Arkansas Procurement Assistance Center
Veterans In Business
3rd Annual Veterans in Business Conference Press Release
Veterans in Business conference set for November 26 to address civilian life
 LITTLE ROCK - Josie Fernandez, superintendent of Hot Springs National Park
and a colonel in the Air Force Reserve, will speak about the challenges that
veterans face in returning to civilian life at the third annual Veterans In
Business conference November 26 in Little Rock.
The conference will offer guidance to veterans seeking to become successful
entrepreneurs.
The program, which is free and open to the public, runs from 9:30 a.m. - 3:30
p.m. at the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, 2301 S.
University Ave., in Little Rock. Light refreshments will be provided during
breaks.
Fernandez is the first woman to lead the park since its creation by the U. S.
Congress in 1832, and was assigned to the position in March 2004, according to
Sue Coates, program director of the Arkansas Procurement Assistance Center, a
part of the Cooperative Extension Service.
Born in Havana, Fernandez arrived in the United States as a political refugee
in June 1969 and grew up in Hialeah, Fla. After becoming a U. S. citizen on July
4, 1976, she enlisted in the U. S. Air Force and served on active duty until
1982 when she returned to school full time.
Fernandez graduated in 1984 from Central Missouri State University and
re-enlisted in the Air Force Reserve in a wide variety of duty assignments. She
has been called to active duty in support of the Global War on Terrorism and
Operation Iraqi Freedom. The colonel currently serves as a public affairs
officer in the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the
Pentagon.
Coates said veterans are interested in entrepreneurship.
"Many people have come to our center seeking information about
entrepreneurship as an alternative to employment," she said. "They find that
their job dried up while they were on active duty, or they no longer fit in the
job that was saved for them."
The organizations participating in this conference will have literature
available, and the veterans can speak individually with their representatives
after the presentations.
The agenda will also include a panel of representatives from resource
organizations that provide services to business owners who have served in the
military, and will feature a special speaker who is a veteran and a successful
small business owner, according to Coates.
The Arkansas Procurement Assistance Center provides free training and
resources to Arkansas businesses that sell products or services to public
agencies. The program serves the entire state from its main office in Malvern
and a staffed satellite in Little Rock, and conducts free workshops anywhere in
the state.
For more information about the center and government bidding opportunities,
visit
www.arcommunities.org/apac.htm. Online registration is available on the
Veterans In Business page at the same Web site. For more information about the
conference, call (501) 337-5355 or send an e-mail to
apac@uaex.edu.
This meeting is open to all interested persons without regard to race, color,
national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, marital or veteran status,
or any other legally protected status. Persons with disabilities who require
alternative means for communication of program information should notify the
county extension office as soon as possible prior to the activity.
November 9, 2007Media Contact: Lamar James
Extension Communications Specialist
U of A Division of Agriculture
Cooperative Extension Service
(501) 671-2187 or (501) 753-0207
ljames@uaex.edu
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