12/11/2007
CONTACT: Mike Diegel, 202-314-2056
WASHINGTON, D.C.--The National Federation of Independent Business, the nation's leading small-business advocacy group, today announced that Robert Blackwell, Jr. of Chicago, Ill.; Nevin J. Groce of Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Betty Neighbors of Everett, Wa., joined the association's board of directors and will participate in their inaugural board meeting this week in Washington.
NFIB's board of directors are charged with advancing the core values of the small-business member association, aggressively pursuing the organization's policy objectives and directing NFIB's business and financial operations.
"Robert Blackwell, Nevin Groce and Betty Neighbors are all active community leaders who know first hand what it takes to start, operate and grow a successful small business," said Todd Stottlemyer, president and CEO of NFIB. "Their collective input will be invaluable to NFIB as we continue to serve our membership and advocate for the best interests of our nation's small-business owners."
Robert Blackwell, Jr. is the founder and president of Electronic Knowledge Interchange, an e-solutions application, development, and implementation company specializing in Intranet, extranet, workflow and Web-based supply chain management and other e-commerce solutions. Blackwell also founded Killerspin L.L.C. in 2002 and since that time it has become the leading American table tennis retailer and top table tennis media producer in the world. Blackwell serves as an area action council chairman for NFIB.
Nevin Groce is the vice president of L&G Industrial Products, Inc. a manufacturing company in Grand Rapids, and president of The Silas Group, Inc. a startup human resources outsourcing firm. L&G, a family owned business, supplies JIT solutions to large manufacturers of office furniture like Steelcase and Herman Miller. The Silas Group, which Groce started in 2006, is a full-service human resource outsourcing firm specializing in the unique needs of small to mid-sized businesses. Groce is the chairman of the Michigan Leadership Council for NFIB.
Betty Neighbors is founder and president of TERRA Staffing Group in Everett, Washington. TERRA began as a home-based secretarial and answering service in 1981. In response to customer demand, TERRA began providing administrative and light industrial temporary help to a few local companies in 1983. From a two-person office 24 years ago, TERRA has grown to employ 50 staff members and provides thousands of temporary and direct-hire placements annually from five offices throughout the Puget Sound region. Neighbors has been a member of NFIB since 1984 and is a longtime member of the NFIB/Washington State Leadership Council.
NFIB has been ranked the most influential business-lobbying organization in the country by Fortune all four years the magazine conducted its "Power 25" survey of lobbying groups with the most clout in Washington. NFIB draws its clout from its position as a membership-driven organization, which gives its members a direct voice to make their concerns known to policymakers in Washington and all 50 state capitals.
