Sexton Mentors Winners

Two teams from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville won the graduate and undergraduate competitions at the 2003 Governor’s Award for Entrepreneurial Development.

The April 30 event, sponsored by Arkansas Capital Resource Corp., awarded $104,000 in cash prizes including $20,000 to each first place team

A total of 82 teams from 12 of Arkansas’ 15 four-year colleges and universities entered the competition.

Gov. Mike Huckabee told the more than 700 people in attendance that the vision and leadership of the contestants offer Arkansas a bright future.

Howard Putnam, the former CEO of Southwest Airlines Co., was the keynote speaker. He said passion, drive and “thinking longterm” are the keys to creating a successful business.

Lance Sexton, director of the UA Small Business Development Center in Fayetteville, was the faculty adviser who mentored both first-place teams (see chart).

Enterprising Entrants

Winning teams at the 2003 Governor’s Award for Entrepreneurial Development were as follows:

Graduate Competition Winners

1. WireCon, University of Arkansas

Faculty Adviser: Lance Sexton, director of the UA Small Business Development Center at Fayetteville.

Students: Baykal Altiner, Sam Austin, Philip Doss

2. Logomotion Inc., University of Arkansas

Faculty Adviser, Carol Reeves, associate professor of management at the UA in Fayetteville.

Students: Richard Hossley, Raymond Jordan, Guy Marrone, Emily McClain

3. FYM Consulting LLC, University of Arkansas

Faculty Adviser: Carol Reeves

Students: Jody Ayers, Jordan Beard, Martin Sutton

Technology Award

Phantron, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Faculty Adviser: Calvin Bacon Jr., assistant professor of management at UALR.

Students: William Burgess, Jaime Summers, Keith M. Wheeler

Undergraduate Competition Winners

1. Horizon Building Systems, University of Arkansas

Faculty Adviser: Lance Sexton

Students: Josh Copher, Joseph Rupe, Aaron Lewis, James Travis, Lamont Nguyen

2. Pooltek, University of Arkansas

Faculty Adviser, Renee Clay, coordinator of cooperative education and internships.

Students: Mark Heiliger, Sarah Barnett, Anthony Francis

3. Digital Arkansas, Harding University

Faculty Adviser: Phil Brown, accounting department chair at Harding University at Searcy

Students: Troy Helton, Nathan Dutile

Technology Award

Pooltek, University of Arkansas

Faculty Adviser: Renee Clay, coordinator of cooperative education and internships.

Students: Mark Heiliger, Sarah Barnett, Anthony Francis

Source: Arkansas Capital Resource Corp.