University of Arkansas Graduate Students Win Big at Governor’s Cup Competition

Business plan teams from the University of Arkansas College of Engineering and the Sam M. Walton College of Business swept the top three spots in the graduate competition at the 2012 Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup for Arkansas. The awards were announced April 11 at an awards luncheon in Little Rock.

Boston Mountain Biotech, made up of chemical engineering doctoral student Ellen Brune, Stuart Brune and Ricky Draehn, took first place and a $25,000 prize. Boston Mountain Biotech’s business plan would help phamaceutical companies manufacture protein drugs faster and more cost effectively so that they can get into the hands of patients who need them. Ellen Brune’s research is supported by Arkansas Biosciences Institute and the National Science Foundation.

SpatiaLink Solutions, a company that reinvents retailers’ shelf planning process to insure that customers find the products they want, when they want them, took second place in the Governor’s Cup competition and the $15,000 award. The five Walton College students who make up the SpatiaLink team are Aaron Huffaker, chief executive officer; Steve Fortner, chief product officer; Bethany Haefner, chief business development officer; Nate Allen, chief technology officer; and John Miller, chief financial officer.

Learning DifferentiatED took third place in the graduate competition and the $10,000 prize. Learning DifferentiatED created a business plan for a company that improves retention and success rates of adults preparing for the General Education Development test. It is led by its president and chief executive officer, Barry James, a doctoral candidate in the microelectronics-photonics program; Brandon Hill, a managerial M.B.A. student and chief business development officer; Senthil Raman, an M.B.A. student and chief operating officer; Brandon Wright, a master of accountancy student and chief financial officer; Murali Natarajan, chief technology officer; and Chris Cambridge, chief strategy officer.

SpatiaLink Solutions also won the elevator pitch competition for graduate student teams. Boston Mountain Biotech and SpatiaLink Solutions advance to the Donald W. Reynolds Tri-State Awards Competition in Las Vegas to compete against winners from Oklahoma and Nevada for a share of $118,000 in prizes.

“We are thrilled that UA graduate students teams finished 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd and won the elevator pitch competition at the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup competition,” said Carol Reeves, associate vice provost for entrepreneurship and a professor in the department of management at the Sam M. Walton College of Business. “The teams work extremely hard throughout the year so that they can do well in Little Rock, and that work paid off.  All three teams did a fantastic job at the competition, and we look forward to competing with teams from Nevada and Oklahoma in Las Vegas.”