On November 12th, in Indianapolis, Gary Newton, the Chamber’s Executive Vice President, graduated from Oklahoma University Economic Development Institute (OU/EDI). The Institute is a three-session program, each one week long, which provides a broad spectrum of advanced education for the economic development professional and is accredited by the International Economic Development Council.
A Certified Chamber Executive (CCE), Newton is also a graduate of the Institute for Organization Management. He began his Chamber career at the then-Greater Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce in 1983. He left the profession in 1988 and returned to the Little Rock Regional Chamber 17 years later in June 2005.
OU/EDI classes focus on the three major core areas of economic development: 1) Business Retention & Expansion; 2) Real Estate; and 3) Finance, as well as areas of concentration in Marketing, Strategic Planning, Entrepreneurship and Managing Economic Development Organizations. Students complete 117 hours of instruction selected from more than 50 seminars, workshops and discussion groups.
Begun in 1962, OU/EDI now has over 3,500 graduates. The Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce now has four OU/EDI graduates on its professional staff – President & CEO Jay Chesshir, Economic Development Vice President and Metro Little Rock Alliance Executive Director Joey Dean, Business Retention & Expansion Director Kristi Barr and Newton. Public Policy Vice President Lucas Hargraves has one year remaining in the program.
The Little Rock Regional Chamber has one of the highest percentages of OU/EDI graduates on its staff of any Chamber in the nation.