Dear business and industry friends,

On behalf of BIC Alliance, our marketing partners and your peers in the energy and construction sectors globally, we would like you to enjoy this copy of BIC magazine. BIC Alliance that publishes BIC, North America’s largest multi-industry, multidepartmental magazine, has been connecting folks in business and industry for the betterment of all since 1983.

In 2007, BIC Alliance, in cooperation with our marketing partners listed on the page to the left, expanded our distribution beyond the United States and Canada to more than 77 countries around the world. As most of our readers know, approximately 95 percent of our direct mailing and bonus distribution is in cooperation with our marketing partners who help fund this endeavor. Of that, approximately one-third of you, our readers — 28,000 per issue — have the publication directly mailed to you or given to you personally by us or one of our marketing partners. The other 60,000-70,000 readers each issue receive the publication because someone at your company cared enough to pass an issue along to you.

Whether you received this publication directly through the mail or someone shared it with you, the information contained within the pages can help you better perform your job — regardless of your title — safer and more productively. After you have gleaned the information most pertinent to you, we hope you will join the multitude of others and pass this issue along to someone else who might benefit from the information.

In 2005, I wrote a book titled “It’s What We Do Together That Counts.” It is the BIC Alliance story and was written to help folks find greater peace, happiness and success on the job and off through greater faith, perseverance and working together for the betterment of all. One of the best ways we can all achieve greater happiness and a safer and more productive life is to share information with one another.

Winston Churchill once told Americans, “Give us the tools, and we’ll finish the job.” BIC magazine is the ultimate multi-industry, multidepartmental communication tool to help you accomplish your mission, and included in its pages are many educational and motivational stories. In this issue of BIC, Lubrizol executive Tom Berens shares his experience, with diligence and communication guiding his success, while ExxonMobil Chemical Site Manager Bryan Milton relies on his global experience for his leadership role.

Also included in this issue of BIC are articles on employee safety, coker best practices, work force training, upcoming plant projects and more. In our global spotlight, we take a look at Brazil’s ethanol industry.

In closing, all of us at BIC Alliance hope you and those around you enjoy this and future issues of BIC as we join together to connect business and industry globally for the betterment of all. You personally can help us increase our readership from 3.5 people per issue to more than four people per issue by sharing your copy of BIC. If you are unable to share a hard copy of BIC, you can refer your friends and colleagues to www.bicmagazine.com, where BIC magazine can be read in its entirety online. In 2008, we are planning to launch a pass- along readership campaign that will offer some excellent trips, including fishing trips, cruises and more.

As always, we continue to welcome your ideas and suggestions for articles and interviews for future issues. We wish you, your family and your company a happy, safe, peaceful and prosperous new year!

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