Chamber holds International Economic Forum

SPEAKERS AT THE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ECONOMIC FORUM


GREENSPOINT -– The newly renamed Houston Intercontinental Chamber of Commerce held an International Business Economic Forum as its monthly luncheon for members and guests, which included security experts from local corporations conducting business internationally, and consul representatives from a number of foreign countries.

The luncheon was held last Thursday, at the Hilton Hotel at Greenspoint. Title sponsor of the Forum was the East Aldine District. An additional part of the program was the introduction of the newly formed North Houston Economic Development Council, with Dr. Stephen Head as the interim president. Unveiled at the meeting were the new logos for the NHEDC and the HICC, with credit for their designers, Jeff Kaiser, Elizabeth Nguyen and Christina Gray.

Dana O’Brien and Dave McIntyre spoke on Global Law and Compliance in the first morning session, and Ron Hicks and Alexandra Rodriguez spoke on Corporate Security in the second session.

The keynote speaker at the luncheon was Dr. Dave McIntyre, nationally known specialist in homeland security, who has held a number of security positions with the military, various federal administrations, and teaches security at several universities.

McIntyre spoke in place of Amir Mirabi, who was unable to attend. McIntyre commented on six main issues facing America today. One, the most important issue of the state of the economy, and the huge debt we must now deal with. Two, Terrorism and the change in the nature of terrorism, due to technology and the internet. Three, International Security between countries, and responsibility for ungoverned parts of the world. Four, Major Threats to peace, such as nuclear or biological attacks on a major U.S. city. Five, Technology, and the realization that old types of jobs are not coming back, and we must adjust to a new information age. Six, Our Business must realize that we are serving customer’s needs, not providing a product.

McIntyre’s upbeat message at the end was we have the means to achieve a good outcome from all these threats, but Congress must focus on solutions, and then we need leadership to fight terrorism, and correct the economy.