Huntsville's serial entrepreneurs juggle multiple companies

MARIAN ACCARDI
Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - After spending 15 years helping launch and grow a Huntsville information technology company to a $100-million-a-year operation with some 1,000 employees, Jay Newkirk's career took a dramatic turn last year.

He sold his interest in Computer Systems Technology Inc. to San Diego-based Scientific Applications International Corp. At age 63, he wasn't ready to retire and spend his time sailboat racing. Instead, he and his wife, Linda Newkirk, started not another company, but three other companies.

One of them, JNE Publishing, publishes Alabama Technology Today, a magazine he bought and relaunched last October, and Bountiful Health magazine. Plans are to take that magazine, now distributed in Knoxville and Chattanooga, to a regional and ultimately a national publication. JNE Investments, another venture for the Newkirks, invests in real estate and small companies with growth potential.

After four decades working in the defense field, Newkirk likes the change in direction, though he's still able to fulfill a goal of nurturing and supporting employees.

"I've always searched for something to do to make a difference. Now I'm living that dream."

Newkirk is just one of Huntsville's "serial entrepreneurs" who aren't content to start and operate a single company.

Dick Reeves, who started Fudgey Nut in Huntsville and also works with entrepreneurs as president and CEO of the business incubator BizTech, said these people seem to share some of the same characteristics.

"They are immensely curious people," Reeves said. "I think they tend to have very broad interests and are good observers of society, and observers of society can recognize business opportunities and take advantage of them."

If an entrepreneur's first business startup survives - "and many don't," Reeves said, "the lessons you learn from the first one can be applied to make the next one a more pleasant experience."

Keith Lowe, 41, co-founded software developer Wirespeed Communications Corp. and became its CEO until the firm was bought by Red Hat Inc. in 2000. That year, Lowe joined Pretium Capital Group Inc., which advises others how to secure venture capital investments. Like Newkirk, Lowe's entrepreneurial life has also branched out into different areas.

He's left Pretium and is now a partner in a heating and air conditioning company, Conditioned Air Solutions. He launched the operation with Mike Banks, a friend from church who has 20 years of experience in the field. Lowe is also one of three partners in Stellar Homes Inc., a residential construction company that builds mostly in the Monrovia area.

"I'm not a technician," Lowe said, "but what I do know is how to organize a company. I know how to do the detail work. The fun part, the interesting part to me is putting the process together."

Tim Knox, president and CEO of two Huntsville firms and co-founder of a third, said his motivation is being able to work for yourself, not for somebody else.

"I really like being in charge. The good part is when it works," he said.

Knox started Digital Graphiti on a part-time basis in 1996 while still working at Alabama Live, growing it to a full-time business a couple of years later. His second company is JobPoint, a Huntsville developer of Web-based hiring management and applicant tracking systems. Earlier this year, Knox and Joanne Randolph, the CEO of BizTech from its inception in 1997 until 2002, founded eLab Ventures, which offers entrepreneurial training and business consulting services.

Stuart Obermann, 47, the CEO of Mobular Technologies and shareholder in the company, had never really aspired to be a business owner. A mechanical engineer, he worked at McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis before moving to Huntsville and into the software industry at Intergraph Corp. In March 1990, he and a couple of Intergraph colleagues started a spin-off company, which Intergraph bought a couple of years later.

Obermann got a call in 1997 from another colleague who was working as a consultant for the startup Revnet Systems Inc., whose founders were looking for a CEO. He was CEO there until the company was acquired by MessageMedia. He stayed on for about 15 months.

Another call came for Obermann, this time to be CEO of the six-month-old Mobular Technologies.

"I never really intended" to be an entrepreneur with a series of companies, Obermann said. "I just took that leap in 1990."

What's gratifying about running a small startup is "having control of my own destiny and having the ability to do something every day to make a material impact."

That's not as easy to achieve at a larger company, he said.

Knox joked about juggling multiple companies, calling himself a "potato chip entrepreneur - one is never enough."

To start a company, then another, "really requires someone who is not afraid to take a risk," he said. "You've got to be patient; you've got to persevere. Being in business is not for everybody."

And it's unrealistic to want to get into one business - or several - to get rich, he said.

"You need to make sure you're doing it for the right reasons. Most successful entrepreneurs got into business because they had an interest in a product or service and took it to the next level," he said.


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WHAT ARE THE RESULTS?

CANCER DISAPPEARS OVERNIGHT AFTER WOMAN APPLIES PRAYER CLOTH

Alyce gasped in horror as she looked in the mirror. Where she ex­pected to see a simple sore in her mouth, she saw a white-crusted lesion, surrounded by black scabs.

