Forty Under 40: Scott Mills

Born into a family of physicians, Scott Mills grew up thinking he would become a doctor, too. But during his senior year in high school, Mills decided that medicine was not his calling. “I realized that’s not where my gifts were.”

Instead, Mills seemed born to work with computers. He studied computer systems engineering at the University of Arkansas and immediately began graduate work after earning his bachelor’s degree.

He hasn’t quite finished the master’s degree – he still has to finish his thesis -but that’s because he’s been too busy working with his two partners, Matt Romine and Jeremy Webb, to build their now-five-year-old company, Interface Computer Center LLC.

“There aren’t many computer businesses that are five years or older,” he says.

Mills concentrates his work efforts on the technical side of the business, which provides Internet services to businesses.

“I think our goal has been to strive to give the best service [because] if we give someone what they need and do a really good job at it, when they need service in the future, they’ll come back.”

Recently, the U.S. Small Business Administration honored Mills and his partners as “Young Entrepreneurs of the Year” for a five-state region.

As a way of community service, Interface is hosting a number of community-oriented Web sites as well as some for not-for-profit groups, Mills says.