2015 Donald W. Reynolds Tri-State Winners Announced

Download the 2015 Tri-State Awards Dinner Program Kordate Solutions, representing the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, won the graduate division of the eighth annual Donald W. Reynolds Tri-State Collegiate Business Plan Competition, held May 28, 2015, at the The Mirage in Las Vegas. Led by Kenny Bierman and Phillip Turner, with Dr. Carol Reeves as faculty advisor, Kordate Solutions focuses on developing a therapeutic Alzheimer’s drug using the peptoid JPT1 to treat Alzheimer’s disease from early on-set to severe dementia. Joshua Baker, representing Agricultural Innovations from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, beat out five other teams to win the graduate division of the Tri-State Elevator Pitch competition. He took the stage at Tri-State awards dinner to tell the audience – in 90 seconds – how his team’s business model offers a more efficient approach to farm irrigation with WellsVision, a sensor-driven automated irrigation system. Other 2015 Tri-State Winners were: Graduate Division: Second Place – ParaNano University of Central Oklahoma – Edmond Team Members: Chelsea Larsen, Jordan Powers, Hitesh Munishamappa Prakash, Shreyas Shivaprakash, Paul Snow Faculty Advisors: Robert Epstein, Maurice Haff Undergraduate Division: First Place – 3Denim Sierra Nevada College – Incline Village, Nevada Team Members: Kelly Benson, Evan Cook, Brendan Wheelwright Faculty Advisors: Rick Parsons Second Place – Raw University of Oklahoma – Norman Team Members: Ali Davis, Lauren Abston, Quincy Tresemer, Cici Zhou, Caitlin Zuerker Faculty Advisor: Madison Jackson Oral presentations were held May 28 at the Mirage Hotel with winners announced that night at the awards dinner. First-place winners took home a $30,000 cash prize, a team trophy and individual plaques. The second-place winners received a $20,000 prize, a trophy and individual plaques. The teams’ faculty advisors each earned a $3,500 cash prize. Another $2,000 in cash prizes was awarded to the both of the winners of the Elevator Pitch competition. Ali Davis, representing the team Raw from the University of Oklahoma, won the undergraduate division. “This year’s teams presented sophisticated and forward-thinking business plans that have the potential to become very successful companies,” said Rush Deacon, acting chief executive officer for Arkansas Capital. “It’s exactly the type of innovation we were looking for when we started this competition. This competition is an example of broad efforts Arkansas Capital has spearheaded to support entrepreneurship in Arkansas, and we are very proud of our student competitors.” Also representing Arkansas at Tri-State were undergraduate division competitors TIRE from Harding University in Searcy; and Charlie’s Choices from John Brown University in Siloam Springs. The Donald W. Reynolds Tri-State Award represents the pinnacle of Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup collegiate business plan competitions in Arkansas, Nevada, and Oklahoma. Each competition has a graduate and an undergraduate track. The top two winning teams from each track compete in the Tri-State event for a cash prize pool of $118,000.