For days she had been feeling pain in the roof of her mouth, but attributed it to a mouth sore and just avoided put­ting pressure in that area. As the pain worsened, she started chewing only on the other side of the mouth. But when Alyce saw what it looked like, she re­alized this was no common mouth sore.

With a sickening feeling, Alyce called her family physician. He examined the lesion, believed it to be cancerous and referred her to a surgeon.

After doing a biopsy and reviewing the pathology results, the surgeon reported to Alyce, "The tumor in your mouth is cancerous, and we'll have to remove it,” This meant removing half of the roof of her mouth. Alyce would need reconstructive surgery, and would have a speech impediment the rest of her life. Yet she knew she had no choice, so she consented, and the doctor scheduled surgery for two weeks later.

At home, Alyce decided to tune into a program called Success-N-Life that she had watched off and on in the past. The powerful testimonies of healing "built up my faith,” she says. “I said to myself,

'If God can do that for those people, He can do it for me'" (Acts 10:34).

Alyce called the 24-Hour Miracle Prayer Center and prayed in agreement for her healing (Mt. 18:19). When she received an anointed prayer cloth from Robert Tilton Ministries, she touched the lesion in her mouth with it, pray­ing and releasing her faith for a miracle from God.

The next day, Alyce woke up and realized that her mouth was not sore. When her tongue couldn't find the lesion, she jumped out of bed and ran to the mirror. There she discovered that the roof of her mouth was a beautiful shade of pink...the lesion had disap­peared.

Alyce went back to the surgeon a week later. Amazed to find no tumor, the doctor sent Alyce to another can­cer specialist for verification. After he examined Alyce, he commented, "I don't know why she [the doctor] is sending you to me. Your mouth is healed." All tests came back with the same verdict: no cancer.

With surgery cancelled. Alyce rejoices, "I believe in miracles. I know they happen because I had one, and I tell everybody that will listen.”

GOD HEALS MAN'S HEART AND TRIPLES HIS INCOME

Only in his mid-thirties. Bill pleaded with God to let him die. During the past five years, his doctors had hospitalized him 45 times because of his severe heart problems.

But poor health wasn't his only con­cern; he had a wife and son to support, yet his severe physical problems made it hard to continue working.

A trip to Word of Faith Family Church brought a glimmer of hope to this problem-plagued family. "I had always just accepted everything and endured my circumstances,” Bill admits.

"But after learning about walking in faith. I decided to take a stand and believe God wanted to heal me and set my fam­ily free from the spirit of lack" (III Jn. 2).

And God did. Bill received his com­plete healing at a Word of Faith service when Robert Tilton laid hands on him and prayed.

Bill and his wife. Pat made a vow of thanksgiving to God and paid regularly on it as God provided. One day when Bill was seeking the Lord about starting his own delivery business, the phone rang. It was a prayer minister from Robert Tilton Ministries. This divine coin­cidence gave Bill the confidence he needed to get started.

After one year his delivery business tripled in earnings. "Vowing is a tool to prove God's Word;' Bill declares.

PRAYER ENDS 10-YEAR ORDEAL WITH DEAFNESS

When Jimmy lost 95 percent of his hearing in the right ear, he was not sur­prised. He had expected it. Years of working around loud machinery in his father's logging business contributed to his deafness.

"My condition both­ered me but I had learned to live with it,” he says.

Coming across Success-N-Life, Jimmy learned that God wanted to heal him (Ex. 15:26). To exercise his faith, he made and began paying a $1,000 vow for his healing. One day, Robert Tilton gave a word of knowledge that God was heal­ing deaf ears. Obediently, Jimmy placed one hand on the television screen and one on his ear, and prayed with Robert Tilton. Instantly, God restored his hearing.

He rejoices that his 10-year ordeal with deafness is finally over.

INCOME INCREASES AFTER WIFE LOSES JOB

After Theda lost her job her hus­band's salary wasn't enough to sup­port them, so they started looking for other career options. Intrigued when a friend told them about her paper shred­ding business, Ricky started investi­gating this occupation and became very excited. The only hitch was their terri­ble credit rating.

About this time, Theda called Robert Tilton Ministries and made a $2,500 vow for finances. When a friend called the next day offering to finance their business with $150,000, Ricky and Theda knew that God was about to pour out His abundant blessings.

Secured Data Destruction opened for business and is flourishing beyond all expectations (Eph. 3:20). They expect a phenomenal $250,000 profit by the end of the year.

"When we made a vow to God,” Theda admits, "our mountain of debt didn't crumble, it exploded!"

SPEECH-IMPAIRED TODDLER CATCHES UP IN ONE MONTH

He could say only five words, and he had never said, "Mommy.” As a nurse and mother, Lisa knew something was wrong with her two-year-old son, Kenneth. A normal two-year-old’s vocabulary includes up to 200 words.

