The Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a welcome reception for Brett McKibben, the newly hired chief appraiser for the Brown County Appraisal District.

Community and business leaders along with area residents attended the event held at the chamber office on Wednesday.

Two free workshops for beginning entrepreneurs and established small businesses will be held on Wednesday, November 16th in the Mabee Center at Howard Payne University in Brownwood. The sessions will be conducted by Dr. Greg Clary, Economist with Texas AgriLife Extension Service and Chairman of the Texas Center for Rural Entrepreneurship.

The first workshop will be from 1:00-4:30 pm for owners of startup and early stage businesses. Discussion will focus on the basics of business development including identifying successful ideas, evaluating feasibility, formulating a model for making money, funding your business and fundamentals of marketing, financial and operations management.

The Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a welcome reception for Brett McKibben, new chief appraiser for the Brown County Appraisal District, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16 in the Bertrand Technology Solutions Meeting Room inside of the Chamber offices at 600 E. Depot.

Brett McKibben was hired as the new chief appraiser of Brown County Appraisal District beginning November 1, 2011. McKibben, who attended Odessa Junior College on a basketball scholarship and also attended East Texas State University, brings 28 years of appraisal experience with him.

He started his career working for his father’s appraisal company, McKibben & Associates, in 1981 as project supervisor. McKibben has worked in Gregg County as a residential supervisor and then chief appraiser at the Coryell County Appraisal District before becoming the chief appraiser in Howard County in Big Spring. 

Howard Payne University's Lauren Hankins-Hatcher and Kassey Nix were named to the 2011 American Southwest Conference All-Tournament team for their performances in the first and second rounds.

Lauren Hankins-Hatcher scored a goal and the last goal of a shootout to advance the Lady Jackets past the University of Texas at Tyler in the first round.

Kassey Nix was solid in the midfield for the Lady Jackets playing all 200 minutes of both matches HPU played.

The Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting ceremony on October 20th for Anytime Fitness to welcome them as new members.

In an effort to recruit more retail to Brownwood, officials are planning to attend the International Council of Shopping Centers annual conference in San Antonio next week.