Forty Under 40: Eric Heil

Eric Heil is making as big of a splash in the business world as his did as an Arkansas Razorback swimmer.

Heil, 33, is the founder and general manager of IntelliMark in Rogers, the information technology solutions company of Massachusetts-based Edgewater Technologies Inc.

Coming to the UA on a swimming scholarship from his hometown of Little Rock, Heil was a two-time team captain and spent one season as a graduate assistant. He holds the Razorback record for the mile swim. He has taken that competitiveness into the business field.

“My drive is being the best at whatever I do,” he said. “I was one of nine kids, so I always had a lot of competition in my family. I view myself as a grinder. In swimming I never felt like I had any better talent than anyone else, but I worked harder than everybody else.”

A 1990 UA graduate, Heil worked with IBM before leaving to “explore other entrepreneur menus.”

“[Edgewater CEO] Clete Brewer was a young guy making a name for himself,” Heil said. “I thought there was no reason why someone that was going to work as hard as I was going to couldn’t do the same. I kind of used Clete as a role model.”

Heil is involved in Boy Scouts with his son.