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11/17/2006 - The Hartford's Business Owner's Playbook Series Heads to Texas

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HARTFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)----Accomplished local business owners and distinguished panelists with business protection, personal finance and retirement insights will help Dallas- and San Antonio-area entrepreneurs chart a course to success as The Hartford's Business Owner's Playbook series heads to Texas this week.

From sales and marketing to hiring and retaining their best employees, business owners are involved in all aspects of building and growing a successful business. As a result, they often have limited time to focus on important financial and insurance matters - those which can have a tremendous impact on their business, their family and their future financial security.

To help time-stretched business owners address these bigger picture issues, The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (HIG) created the 40-page Business Owner's Playbook: A guide to protecting your business, growing your assets and planning for your future. The Playbook also identifies the types of advisors - attorneys, accountants, insurance agents, financial professionals and others - who can provide more specific guidance based on particular circumstances and different stages of the business life cycle. HARTFORD FINL SVCS GROUP INC

Insights from the Business Owner's Playbook will be brought to life in Dallas on Tuesday, June 19, as Albert Black, CEO and president of On-Target Supplies & Logistics, Ltd. and Nina Vaca, CEO and chair of Pinnacle Technical Resources, Inc., share their successes and lessons learned with peers in the local business community. The event will take place from 8 to 9 a.m. at the InterContinental Dallas hotel.

On Thursday, June 21 at 8 a.m., members of the San Antonio-area business community will hear from Louis Rowe, CEO and president of Goetting & Associates Consulting Engineers; and Wanda Chandler Rohm, owner and president of Presto Printing, at the Oak Hill Country Club in San Antonio.

At each seminar, these successful Texas business leaders will be joined by panelists who specialize in helping business owners address business protection, risk management and personal finance needs. The Dallas and San Antonio events represent the continuation of the nationwide Business Owner's Playbook series, which kicked-off with a successful event in St. Louis in April 2007.

A recent survey by The Hartford of business owners with fewer than 100 employees found that nearly half (49 percent) wished they had more time to focus on personal financial planning. Moreover, nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of business owners worry about having enough money for retirement and more than half (66 percent) agree that their business is their greatest personal asset and the primary source of family income.

"Texas is home to countless small business success stories and has long been known for its entrepreneurial spirit," said John Diehl, senior vice president and leader of The Hartford's Retirement Solutions Group. "The Texas Playbook events have been organized to help local business owners better understand the types of conversations to have with various advisors who can help guide them in planning for their long-term business and personal financial success."

Featured Business Owner Panelists

Dallas

Nina Vaca founded Pinnacle Technical Resources, Inc., in 1996 as an information technology services provider to the Fortune 500. Today, the company's client base includes industry leaders in the telecommunications, financial services, health care, technology, consumer products, and business process outsourcing sectors. As the first two-time winner of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce's prestigious Business Woman of the Year Award, Vaca appeared in the April 2005 issue of Fast Company Magazine as one the Top 25 Women Business Builders in the country.

Albert Black, Jr., founded what became On-Target Supplies & Logistics in 1982, and now has locations in Dallas, Houston and Tucson, Ariz. Black has served as chairman of the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce's board of directors in 2000. Additionally, he currently serves on the advisory board of TXU and on the advisory board of Chase Bank in Dallas. His commitment to higher education places him on the Cox School of Business at SMU's board of directors, as well as the board of regents for Baylor University.

San Antonio

Wanda Rohm founded Presto Printing in 1983. Rohm is an advocate for small business and has served as a delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business, two Congressional Summits on Small Business and was appointed by the governor to the Texas Council on Workforce Development and Economic Competitiveness. She was chairman of the board of the North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce in 2000 and is in the San Antonio Women's Hall of Fame. She currently serves as state chair of the National Federation of Independent Business.

Louis Rowe joined Goetting & Associates, a full-service mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) consulting engineering firm - the largest firm of its kind in Texas - in 1974 and has held his current position of president and CEO since 1991. He currently serves on the board of directors for the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and as an elected official for District 3 and chairman of the board for the San Antonio River Authority.

The Business Owner's Playbook was developed with input from business owners and advisors who typically work with them. Organized into sections for emerging, growing and transitioning companies, the guide covers such topics as business structure, finance, compensation, benefits, insurance, retirement and estate planning, as well as a list of resources for additional information. Copies of the Business Owner's Playbook are available free of charge at www.thehartford.com/businessowner

The Hartford survey was conducted among 500 small business owners (fewer than 100 employees) by Impulse Research in October 2006. It has a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.