Dear friends,

Welcome and thank you for joining us on another reading adventure through the pages of BIC — your Business & Industry Connection. This April is very special for several reasons. Not only is April 2008 the 24th birthday of BIC but we are also celebrating the 11th anniversary of IVS, BIC Alliance’s investment banking and executive recruiting company’s first intermediary deal.

It was in 1997 that Total Safety, our front cover sponsor of this issue of BIC, purchased AllService of Pasadena, Texas, through an introduction initiated by IVS. Over the past 11 years, Total Safety, BIC Alliance and IVS have all grown into international companies with a mutual attitude of gratitude toward the industries we serve and the employees who are our teammates.

Here at BIC Alliance, we, like many of our marketing partners and BIC readers, are firm believers that the best way to succeed in business and in life is to first and foremost help others be successful. One of my favorite quotes about the importance of teamwork and helping others is biblical. It says that two are better than one because they have a good return for their work, and if one falls down, his friend can help him up; but pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up — though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves; and a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

In my earlier example, BIC Alliance and IVS formed a cord of three with Total Safety 11 years ago. IVS made the introduction, and when Total Safety purchased AllService, IVS and BIC Alliance reinvested their profit, triggering the first glossy cover of BIC magazine. Since that time, other partnerships have been formed with additional companies — acquisitions have been made through introductions, and, as a result, all companies involved have grown. In each case, the combinations of three made us all strong. For BIC Alliance and IVS, that has allowed us, over time, to add my partner Thomas Brinsko, as well as many others, to our team, to go full glossy with BIC, to expand globally, and most recently, to build a new office in Houston.

In my Alligator Management & Marketing and sales seminars, as well as in my keynote presentations, I spend a lot of time talking about teamwork. I stress that there is no “Big I” or “Little u” in the word “team,” and that to the real winners in life, the word “team” means “Together Everyone Accomplishes More.”

BIC, together with our marketing partners and readers, forms a cord. Our mission at BIC Alliance is really pretty simple — connecting people in business and industry for the betterment of all. First, we connect people in industry with their peers in the same industry and in industries that have similar interests and needs. Secondly, we connect our marketing partners with their existing and potential users of their products and services.

Having worked in industry ourselves, both Thomas and I know the importance of networking among our peers in industry and keeping up to date on the best products and services available. We also know that folks in industry are very busy and need to know more about a supplier than what they can learn in an ad alone. So, we offer to our marketing partners the opportunity to share case studies of how their specific products and services are used and what the users have to say. Additionally, marketing partners can show their expertise by writing “how to” or technical articles that benefit a broad range of BIC readers. This approach not only helps the suppliers but it also helps others in industry because they get to read specifically how someone else is using a product and/or service.

The same is true of our features and departmental articles in BIC — experts are sharing their decades of knowledge and experience with one another throughout the pages of BIC. For example, in this issue of BIC, Ted Falgout, executive director of Greater Lafourche Port Commission, shares his and the port’s accomplishments and goals as he celebrates 30 years in his leadership position. Larry Schmid, plant manager of Rohm and Haas Texas, discusses how he and his teammates work together to advance safety and reliability.

Plus, Darrin Hanby of Mathey Dearman reflects on his journey and experience helping to grow Mathey Dearman globally, while Paul Boswell of Clean Coast Technologies refers to his own cord of three strands as a “three-team effort” among his company, the vendors and the customers. Additional features, such as those on peak oil and FutureGen, illustrate how industry is working together for our energy future.

Simply put, you can break BIC down into the following: features, departments and case studies. A reader can pinpoint specific features that are beneficial and check out the various departments that are pertinent to their interests and, equally important, can learn about products and services they need and how others have used them in their fields. If someone needs information on refractory services, for example, he can go to our Web site — www.bicmagazine.com — and enter refractory in the search field, and every article in which refractory is mentioned will pull up along with a list of BIC marketing partners that offer refractory.

Recently, a purchasing manager from an internationally known refinery called us to help him find just that — a company that offers refractory services. Within minutes, we gave him the names of three companies that do so, and we walked him through the process to find specific suppliers in the future. His response was, “Wow! This sure makes my job easier!”

We are here to help. If you cannot find something in BIC, call us, and we will help you! Another person called recently looking for an event where they could meet investment banking professionals in the energy sector, and we recommended several events to them near their locations in Texas, California and Louisiana.

Knowing multiple industries is our business, and we believe that sharing our best information only makes us stronger — both individually and as a team. We look forward to hearing from you. In the meantime, we hope that you will share this issue of BIC with your friends, family and co-workers. If you cannot pass along a hard copy, please refer them to www.bicmagazine.com where BIC can be read online in its entirety.

We consider our readers our teammates, and I invite you to send me an e-mail at the address below or to BIC’s Editorial Director Kaye Benham (kaye@bicalliance.com) with your news of what is going on in your company and your community, as well as any ideas for interviews and features for future issues.

To contact Earl, you can e-mail him at earlheard@bicalliance.com.