Washington, D.C. - While negotiations for several international trade agreements are in progress, business leaders, including Michael Lassner, President of Allied Steel Buildings in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., will meet with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Robert Holleyman, and other senior administration officials yesterday to discuss how international trade policy affects their businesses.

"One of the best opportunities to create economic growth at home is to sell American goods and services to the 95 percent of global consumers who live outside our borders," said Secretary Pritzker. "In 2013, the U.S. achieved $2.3 trillion in exports, more than any other time in history, which supported 11.3 million American jobs. To give our businesses access to more markets and more customers, America must continue leading the world in negotiating high-standard trade agreements that reflect our values and set the rules for trade in the 21st century."

At a roundtable organized by the White House Business Council and Business Forward, the discussion will focus on the importance of government and businesses working together to help more American companies reach more international markets.

"Under President Obama's leadership, the U.S. is spearheading the most significant trade agenda in history," said Deputy USTR Holleyman. "I always appreciate the opportunity to hear directly from business leaders who are affected by international trade policies. By helping our businesses sell more exports abroad, United States trade policy can unlock opportunity, support well-paying jobs, and strengthen our middle class."

The discussion will touch on two significant trade agreements that the Administration is currently negotiating: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with countries in the Asia-Pacific region and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) with members of the European Union. These agreements would boost American competitiveness and help U.S. businesses access more markets abroad.

"Exporting helps companies like ours to expand beyond our borders, offering our products to a wider customer base. As a result we continue to hire more employees to address this growing demand. This practice also helps us to learn and improve our services both nationally and internationally," said Lassner. "It was extremely valuable to have the opportunity to brief the Obama Administration on ways international trade policy can better support Allied Steel Buildings and other's international business activities."

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 300,000 U.S. companies export their goods to international markets. Businesses that do export grow faster and are 8 percent less likely to declare bankruptcy than those that do not export.

About Business Forward

With the help of more than 50 of the world's most respected companies, Business Forward is making it easier for tens of thousands of business leaders from across America to advise Washington on how to create jobs and accelerate our economy. Business Forward is active in more than 100 cities and works with more than 450 senior Administration officials, Members of Congress, governors, and mayors.

To date, the organization has also brought more than 3,000 business leaders to the White House to brief the President's economic advisors. Business leaders who have participated in these briefings have seen their suggestions implemented in the Affordable Care Act, the Jobs Act, three trade agreements, and every one of the President's budgets. Many have also shared their recommendations with their representatives in Congress and through op-eds and interviews with local media. Ninety-eight out of 100 business leaders who have participated in a Business Forward briefing would be interested in participating in another one. For more information please visit www.BusinessFWD.org.

About Allied Steel Buildings

Allied Steel Buildings, is a recognized leading supplier of high-quality pre-engineered steel buildings and metal building systems. In its more than ten years of experience, the company has developed almost 4.000 different steel projects all over the world, delivering building solutions for diverse industries, from aviation to equestrian. One customer and one building at a time.

Until now, businesses without the in-house expertise to write and design unbiased questionnaires could always turn to third-party research firms - if they had $20,000 or more to pay.

"In today's economy, businesses cannot succeed if they can't make data-driven decisions. Lack of research is one of the top five reasons products fail," says market research industry leader Corrine Sandler, citing a Harvard Business Review report.

To help businesses make data-driven decisions, Sandler has developed an online research platform called ValidateIt™(www.validateit.com), which is powered by Google Consumer Surveys and provides robust methodology at 90 percent less than traditional research.

Sandler notes that Google has been a leader in making information widely accessible to the masses. It's now time to make insights available to the masses.

Sandler discusses how a platform like ValidateIt™ is changing the landscape of business intelligence.

•  Can today's David-in-business compete with a Fortune-500 Goliath? With the recent opportunity to gain current, reliable data for business decisions at an affordable price, entrepreneurs no longer must rely exclusively on inspiration from epic parables from the Bible. The old, Goliath-like prices for solid-market research and product development have been felled for the Davids of today's entrepreneurship. In the spirit of Google's original mission statement - "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" - the price for world-class data doesn't have to start at $20,000.

•  Is there any merit to the old way of gaining primary data for market research? The "old way" refers to privileged data available to only the top percentile of businesses. Beginning entrepreneurs and small businesses, which constitute the majority in the business world, often ended up relying on unreliable methods such as intuition and gut feelings to make decisions. That lack of research is why 85 percent of products fail, according to a Forbes online report, Sandler says.

"With ValidateIt™, decision makers receive 250 respondents, and the reports get to those decision makers within 24 hours," that immediate, accurate and actionable decision making

•  How does the platform help in product development? Your answers are only as good as the questions asked; that's where ValidateIt™ comes in through its scientifically designed questionnaires. IdeaRank is one of the research models launched. It will tell you whether your ideas are strong enough to withstand the competition and break through. The product development series of models will tell you the optimal price for your product, the realistic market demand for your concept or product and even evaluate your choice of name or tag line.

