Monday Kudos: Six To Join Arkansas Agriculture Hall Of Fame

Six new members are headed to the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame, a University of Arkansas business plan wins a Canadian competition, and an Arkansas public affairs firm adds an international player to its roster.

SIX TO JOIN AGRI HALL OF FAME
The Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame will induct six individuals into its next class. The group will be honored at the 25th annual induction luncheon, 11:30 a.m., March 8 in the Ambassador Ballroom of Little Rock’s Embassy Suites Hotel.

The newest class includes:

• Margaret P. Alexander of Little Rock (Pulaski County), retired district director and home economist with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service.
• Dr. Lanny Ashlock, of Conway (Faulkner County), who has been known as “Mr. Soybean” in Arkansas for more than 20 years. Jack R. England, Sr. of Rison (Cleveland County), who made significant contributions to the poultry industry worldwide and in Arkansas.
• Matthew Post Sr., of Altus (Franklin County), a pioneer in the grape and wine industry in Arkansas for more than 60 years and chairman of the board of Post Winery.
• Leland Tollett of Springdale (Washington County), retired chairman and CEO for Tyson Foods, Inc.
• Donald W. “Buddy” Wray of Springdale (Washington County). During a career with Tyson Foods, Inc. that has spanned more than 50 years, Wray has served as president and now executive vice president – special assistant to the president and CEO.

UA BUSINESS PLAN WINS GRAND PRIZE
A team from the University of Arkansas that has developed a patent-pending process to improve the efficiency of solar cells took the grand prize at one of Canada’s premier graduate student business plan competitions.

Picasolar earned first place at the 2013 IBK Capital-Ivey Business Plan Competition, held Jan. 25-26 at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. The team received a cash award of $20,000 and an invitation to the Venture Labs Investment Competition at the University of Texas at Austin in May, which bills itself as the “Super Bowl of business competitions.”

Picasolar’s process, invented by Seth Shumate, could improve the efficiency of solar cells by 15 percent and could save manufacturers an estimated $5 million to $10 million annually per production line.

The Ivey competition offers students an opportunity to present innovative business plans to potential investors, while providing investors with an advance look at up-and-coming entrepreneurs and new ventures. The U of A was the only university from the United States invited to the final round, which featured nine teams divided into three brackets.

The Picasolar team include Shumate, a doctoral student in the microelectronics-photonics program offered by the College of Engineering and J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences; Trish Flanagan, a student in the concurrent master’s program in business administration and public service offered by the Sam M. Walton College of Business and the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock; Matthew Young, a doctoral student in electrical engineering; and Michael Miller, a master of accountancy student in Walton College.

IMPACT MANAGEMENT ADDS INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Impact Management Group (IMG) announced the hiring of Brian Lee as Senior Project Manager.

Having lived overseas for the past 5 years, Lee has worked in several regions in Europe, Asia and the post-Soviet space on public affairs, government relations, and development issues.

Before joining IMG, Lee worked with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for several years in Vienna, Austria and Islamabad, Pakistan. He also recently served as a long-term election observer for the parliamentary elections in Georgia that took place in October 2012, and has worked with numerous governments, NGOs, and other regional and international organizations active in these regions.

Lee currently resides in Vienna, Austria. He will be responsible for managing IMG’s overseas projects in the practice areas of strategic communications, issue advocacy, political consulting, and business market development.