Economic summit to give pointers on enhancing small business opportunities

Wednesday’s 2024 Economic Summit is the first of three economic-related activities planned this month at the FISTA Innovation Park.

The Mayor’s summit, featuring economist Mark Snead and Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, is slated from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at FISTA in Central Plaza, as well as sessions planned at the nearby Hilton Garden Inn.

Christopher Riley, strategic operations manager for the FISTA, said the summit is designed to bring federal, state and local level representatives to discuss small business opportunities and how to create the correct economic conditions in Lawton-Fort Sill to enhance that.

“FISTA is hosting it on behalf of the city for the mayor,” Riley said, adding the point of Wednesday’s session and a summit planned for Aug. 20 is the same. The Aug. 20 session will feature noted futurist speaker Daniel Burrus.

One of Wednesday’s top speakers will be Mark Snead, an economist who is president of RegionTrack Inc., an Oklahoma City-based company which specializes in regional economic forecasting and analysis, research interest in regional economic modeling and forecasting, local area economic development, and the economic role of the nation’s energy-producing regions. Snead’s economic forecasts are familiar to Lawton city leaders because he has worked with local economic development entities. He will speak at 9:10 a.m.

Prior to founding RegionTrack, Snead was vice president and Denver branch executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He also the founding director of Oklahoma State University’s Center for Applied Economic Research, and a research economist on the Oklahoma State Econometric Model.

Pinnell will be the guest speaker at the summit’s luncheon, which begins at 11:30 a.m. Afternoon speakers include Heather Turner, executive director of Community Outreach & Revitalization Enterprise (CORE); and Megan Williams, associate economist and senior manager of regional affairs, Oklahoma City Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Mayor Stan Booker also will lead a panel discussion beginning at 2:45 p.m.

The Aug. 20 summit, also set for FISTA Innovation Park, will feature Burrus, who is considered one of the world’s leading futurist speakers on global trends and disruptive innovation. Riley said Burrus’ presentation will focus on what the community can do now to impact how Lawton will look in 20 or 30 years.

“We’re trying to make the Lawton market hot,” he said.

Burrus is a strategic adviser to executives from Fortune 500 companies and includes NASA and the Department of Defense industries among his clients. He is the author of seven books, and his latest — “The Anticipatory Organization: Turn Disruption and Change into Opportunities and Advantage” — is an Amazon new release for business.

In late August, FISTA will host a civilian drone technology symposium, a session aimed at providing training in drone-technology to those who are using it for commercial purposes.