February's luncheon features Jan Sikes.

Jan started writing when she was a young girl, around the age of eight. Her first writing was a gospel song. She had an uncle whom she loved dearly, but he was an alcoholic and his drinking caused such family discord that at times, resulted in him being banished from their home. So, she wrote a song about Uncle Luke finding Jesus. That is her first memory of feeling the passion deep down to her toes for writing.

The stories she writes (so far) are true stories about the journey of two people moving through adversity in order to grow and learn to become better humans. She believes with all her heart there is something that is worthy of sharing in these stories. Bits and pieces of wisdom, hard-learned lessons and above and beyond all, love…True love that you read about in fiction stories and yet this is truth. The old saying that truth is stranger than fiction fits the stories that she shares through her writing. She is passionate about her writing projects and is driven to tell a story with the hope that it might touch someone’s heart or life in a positive way. Along with each book, Jan also releases a music cd of original songs that fits the time period of the story. Why? Because the stories revolve and evolve around a passion for music. North Texas is where she calls home.

You'll often find her at Texas music festivals and has four incredible grandchildren. Memberships: The Texas Association of Authors, The Academy of Texas Music, Writer's Guild, Non-Fiction Writer's Association, National Association of Professional Women, International Women's Leadership Association, Goodreads and Author's Den.

Program includes a look back and a look forward for the Chamber by Chairman Barney Schwartz

Our keynote speaker is Tom Arnold, CFO, MonkeySports, Inc. www.monkeysports.com

MonkeySports is a retailer in the sporting goods industry, focusing on selling only hockey, lacrosse, and baseball/softball equipment. It is a private company originating in 1999, with John Naaman as the founder and CEO and Tom Arnold as the CFO. Its first store was initially operated as a small hockey store and consisted of only 3 employees.^[1] Now, MonkeySports owns and operates 5 retail stores, with plans to open more. Currently, there are stores in New Jersey, Massachusetts, 2 in California, and one in Sweden.^[2] The company also runs six online store websites. In 2013, MonkeySports was ranked in Internet Retailer's "Top 500 U.S. E-Retailers" at number 241.^[3]

In 2014, MonkeySports plans to relocate its corporate headquarters and warehouse distribution center from Corona, CA to a 261,000 square foot building in Allen, TX. The company will relocate 25 of its key employees, while expecting to hire approximately 150 new employees for the new building. Over the next year, MonkeySports will also open a new retail store in Allen, TX and plans to expand to Colorado and New Hampshire as well.^[2]