Clifton Robinson to Address Premier Fasttrac Entrepreneurs

by Alan Hunt

Graduates of the Premier FastTrac Program will be honored during a graduation ceremony and reception at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 28, at the Bear Club in Baylor University's Floyd Casey Stadium.
Keynote speaker for the program will be Waco executive C. Clifton Robinson, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of National Group Corp., an insurance holding company with three insurance companies doing business in nine states. Robinson organized the company in 1979.
Robinson attended Waco Public Schools and is a 1963 graduate of Baylor. The tallest building on the Baylor campus, the Clifton Robinson Tower, is named after Robinson, who donated funds for the purchase of the building. His humanitarian efforts have been recognized by Baylor in the presentation of the Pat Neff Award, the President's Award, the James Huckins Award, the Herbert H. Reynolds Award, and the Judge Baylor Statue. Robinson was a recent recipient of the first Distinguished Alumni Award for business endeavors given by the Waco Independent School District.
Honorees in the FastTrac I, Beginning Entrepreneurs section are: Paul Allison, Allison Specialties; Eric Cuffee, Hambones Restaurant; Mark Cunningham, Cunningham Designs; Ken Maggard, Maggard Bookkeeping & Tax Service; Deidre McClain, Dance Power, U.S.A.; Arthur & Roma Spivey, A & R; Piyapong Sumettikoon, Funquest Travel; Charles Tucker, Central Texas Building Systems; Curtis Wiethorn, Catering Service; and Donnetta Willis, Star Brite Publishing. Baylor students involved in this program are: Les Abernethy, Steve Beck, Jimmy Berg, Casey Carlile, Andy Junis, Sheldon Ross, Edgar Sanchez, Bryan Sloan, Andrew Szanto and Thomas Visage. FastTrac I is instructed by David Hoffman, owner of Thera-Med. Business counselors are Keen Franklin of S.C.O.R.E. and Lisa Torgersen, owner of Lawns, Ltd.
Honorees in the FastTrac II, Growth Oriented Entrepreneurs section are: Joe Chatham, Trautschold Millwork; Mary Cunningham, Circle Hardware & Lumber Company; Wayne Hampton, Waco Composites Inc.; Brad Harrell and Ron Knowles, Harrell Realty Management; Bruce Harrell and Mike Meadows, Harrell Realty Company; Ronnie Howell and Dannie Howell, Haught Air Conditioning; Rodney Krumnow, Krumnow Lawn Services; Loy Lenamon, KBCT-FM; Ken Lorenz, Neat Things; Lance Magid, Studio Gallery; and Jason Young, PaperSafe Inc. Baylor students involved in this program are: Sean Cates, Laura Crowson, Carter Ganss, Darren Hogan, Eric Reinhardt, Bo Richardson, Larry Sheremetyev, Chad Stultz, Felix Tang, Antony Waithaka and Brad Wilson. FastTrac II is instructed by Allan Morris, President of First Waco National Bank. Business Counselors are Thomas Lupfer, Sr., owner of T N T Construction, and Joel McIntosh, owner of Prufrock Press.
A national program geared toward aspiring and current entrepreneurs, Premier FastTrac is co-sponsored by Baylor's John F. Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship, the City of Waco and the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Texas State Technical College, Small Business Development Center/Business Resource Center, McLennan Community College, Cen-Tex Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Heart of Texas Black Chamber of Commerce. The Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Inc. at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Waco Foundation are special benefactors to the FastTrac program.