IA Staff
Tom Dalton - Director
Tom Dalton is the director of Innovate Arkansas. Tom has more than 25 years of experience working with state and local elected officials and community collaboratives in establishing programs for neighborhood revitalization, growth management, economic development, and the general quality of urban living. He has shared in the development and administration of numerous public policy initiatives in four different states. Tom brings extensive experience in managing complex, diverse organizations to Winrock International and the Innovate Arkansas program.
Education:
B.A., Liberal Arts, State University of New York, 1965
Contact info:
Tom Dalton
(501) 280-3011
tdalton@winrock.org
Ted Dickey - Advisor
Ted received a B.A. from the University of Arkansas, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Thereafter, he earned a Juris Doctorate and was admitted to the Arkansas Bar. He spent over six years at Stephens Inc. in their Corporate Finance Department employed as a Financial Analyst, an Associate in the Financial Services Group and then as a Vice President in the Private Placement Group. During this time, he was responsible for placing debt and equity securities with institutional investors for public and private companies. Ted is a Chartered Financial Analyst, a general partner of CDFP Capital's real estate fund, a Board member of Virtual Incubation and the University of Arkansas' Technology Development Foundation, a 2004 Arkansas Business selection to the "40 Under 40" list of businesspeople in Arkansas, and is the former chairman of the Arkansas Ethics Commission.
Education:
B.A., University of Arkansas, 1992
J.D., University of Arkansas, 1996
C.F.A., CFA Institute, 2004
Contact info:
Ted Dickey
(501) 280-3028
ted@innovatearkansas.org
Slaton Fry - Advisor
Slaton Fry is the founder and managing director of ee Partners of Arkansas, LLC, a technology-oriented consulting company. He also serves as a member of Lighthouse Advisors, which provides business consulting services to Innovate Arkansas clients. Slaton has more than 20 years of direct experience in the areas of operations management, research and development, business development and technology assessment in the agricultural, fine chemical and biotechnology industries. Over the last seven years, he has provided strategy development, business planning and grant writing services to many small companies in Arkansas, including DCV Technologies, Stage I Diagnostics, Orlumet, LLC, Coriba Oil and Bar F Cattle Company. Slaton contributes extensive experience in the application of business principles to technology-oriented companies, operations management and commercialization planning and execution.
Education:
B.S., Chemistry, University of Central Arkansas, 1980
Ph.D., Physical Organic Chemistry, University of Arkansas, 1985
M.B.A., University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2003
Contact Info:
Slaton Fry
(501) 412-1587
slaton@innovatearkansas.org
Mike Smith, Jr. - Advisor
Mike Smith Jr. brings more than 20 years of business advisory experience to the Innovate Arkansas team. Mike is a former senior vice president in the Corporate Finance Group of Stephens Inc. He completed more than 50 merger and acquisition, public offering and private placement transactions for privately owned and publicly traded middle market companies during his 13 years there. He also sourced and executed principal investments for the Stephens family. Mike is actively involved in venture capital and entrepreneurial development in the region, speaking on venture capital and early stage business development topics and serving on several private company boards.
Education:
B.A., Economics, Duke University, 1985
M.B.A., Emphasis in Finance, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, 1990
Contact Info:
Mike Smith
(501) 280-3074
mike@innovatearkansas.org
Jeff Amerine - Advisor
Jeff’s career has involved creating, financing and deploying high-tech telecommunications and information technology products and services. He has held senior leadership positions in seven startup ventures and three Fortune 500 companies over the past 22 years. Jeff joined the University of Arkansas Technology Licensing Office in February 2008.
His role at the university is to implement effective strategies and methods that lead to commercialization of world-class research. In addition, Jeff teaches entrepreneurship and at the Walton College of Business in addition to consulting for Innovate Arkansas. Over the past 4 years, Innovate Arkansas has served over 100 clients and has helped them raise $55 million in public and private funding.
In 2010, Jeff helped found a 21-member, tech-focused, angel investment fund called Gravity Ventures Arkansas. Gravity Ventures Arkansas has made five investments in high tech, high growth startups in Arkansas that included Acumen Holdings a joint investment involving Noro-Moseley Partners, and Dillard’s. The Gravity Ventures Arkansas team is now creating a second larger fund.
Other recent activities have included the statewide deployment of the Gone in 60 Seconds elevator pitch contest, Natural State Angel Association, and the successful creation of the ARK startup accelerator.
Jeff holds a BS, Physical Science, from the United States Naval Academy, an MS in Operations Management from the University of Arkansas, and is pursuing a doctorate in workforce development education at the University of Arkansas. Jeff is a certified project management professional (PMP) in good standing since 2002.
Education:
B.S., Physical Science, U.S. Naval Academy, 1984
M.S., Operations Management, University of Arkansas, 2009
Contact Info:
Jeff Amerine
(479) 575-2995
jeff@innovatearkansas.org
Vicki Malpass - Program Officer 2
Vicki Malpass is a program officer for Innovate Arkansas and Winrock International's U.S. Programs. She provides program-budget oversight and program implementation for economic development projects in Arkansas and Louisiana. In addition, she acts as a liaison between subcontractors and the program office. Vicki also works with Arkansas Business Publishing Group and FLEX360 to develop and publish a user-friendly website for Innovate Arkansas. Before receiving bachelor’s degrees in English and professional technical writing from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, she worked as a registered sales assistant at Morgan Stanley offices in Washington, D.C., and Little Rock.
Education:
B.A., Professional Technical Writing, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2007
B.A., English (Information Technology Minor), University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2007
Contact info:
Vicki Malpass
(501) 280-3025
vmalpass@winrock.org
Latest News
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Welspun, Alliance Rubber, Conway Machine and Tyson Winners at Global Trade Awards
Welspun Tubular of Little Rock, Alliance Rubber of Hot Springs, Tyson Foods of Springdale and Conway Machine were the four Arkansas companies recognized Wednesday at the 2013 Governor's Award for Excellence in Global Trade.
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HomeDx Places Second, Wins Pitch Contest at Tri-State Governor's Cup
University of Arkansas startup HomeDx won the elevator pitch portion and finished second overall in the graduate-level division of the 2013 Donald W. Reynolds Tri-State Governor's Cup business-plan competition Tuesday in Las Vegas.
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Wal-Mart Pushes for More Arkansas Product Makers
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville is making a push to sell more U.S.-made goods and part of that effort includes promoting products made in Arkansas.
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NTI Making Room For More Techs
Northwest Technical Institute in Springdale has more prospective students than spots in its diesel and truck technology program. A future expansion in lab space could help the school, located in an area known nationally for its diesel tech jobs.
