Sen. David Sibley to Address Premier Fasttrac Entrepreneurs

by Alan Hunt

WACO, Texas - The first entrepreneurs to complete the Premier FastTrac Program in Central Texas will be honored during a reception Tuesday, Dec. 10, at the McLennan Room of the Waco Convention Center.
Keynote speaker for the 6 p.m. program will be State Sen. David Sibley, who represents Senate District 22. Sibley received undergraduate and law degrees from Baylor and is an honor graduate of the Baylor College of Dentistry. He recently was named a member of the Baylor Board of Regents. Other speakers during the evening will include Baylor President Robert B. Sloan, Jr.; Dr. Nancy Upton, director of the John F. Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship at Baylor; and Jack Stewart, president of the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce.
Honoraries will be:
FastTrac I, Beginning Entrepreneurs -- Royce and Bob Simon, Brazos Running; Mac Templeton, Cadillac Jack's; Leilani Snell, D's Dazzlers; James Dickson, The Dickson Company; Ida Pinkard, Ida's Etc.; Jerry Stokes, Keystone Diversified Funding; Kimberly McClinton, Loco Motion; James Berryhill, The Reunion Connection; Joe Calao, Spaghetti's; Stacy Lee, Stacy Lee's; Gregg Strasburger, Strasburger Aerospace; Richard Olson, Superior Solutions Landscape Construction & Design; Loretta Floyd, TX Valuation Unit; DeAnna Sandoval, Ten Talents; Christina and Rey Medrano, Texas Lead Inspectors & Environment Services; and Linda Weaver, Time Out Travel & Tours.
FastTrac II, Growth Oriented Entrepreneurs -- Nancy Roche, Audiology Center for Communication; Frank Bull, Bullseye Electric Company; Dorothy Smith, D & S Services Inc.; Virginia, Carr and Cary DuPuy, DuPuy Oxygen, Temple Welding Supply & Killeen Welding Supply; Wray Felton, Felton's Trading House Realty; Kyle Nielsen, K-Wash, Inc.; Lisa Torgersen, Lawns Ltd, Inc.; Thelma Evans, Lobban Evans Beauty Supply & Salons; Darrell Rollins, Norwest Bank; MaryAnn Plumlee, Plumlee Place Custom Window Treatments; Richard Salome, Regal Tire & Retreading Inc.; Terry Williams, Reimer Pump Sales & Service; Pat and Mike Magid, Studio Gallery; Sherri McDonald, Telecommunications; Ronita and David Miller,
Triple "D" Pump Company, Inc.; David Wolfe, Waco Bolt & Nut, Inc.; and Richard Frederick, Waco Eagle, Inc.
Maurene Fadal, FastTrac administrator, said Baylor business students in Upton's entrepreneurial field study class worked "hand-in-hand" with the FastTrac participants. She added, "The entrepreneurs have reported this has added a new dimension to their business, with the students' creative and innovative energy." Baylor senior Barrett Drew from Rowlett, Texas, a finance/entrepreneur major, said, "I have personally been quite enlightened by the opportunities offered to me in the FastTrac program. The business skills that I am learning in college have been challenged in real world circumstances through my interactions with the local entrepreneurs in the program."
A national program geared toward aspiring and current entrepreneurs, Premier FastTrac is co-sponsored by the 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 Foundation and the Waco Foundation are special benefactors to the FastTrac program. Forty-four volunteers worked on 10 committees to facilitate the Premier FastTrac program. In addition, there were two instructors, six business counselors and 18 Baylor students involved with the fall classes.
The spring FastTrac classes will begin Feb. 4 and 6, 1997. For more information about enrolling in the program or about the Dec. 10 graduation, contact the Baugh Center, (817) 755-2265, extension 3.