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R E S O L U T I O N
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WHEREAS, Family, friends, and colleagues mourn the loss of |
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businesswoman and public servant Brenda Arnett, who passed away in |
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Houston on February 9, 2007; and |
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WHEREAS, Born in Beaumont on August 5, 1950, Ms. Arnett was |
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raised in Orangefield; she moved to Houston in 1968 to study at the |
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University of Houston and the Hermann Hospital Radiology Technology |
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School; and |
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WHEREAS, She showed her entrepreneurial spirit at the age of |
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23, when in 1973, she founded Relief Services, Inc., a company that |
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provided staffing, technical support, and training for hospitals, |
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clinics, and manufacturers of health care equipment; RSI's clients |
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included the National Institutes of Health and Walter Reed |
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Hospital; and |
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WHEREAS, In 1988 she founded a subsidiary to RSI, Advanced |
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Health Education, Inc., which provided technical and management |
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training to health care workers; together, RSI and AHE employed |
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1,800 people in 43 states; as a leader in employee training, Ms. |
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Arnett also served as mentor and stakeholder in the University of |
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Houston School of Entrepreneurship and Innovation from 1992 to |
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1995; and |
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WHEREAS, Ms. Arnett brought her considerable skills and vast |
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experience to public service in 1995 when Governor George W. Bush |
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appointed her as executive director of the Texas Department of |
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Commerce; in this important post, she represented Texas on trade |
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and investment missions to Latin America, Western Europe, Asia, |
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Africa, and the newly opened markets of Central and Eastern Europe; |
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she helped Texas lead the nation in the creation of new jobs with |
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the Texas Smart Jobs Program, which brought 150,000 new jobs to the |
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state; under her direction, the award-winning ad campaign, "Texas: |
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It's Like a Whole Other Country," helped make the Lone Star State |
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the second most-visited state in the United States; and |
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WHEREAS, Upon returning to the private sector, she devoted |
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her boundless energies to the creation of two new companies, Otro |
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Mundo, Inc., and its subsidiary, Brenda Arnett & Associates; and |
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WHEREAS, This proud daughter of Texas devoted herself in both |
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the public and private sectors to creating jobs and furthering the |
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economic development of her home state, and her energy, initiative, |
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and spirit of innovation will stand as an example to all; now, |
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therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 80th Texas |
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Legislature hereby honor the memory of Brenda Arnett and extend |
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sincere condolences to the members of her family: to her mother, |
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Evelyn Arnett; to her sisters, Charlene Arnett and Joy Benson; to |
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her nieces, Jana Benson, and Jessica Strickland and her husband, |
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Burt; to her grandnephews, Ty and Nolan Strickland; and to her other |
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relatives and many friends; and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be |
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prepared for her family and that when the Texas House of |
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Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Brenda |
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Arnett. |