism and mining.

“The plan supports current businesses and strives to make them more competitive while focusing on where new growth has to be,” he said. “And the target sectors outlined as new growth are on target for where I see the trends heading.”

Among the targets are transportation, equipment, advanced metals, space exploration, film and entertainment, agricultural, biotechnology, communications, information management, telecommunications and customer and product processing and distribution companies.

Rodeo goes high-tech

CHEYENNE – Cheyenne Frontier Days is a century-old institution steeped in tradition, but that isn’t keeping the “Daddy of `em All” from using today’s technology to reach out to new generations of rodeo fans.

As we reported last summer, Cheyenne Frontier Days has been on line for some time, using the Internet to attract people to Cheyenne the last full week in July. Now CFD has launched a brand new Web site with the same address (http://www.cfdrodeo.com) but a new look and feel.

The goal of the new site, created by DesignPost of Cheyenne, is to be user friendly to a wide variety of people.

“We wanted the new site to be an extremely useful tool for every type of visitor to Cheyenne Frontier Days, whether they were a rodeo fan, a media representative or a tour operator.´ said Stephanie Kornblum, CFD Marketing Manager. “The site needed to portray the excitement and color of the celebration, while still being easy to use.”

Two politicos call it quits

Two veteran Wyoming political operatives are retiring this spring, one to launch a new consulting business and the other to reflect.

Liz Brimmer, chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas, plans to return to Wyoming later this spring and form a strategic communications and public affairs firm.

Brimmer Communications will be based in Jackson Hole but expects to have a significant presence in Cheyenne, and she promises to provide strategic outcomes – “planning for results and achieving them through communication and adept action.”

A 10-year veteran with Thomas, she served as press secretary during his successful run to succeed Rep. Dick Cheney and has been his chief of staff since 1992. She is the daughter of U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimer in Cheyenne.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Orr, Gov. Jim Geringer’s press secretary since his first gubernatorial campaign in 1994, is leaving his post this spring, saying its time to move into a new phase in his life.

Orr isn’t sure whether he will return to the news media or the political world, but first he plans to unwind by joining his brother Danny on a Fellowship of Christian Athletes baseball tour of Africa and Europe.

Research service aids entrepreneurs

Wyoming entrepreneurs who need help getting information on how to run their businesses have a new friend named FRED.

FRED is an acronym for Fax Resources for Enterprise Development, and it was developed by the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at the University of Wyoming.

According to Diane Wolverton, state SBDC director, FRED is a fax-on-demand system that allows entrepreneurs to call a toll-free number and request articles on topics relevant to their business to be faxed directly to their home or office.

FRED can provide more than 200 articles on subjects ranging from financing a business to taxes, business management strategies and training, plus advertising, marketing and computer issues. Articles are updated regularly and new articles are added frequently, Wolverton said.

U S WEST recently provided a $10,000 grant to the University of Wyoming Foundation to support marketing efforts to make FRED known to businesses around the state.

Information on FRED Index is available from the SBDC at 1-800-348-5194 or (307) 766-3505. FRED’s toll free number is 1-877-700-2220, and FRED’s articles also are available on the SBDC’s Web site, http://www.uwyo.edu/sbdc.