Judges
Tom Chambers, President, Chambers Interests
Mr. Chambers is the retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Chemical Lime Company which he founded in 1966. He sold Chemical Lime in 1997 as the largest lime manufacturer in North America. A native of Fort Worth, Tom graduated in 1961 from the University of Texas at Austin with a BBA and in 1964 received his LLB from the UT Law School. He currently oversees Chambers-Interests, a family investment office, and IMin Partners, a private equity firm.
1966- 1998 Chairman, Chemical Lime Company Ft Worth, Texas
Randy Eisenman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Handango
Randy Eisenman serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Handango, which he founded in February 1999. His charter is to broaden Handango's leadership in the phone and handheld software market, set the company's strategy, drive operational excellence and continue to nurture the growth and success of Handango. Mr. Eisenman holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Texas where he graduated summa cum laude from the Business Honors Program.
Brian Happel, Fort Worth Market President, Compass Bank
Brian Happel is the Fort Worth Market President; bringing over 20 years of banking and knowledge of the Fort Worth and overall Tarrant County market. Brian leads the Commercial/Corporate Banking Team for Tarrant County which includes the business development of prospective customers for Compass Bank with revenues from $10 - $500MM. His team provides customized business services such as credit, deposits, treasury management, international, leasing and investments needs for clients throughout Tarrant County.
Happel earned his Bachelor's degree in management from the University of Texas at Arlington. Active in the community, Happel previously served as Co-Chairman of the Arlington Citizens Budget Review Committee as a board member of the Fort Worth Arts Council. He previously served on the UTA Alumni Association, President of the UTA Athletics Alumni Association and board member and Finance Director the River Legacy Foundation. Brian Happel is currently a member of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, serving as a Director, a Board Member of Downtown Fort Worth, Inc., and the Fort Worth Executive Roundtable, Member of the Tarrant County College Joint Accounting Department Advisory Committee, and is an active member of the Boys and Girls Club in Arlington.
Before joining the Corporate Banking world, Mr. Happel was a Professional Football Player with the Washington Redskins, Baltimore Colts, N.Y. Jets, Washington Federals, San Antonio Gunslingers and Green Bay Packers from 1983 through 1987.
David Minor, Entrepreneur in Residence and Director, Neeley Entrepreneurship Program
David Minor is the William M. Dickey Entrepreneur in Residence and the Director of the Neeley Entrepreneurship Program at Texas Christian University. Prior to joining TCU David was the President and CEO of Minor's Landscape Services, a company he founded in 1980 which became an INC 500 award winning enterprise and one of the largest and most respected in the landscape industry. In 1998 David harvested his business and teamed with ServiceMaster, Inc. to consolidate the industry nationwide. As a Vice President of this newly formed landscape division David helped lead the acquisitions and integration efforts of over 550 million dollars in landscape division revenues. He is a former winner of the Tarrant County Entrepreneur of Distinction award and was also recognized as the landscape industry's Professional of the Year.
Susan Nix, SVP Business Development, Rassai Interactive
A Fort Worth civic leader with strong 30+years experience in brand marketing and sales, Susan has been unwavering in her support of many non-profit organizations (Serving as an Event Chairman for Red Cross and DFW Easter Seals) and is active on the Colonial PGA event as a Tournament Chairman-Marketing. Susan is serving currently on the Executive Committee of the Bell Helicopter's Armed Forces Bowl for ESPN. She is a member of the Board of the Dallas-Fort Worth Interactive Marketing Association and Chairs the Marketing Committee. www.dfwima.org (Rated by the IAB as the top Interactive association in the nation). Co-chaired the 2004 DFWIMA Awards Show @ the InfoMart and negotiated w/ Yahoo! and AOL on sponsorships.
Susan is a graduate of Texas Christian University with a BA in fashion merchandising and business. She has been instrumental in opening doors in such vertical e-commerce markets as: sports, home décor, gifts, Division I college bookstores, real estate, travel & leisure, health industry, entertainment and retail. Some of her clients have included Travelocity, Pier 1, JC Penney, Fox Sports, Starwood Resorts, Ebay, Bombay Company, Dillards', and many other Fortune 500 domestic brands. Her commitment centers on building brand recognition via strategic marketing campaigns, the development of a compelling Internet presence and the new use of online video to communicate brand messaging.
Before coming to Rassai, she was the co-founder of Markettrix Incorporated and the CEO/Founder of NIXHILTON Interactive, a Web systems development and marketing firm. Nix first became involved in Internet business in 1996, and her first foray into e-commerce was as founder and creator of alphaomegamarketing.com, an online mall that catered to college students. Then and now, Susan has been an undying advocate of the importance of relationship networking, and attempts to marry this philosophy to every venture she takes on.
Current 2005-2008 Susan is the SVP/Business Development for Rassai Interactive. She is responsible for building the stable of high caliber of clients. She impacted the revenue 35% in first year.
Vince E. Puente, Sr., President - Sales and Marketing, Southwest Office Systems, Inc.
Vince Puente is principal owner of Southwest Office Systems, Inc., and several other businesses: 9 to 5 Office Products, Inc., Puente Brothers Investments LLC, and Harvison / Puente ETAL. Mr. Puente believes in active participation in his community and currently he is serving on ten boards and advisory councils. Mr. Puente has turned his attention to the Hispanic business community in an effort to help others achieve their goals. He just completed a two-year term as Chairman of the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (FWHCC) and has been active as their delegate to TAMACC (Texas Association of Mexican American Chambers of Commerce) and the USHCC (US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.)
