Last month Cliff Bickerstaff, Walter “Four” Price, IV and Kim Gaynor were appointed to the board of directors for the Amarillo EDC.

Cliff Bickerstaff is an Executive Vice President with Amarillo National Bank, the largest family-owned bank in the United States. He serves as Chairman of the bank's Asset Management (Trust) Committee while also being involved in Commercial Lending and Business Development for the bank. Bickerstaff serves the Amarillo community as: Amarillo College Foundation Board -  Past Chairman (2006-2007); Texas Cattle Feeders Assoc. - Finance/Tax Committee; TX Bankers Assoc. - Wealth Management Advisory Council; Tri State Fair Board - Executive Committee; Rotary Club of Amarillo (President 2000-2001); Member of Amarillo Professional & Businessmen's Club; United Way of Amarillo - serving various capacities in the past; and is a member of the Khiva Shrine. He is a 1984 graduate of Texas Tech University. 

Walter T. “Four” Price IV is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin with a degree in business. He received his J.D. degree magna cum laude from St. Mary’s University School of Law in 1995 and practices in the areas of probate, estate planning, business transactions, and commercial law.  Price is a former Law Clerk to U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson. He is licensed to practice in the United States District Courts for the Northern and Western Districts of Texas and all Texas state courts.  Price currently serves as Vice President of the Amarillo Area Bar Association and is also a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation. He is a member of the Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law Section of the State Bar of Texas and presently serves as Vice Chairman of Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch Foundation.

Kim Gaynor is an internationally known and highly respected business/marketing/advertising consultant. His career spans three decades as a high level executive with legendary advertising agencies Foote, Cone & Belding; McCann Erickson; Bozell & Jacobs and as a partner in GSD&M. He was most recently with FCB Worldwide, one of the largest advertising agencies in the world. Gaynor worked hand-in-hand with the legendary Lee Iacocca in getting the Chrysler dealers and the factory in concert with each other. As a result, Chrysler came from out of the depths in the 90’s to become the darling of Wall Street. He recently served as Interim Vice President for University Relations at Baylor University. He is a graduate of The University of Texas with a degree in marketing and finance. Today he resides in Amarillo with his wife, Brenda, and daughter, Morgan.

The Amarillo EDC funded four companies last month with grant awards of $75,000 each. The recipients were SouthCross Operating, Drug Assistant, Innovative Product Solutions and Airups.

SouthCross is an alfalfa baling and storage operation producing high quality alfalfa bales for the horse and dairy industries. The grant money will be used to buy a processor that cuts large bales into small bales more efficiently. Drug Assistant is a software company that produces software solutions for the medical industry that reduces paperwork and lowers drug costs for hospitals and clinics. The company will use the grant money to hire a new employee to help with the day-to-day business operations. Innovative Product Solutions designs and manufactures medical and safety products. They will use the grant money to manufacture various components of their VerteMax back support trainer system brace. Airups manufactures inflatable products for the paintball industry. The company will use the grant money for additional marketing resources and the purchase of equipment to increase their production capacity.

So far, 37 different small bussinesses have received cash grants from the Amarillo Enterprize Challenge.

The Amarillo economy continued to grow as gains in employment, retail sales, and rising commodity prices carried our index higher. The Amarillo area continues to show strength in the housing market. Buyer demand remains strong, aided by mortgage interest rates that have remained relatively constant around 6.0% for a 30-year fixed rate loan. View first quarter results compiled by Prudential Ada, Realtors.