When St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams takes a bat to the plate, it bears the trademark of a Ridgway company.

 

The slugger, who hit .288 and slammed 15 home runs for the National League Central champions last year, is one of many major leaguers who make Dinger Bats their lumber of choice... [more]  

 

View their site here. 

MURPHYSBORO - Brian Profancik has a passion for older airplanes and making them run like new again.

 

Profancik, a Centralia native and SIU graduate, is the owner of War Path Industries at Southern Illinois Airport in Murphysboro. He said he has spent the past 15 years working in aviation, including SIU and a stint in the U.S. Navy.  [more] 

CEO -- short for Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities -- is a high school education program that takes 20 students out of county schools for two hours a day to learn about business, entrepreneurship and life.

Entrepreneurship education seeks to prepare people, especially youth, to be responsible, enterprising individuals who become entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial thinkers and contribute to economic development and sustainable communities. The CEO program is much more than a textbook course. Rather, students are immersed in real life learning experiences with the opportunity to take risks, manage the results, and learn from the outcomes.

This outstanding program is coming to Jackson, Perry, Saline, Randolph, Williamson, and Union counties.

When you step into the SBDC office suite and are greeted by a person that you can tell is interested in helping people and has a passion for small business, you will know you've met Becky Pittman.   Becky, the SBDC Office Manager, has been keeping the SBDC staff in line since 2004. Becky's main objective is for every person who comes through that front door to feel great about coming to SBDC for their business needs and glad they were able to take advantage of their services.

 

Having grown up in a family business and then owning her own business, Becky is very knowledgeable and helpful to most startup entrepreneurs in a nurturing and informational manner.  She does a quick assessment and can determine where your path of assistance needs to start within the SBDC.  Additionally, Becky manages the student employees and plans the SBDC events.

 

Becky and her husband, Mike, live in Carbondale, and Mike has operated several successful businesses of his own.