Brownlee replaces Horn on small business work

By AMBER DILLEY
Glasgow Daily Times

GLASGOW January 14, 2009 09:33 am

— Small business work at the Glasgow-Barren County Chamber of Commerce will be headed by a new face soon.
Adam Brownlee, who works with the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, will take over as director of the center on Jan. 22, following Rick Horn’s retirement at the end of October.
Brownlee said he enjoys his job and is glad he gets to continue working with the chamber.
“It’s a great role to have here,” Brownlee said. “We have the potential to help a lot of people out, especially in these economic times, we see that our purpose here is magnified.”
Brownlee said he started working with the chamber last month and will start having monthly meetings to be able to help as many business owners as possible.
“The plan is to do an outreach, to provide a kind of mobile unit of what we do here in Bowling Green,” Brownlee said. “So I’ll be there during those meetings to provide assistance as needed.”
Horn, who was director of the SBDC for 25 years, said that he thinks Brownlee will provide a smooth transition and keep work going in the area.
“I think Adam has a broad range of education and experience and he’s very enthusiastic,” Horn said. “We’ve had a very good SBDC for this area and it has a lot to do with your local chamber. Ernie (Myers) and the staff are fantastic about keeping the calendar and getting word out and I know that will continue with Adam working with them.”
Horn said he would continue to work with businesses in the area.
“I’m starting a little consulting business for exporting, hopefully, we’ll get some global work,” Horn said. “I think there is a need for businesses to increase their sales by going global. I think I can do that effectively at low cost.”
Ernie Myers, president of the Glasgow-Barren Chamber, said the chamber has been working with the SBDC for a while.
“We have an informal partnership with them,” Myers said. “Rick has been coming up here for years and has been sharing his expertise with local entrepreneurs. Adam is picking up here Rick left off.”