Advisory Link Receives North Texas Entrepreneur Award

Dallas, TX, February 08, 2006 --(PR.com)-- Advisory Link, an entrepreneurial Dallas-based consulting firm, recently was recognized as an outstanding business mentee by the North Texas Commission (NTC) Mentor-Entrepreneur Program. Culminating the yearlong program, the NTC recognized Advisory Link, along with its mentor partner, TXU. The NTC presented the prestigious award honoring the outstanding mentor matches and achievements of the top three teams.

“We believe the Mentor-Entrepreneur Program offers small businesses an unparalled opportunity to accelerate the development of their business and thereby strengthen the Metroplex economy,” said Liz Samuel, assistant director of communications of the North Texas Commission.

TXU, a longtime sponsor and mentor company in the Dallas metroplex program, designates key executives to mentor carefully selected mentees. Ben Ezzell, Procurement Manager for the TXU Business Services and Colin Carrell, Director of Strategic Sourcing with TXU Power, worked with Advisory Link’s two partners, Gerry Myers and Taunee Besson.

Gerry Myers, president and cofounder of Advisory Link praised the program and cited ways the company benefited from the relationship. “From our early ‘get acquainted’ meetings, we progressed to setting goals and focusing on strategic marketing issues and value propositions. Generous with their time and their wealth of experience, Ben and Colin were capable sounding boards and good counselors,” said Myers. “Having mentors from a corporate environment was extremely helpful in shaping our marketing strategies to the needs of corporate clients.”

One example of a goal the team set was the redesign of Advisory Link’s website. The site www.advisorylink-dfw.com has added a section with more facts about women as consumers. It features two quizzes to help businesses assess their strengths and weaknesses in attracting and retaining women customers and employees.

About Advisory Link
Advisory Link (www.advisorylink-dfw.com ) provides its clients with customized Women’s Advisory Boards and Exec-U-Link peer-coaching groups to solve their marketing, recruitment, retention and succession challenges. The company recognizes the value women bring to the economy and individual businesses as both talented employees and savvy consumers.

Gerry Myers has spent years working with corporations on successfully marketing to women. Active in community and civic organizations, Myers is past president of NAWBO and the Automotive Women Network in Dallas/Fort Worth. She has served on the advisory boards of Women's Leadership Exchange, Women's Resource Center of the Dallas Metropolitan YWCA, Women's Link, Girls Inc., and UNT Department of Marketing & Logistics, to name a few.  In addition, she is a graduate of both Leadership America and Leadership Dallas.

Myers has written articles and been featured or quoted in numerous national publications including The New York Times, American Demographics, The Financial Post, The Dallas Business Journal, Honolulu Weekly, Toronto Star and Marketing News. In addition, She is the author of Targeting the New Professional Woman: How to Market and Sell to Today's 57 Million Working Women.

Taunee Besson has been a business owner since 1979. An alumna of Leadership Dallas, she has served on nonprofit boards and committees including Girls Inc., Women's Center of Dallas, Girl Scouts, Dallas Women's Foundation and Mortarboard, among others. She is an alumna of the Leadership America Class of 2003.

Besson is a director of the World Council of the Association of Career Management Professionals International, for whom she is developing a global advisory board of distinguished professionals in her field.  She is an award-winning columnist for The Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal.com (formerly NBEW). She has authored three editions each of NBEW's Premier Guide to Resumes and NBEW's Premier Guide to Cover Letters, as well as a variety of articles for trade and business journals.

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