00:00Good morning and thank you Kenny I'm really excited to be here and appreciate you bringing
00:10us all together want to again recognize Lieutenant Governor Leslie Rutledge who's doing a great
00:16job helping lead our state as well as a number of our legislators who are here today they're
00:21kind of over but certainly a great partnership that we have across state government and also
00:26Mayor Scott who we've had the opportunity to do quite a few great jobs and business
00:32announcements for economic development here in central Arkansas something we're very proud
00:37of and thankful for Hugh McDonald on our team the Secretary of Commerce who does a fabulous
00:43job helping bring all of those elements together so that we have great events like the one
00:48that we are celebrating here today like I said it's a pleasure and a privilege to be
00:53here to celebrate the newest and biggest chapter in unity and wind streams histories
00:59this is a great day here in Arkansas we take pride in the fortune 500 companies that exist
01:06that provide good paying jobs to hardworking Arkansans all across the state and I know
01:12that we are all excited that one of our biggest is staying right here in Little Rock but I
01:17don't think any of us are surprised when we know who is at the helm and who is leading
01:22this company Kenny you are kind of a star among Arkansas business leaders and so it
01:29is no surprise that you have done what you have over the course of a short amount of
01:34time your biography is literally the Arkansas dream you were raised in a blue collar family
01:40in Wonderview and rumor has it your dad still lives in the same house where you grew up
01:45with your nine brothers and sisters and like all of your siblings you put yourself through
01:50college in your case a basketball scholarship I think the height helped out I was not gifted
01:55with that same thing but where you really excelled was in your math class and that academic
02:01interest landed you a job at a big accounting firm after after school which snowballed into
02:07a Yale MBA and about a decade in the New York financial world but like all of us you love
02:13home and Arkansas called you back and we are very thankful that they did and you came back
02:18and started working at Stevens Inc. and were able to then connect with Windstream as a
02:24client there something you thought would be a project that ended up taking over a decade
02:28of your life and again we are glad that it did because it has landed all of us here today
02:33you got to work created a company and built an incredible brand and today after a short
02:39amount of time Unity's clients include the U.S. Navy Department of Defense State County
02:44and municipal contracts and you can see all of the culmination of your hard work represented
02:50across the people that are literally in this room here today and by staying in Little Rock
02:55this combined company's growth and success will continue to benefit not just all of Central
03:00Arkansas but all of our entire state with the new capacities created by this merger
03:05you'll be able to lay even more cable which means better connectivity especially in our
03:10smallest most hard to reach communities which as you pointed out after the last several
03:15years we see more than ever just how important that is as I think any of you know we are
03:21unabashedly a business friendly state and we are excited to see the continuation of
03:26this great business you saw that last month when we cut taxes for the third time returning
03:31nearly half a billion dollars to Arkansas taxpayers you see it in our focus on education
03:38investing in the workforce of tomorrow which will be the people that you are hiring and
03:42filling this building with you see it in our public safety reforms and in growing our economy
03:48in every sector that we can there's no better place to start to grow and to have a business
03:55flourish than right here in the state of Arkansas all of those things and all of the pieces
03:59that each one of us work on is an important part but I think our biggest X factor without
04:04question and our most important part is our people and Kenny I think you're that exact
04:10example of the Arkansas success story that we are so proud to have here in our state
04:15the network is invaluable when you're building a business and it's why our city and our state
04:20constantly punch above our weight I want to give a big thank you and a shout out to you
04:25and the entire team that have brought us here together and everyone at the two companies
04:30who have helped make this merger successful I think there are very big things in store
04:34not just for this business but our entire state because of examples like this anybody
04:40can look at Arkansas and see what we are capable of and what can be done here so thank you
04:45for your leadership thank you for this incredible opportunity and thank you for continuing to
04:51commit and investing right here in Arkansas thanks for being here with us today.
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