Seventy companies in Central Texas have been selected as finalists in the Austin Business Journal’s 2012 Best Places to Work contest.

There was some tough competition this year. Nominations reached an all-time high — 286. If you missed the list in this week’s paper, check out this year’s finalists now.

The rankings of these finalists — and what exactly they do to keep employees happy — will be unveiled during the Best Places to Work luncheon on June 6. We’ll crown No. 1 winners in four categories: micro, small, medium and large. Register you and your coworkers today for the Hollywood Glam-themed event.

Read article on the ABJ website here.

If so, stop by Capital CDC’s Booth (#702) and enter your business card for a chance to win a kindle fire!

We have a lot of great giveaways and pertinent information regarding the SBA 504 Loan Program that we can’t wait to share with you. Unfamiliar with the SBA 504 Loan Program? Check out our 504 Insider Guide for more information!

We look forward to seeing you!

Frost Bank will officially open a new retail center in Austin. This marks the bank’s 12th location in Austin.

The new 4,062-square-foot center or branch is located at 4301 W. William Canon Drive, Building I. It offers a full range of services for consumer and business customers, including commercial and personal banking, investment and insurance services.

The branch will feature a greeter station, banking officers to assist with a variety of consumer and commercial needs and lobby teller services. It also has a total of five motor bank lanes, which includes two commercial lanes, one retail lane and a walk up Smart ATM. Smart ATMs allow customers to make check and cash deposits without a deposit slip or envelope. Receipts print with check images and a detailed list of cash, giving customers instant verification of their deposit.

Frost is the banking, investments and insurance subsidiary of San Antonio-based Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. (NYSE: CFR) — a financial holding company with $20.3 billion in assets at Dec. 31, 2011. It provides a full range of business and consumer banking, insurance, investment and brokerage products and services. It operates more than 115 financial centers across Texas, including San Antonio.

Article by Tamarind Phinisee, Copyeditor/Reporter – San Antonio Business Journal
View article here.

This report, for the period ending 4/20/2012, shows the continued growth of the 504 Loan Program from FY 2010 through the end of last week. From the report we can see a steady increase in  the number of 504 loans & dollars approved over the past two years – what a great trend!

Interested in viewing upcoming reports? Check out the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Weekly Lending Report for updates.

–From the Desk of Herbert Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth District Director

This is a great achievement for Capital CDC and we couldn’t be more proud of this success. We sincerely appreciate the continued support and participation from our lending partners and the hard work from our entire team. We look forward to the months to come in the Houston area!

All of the cities in the top four spots on the list were in the South, with Austin topping the list, followed by Raleigh and Oklahoma City.

On Numbers ranked the vitality of small businesses in the top 100 U.S. markets based on a six-part formula that took into account factors such as population growth, private-sector employment growth, growth in the number of small businesses and growth in the concentration of small businesses.

Houston dramatically increased its ranking on the list in 2012, jumping from the No. 18 spot in 2011 to the No. 4 spot in 2012.

Statistics from 2009 show that Houston had 117,886 small businesses and about 20.09 small businesses for every 1,000 residents.

Article by The Business Journals by G. Scott Thomas
Learn more here

Comptroller’s Weekly Economic Outlook
Updated April 13, 2012

Job growth, sales tax collections — both from business and consumer purchases - as well as automobile sales, signal that the Texas economy has emerged from the recent recession.

Another indicator that the state’s economy has been comparatively healthy was the U.S. Census Bureau report that Texas added more people (421,000) than any other state from 2010 to 2011.  Although Texas has only 8 percent of the nation’s population, the state added nearly 19 percent of the nation’s population growth for the year.

By December 2011, Texas employers replaced all 427,600 jobs shed during the recession as our economy rebounded more quickly than the U.S. as a whole, and continues to add jobs. Nationally, through March 2012 only 41 percent of recession-hit jobs have been recovered.

Texas and the nation returned to economic growth in 2010 and 2011.  In 2011, Texas real gross domestic product grew by 2.4 percent, compared with 1.6 percent GDP growth for the nation.

For more statistics, read here.

With her, Myer brings a wealth of economic development experience with the Fort Worth
Chamber of Commerce, where she was Director of National Business Development. Myer
focused on identifying and securing opportunities to grow the area’s commercial
base by building and maintaining strategic partnerships with site selectors, real
estate brokers, developers, as well as corporate, manufacturing and distribution companies. She also served as Director of Local Business Development for Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce where she was responsible for business retention. In these roles, Myer worked in partnership with local, state and national government entities, business organizations such as: BOMA, SCR and CREW, and many other community affiliates, local business leaders, and corporate partners.

Her experiences throughout Texas and in the DFW area include various Real Estate sales and development, Medical / Healthcare marketing and business development, and several other areas of sales & marketing including, The Fort Worth, Texas Magazine.

Myer has been involved with many industry organizations, including the Texas Economic Development Council and has been involved in various local, state, and national economic
development organizations. She is a member of the National Association of Development Companies (NADCO).

Myer grew up in Fort Worth and has strong ties to the DFW area and beyond. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree (Math/Education) from the University of Texas in Austin. She has two sons, both of which are in college. Garrett is a senior at Tulane University,
where he participates in track & field as a decathlete. Gaines is a junior at Texas A & M University, where he is studying Petroleum Engineering /Entrepreneurship.

Carole Raulston Myer’s Fort Worth roots and her extensive sales and marketing experience throughout Texas prove invaluable to Capital CDC, where she will drive partnership financing with local and national lenders in the DFW area. Myer is dedicated to driving small business growth, and believes the SBA 504 Loan Program will greatly benefit the growing small business sector of the Texas economy.

We are thrilled to have her as part of our team!