"As we've experienced in recent decades, technology has leveled the playing field in a number of industries," Sandler says. "Now, we're at a tipping point for doing the same in market research."

About Corrine Sandler

Corrine Sandler is a market research industry leader, CEO of Fresh Intelligence, international professional speaker, and Advantage best-selling author of "Wake Up or Die." She's the developer of ValidateIt™ (www.validateit.com), an online research platform powered by Google Consumer Surveys. Questionnaires designed by market researchers and distributed by Google Consumer Surveys return analyzed and aggregated responses with a 95 percent confidence level. Sandler's mission is to make intelligence accessible to the world.

LEXINGTON, Ky.--Although the economic collapse that was the Great Recession may be over, state leaders know it's not all blue skies ahead for the economy.

Jennifer Burnett, program manager for fiscal and economic policy at The Council of State Governments, said while the economy is steadily gaining jobs, wages are not increasing.

"The recovery has really reached a turning point, and state leaders are starting to think about the future, instead of just digging out of a hole," Burnett said. "They are going to be looking for ways to not just create one more job and bring the unemployment rate down one more point, but how to create high-paying jobs--jobs that have a future."

According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the average annual wage for jobs lost in the recession was $61,637, but the average wage for the jobs added through the second quarter of 2014 was just $47,171. Increasing wages, not just the number of jobs, will be the top fiscal issue on state policymakers' minds this legislative session, Burnett said.

"So far, the recovery has seen a lot of job growth in low-income sectors while jobs in higher paying sectors that really propel the economy forward have been more elusive," she said. "Now that the crisis is over, it is time to start looking at quality instead of just quantity when it comes to job growth."

The Council of State Governments this week released its annual listing of top 5 issues legislators will face this year in education, energy and the environment, federal affairs, fiscal and economic development, health, international affairs, interstate compacts, transportation and workforce development.

Burnett said other issues facing legislators this year include preparing for the next fiscal crisis, dealing with a likely decrease in federal funding coming to the states, paying for Medicaid costs, and covering public pensions and retiree health care costs.

Even though the economy is in much better shape than it was five years ago, states still have some serious issues to address, Burnett said.

Creates Secure Choice Savings Program for Private Sector Employees  

CHICAGO - Governor Pat Quinn today signed legislation to create the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program. The program establishes the option of an individual retirement plan for more than two million Illinois private sector employees who currently do not have access to any retirement plan at work. Today's action is part of Governor Quinn's agenda to ensure all Illinois workers are protected and treated fairly.  

"For many people across Illinois, retirement planning is often a matter of too little, too late," Governor Quinn said. "Without an adequate retirement savings plan, many people are forced to spend their later years scraping to get by with just Social Security. This legislation protects millions of private sector employees in Illinois who work hard but do not have the option of a retirement plan through their employer."

Senate Bill 2758, sponsored by State Senator Daniel Biss (D-Skokie) and House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago), establishes the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program. The program creates a simple individual retirement savings option through a 3 percent payroll deduction for private sector employees whose employer does not offer a retirement plan besides Social Security. Employers that have been in business for at least two years and employ 25 or more employees are required participate. Employees can opt-out of the program, or contribute more or less than the default 3 percent. 

"The opportunity to save using a Secure Choice account will prevent many seniors from facing appalling choices ? whether to buy food or medication, for example, or whether to live in poverty or continue working despite declining health," Senator Biss said. "Neither employers nor the state will incur any financial risk for these portable accounts, and small business groups welcome Secure Choice because it will boost their ability to compete with larger companies for the best new hires."

"Several million Illinois workers don't have a retirement savings plan at work. While Social Security was never intended to be the only source of income for retirees, for far too many, it's all they have," Leader Currie said. "The Secure Choice Savings Program encourages workers to save, which will provide them greater financially stability in retirement."

The funds will be overseen by a seven member Illinois Secure Choice Savings Board, which will select a private firm to manage the money. The state will not have access to the funds as the investments are pooled as private property of the workers outside of the state treasury.  

The Sargent Shriver Center on Poverty Law, the Illinois Asset Building Group and the Woodstock Institute report that 2.5 million people in Illinois currently lack access to a retirement plan. Without proper retirement savings, retirees are often forced to rely on Social Security when they can no longer work. The savings from Social Security are often not adequate to sustain families, often forcing retirees into a dependent lifestyle.

The program will provide workers an opportunity to secure a safe retirement and give more businesses the opportunity to offer a retirement savings program at no cost to the company. The program will be self-sustaining at no additional cost to the state with the exception of start-up administrative costs.

The new law is effective June 1, 2015 and implementation must be complete within two years.

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