After examining Kenneth thor­oughly, several doctors concluded that he was one year behind in his speech development. A battery of tests offered no explanation for this problem; and after three months of therapy, he had made no visible progress.

Early one morning. Lisa came across Success-N-Life, and Robert Tilton was speaking about a young child with a speech problem who would be miraculously healed (Mk. 7:34-35). Lisa reached out in faith and prayed with Pastor Tilton. Later, she called the Miracle Prayer Center and thanked the Lord with a $500 vow of faith for her son's healing.

In less than a week. Kenneth was talking! Overwhelmed by this miracle, Lisa turned her life over to Jesus Christ.

In one month, Kenneth's vocabulary grew to more than 100 words, but the one Lisa loves to hear him say most is, "Mommy.”

DISAPPEARANCE OF MALIGNANT MELANOMA AMAZES SURGEON

"Elva, you have malignant melanoma,” he told her after initial surgery. Although well schooled in patient relations, her doctor had found no easy way to present the cold facts. Elva left the hospital crying. How could this have happened to her, a vibrant woman of 35?

Just days ago, she was happily caring for her husband and son: now she faced a second surgery and possibly even death.

Constantly scared, Elva began watching Christian television. That's how she found Success-N-Life. "I was looking for someone to agree with me for a miracle healing,”Elva remembers.

One day Robert Tilton said that God wanted to heal a woman who had cancer and who was watching the program. Elva believed she was the woman and quickly placed her hand on the TV screen and prayed. Later, she called the prayer center and made a $100 vow to thank the Lord for her healing.

Her tests came back normal but convinced that the cancer was in her lymph glands, her doctors proceeded with the surgery. Much to their surprise, they found no trace of the cancer (1 Pet. 2:24). "The Lord healed me,” Elva declares, "and now I have true peace."

DOCTOR CALLS KIDNEY RESTORATION A MIRACLE

When her doctor couldn't identify the cause of Ginger's headache, nausea, and vomiting, her husband decided to take her to the Mayo Clinic for diagnosis. There a team of specialists discovered that her kidneys were operating at a capacity of only 50 percent.

"In essence, they told me to go home and wait until 1 didn't have any kidneys left, then they would begin searching for a donor,” she recalls.

Ginger believed that by suffering through her illness, she would encourage others. It wasn't until she watched Robert Tilton on television that she learned sickness does not glorify God. "The Lord has already taken care of these things,” she heard Pastor Tilton say (Mt. 8:17).

After making a $1,000 vow for her healing, Ginger continued to watch Success-N-Life. One day she heard Robert Tilton say that someone needed her kidneys healed. Claiming this prophecy, Ginger put her hands on the TV and asked God for a miracle. “I haven't been the same since," she announces.

Ginger's doctor has no problem with the healing either. "It's a miracle!" he exclaims.

KIDNAPPED BABY FOUND SAFE IN DRUG-INFESTED NEIGHBORHOOD

When someone stole her daughter's car and drove away with her 18-month-old granddaughter in the back seat. Cheryl immediately called the Success-N-Life Miracle Prayer Center.

She asked a prayer minister to agree with her that the police would find Amber quickly and unharmed.

Cheryl knew prayer and vowing worked (Ps. 50:14-15). They had pulled her out of several low points in her life: depression from two failed marriages, a mountain of debt, and the struggles of opening a new business. But now Cheryl's faith was on the line and severely tested.

Police responded vigorously to the emergency, sending several officers to search for the car that held the missing little girl. Acting on a hunch, one officer headed for a drug-infested apartment complex where thieves often abandoned stolen cars. Amid gunfire in this drug war zone, miraculously, he found the car and the baby, asleep with a lollipop in her hand.

Cheryl knew God had intervened, especially when the police officer told her that this was only the second kidnapping to be successfully solved this year in her city.

THREE DAY HEMORRHAGE STOPS TWO HOURS AFTER PRAYER

As she rushed her husband Charles to the emergency room because he was bleeding intestinally, Myrtle prayed harder than she ever had. Once her husband was at the hospital, his doctors discovered that the lower intestinal tract was flooded with blood. They ordered a series of tests, but were unable to locate the source of the bleeding.

For three days Myrtle remained in constant prayer for her husband's healing. "But I felt like nothing was happening,” she admits. “I needed someone to pray with me.” An avid viewer of Success-N-Life, she decided to call the prayer center and ask someone to pray in agreement with her (Mt. 18:19).

"As soon as the phone minister prayed with me for Charles' healing, peace flooded my heart and mind,” she says.

'Two hours after Myrtle's call, Charles' bleeding stopped. X-rays revealed a mysterious clotting in his lower intestinal tract. Charles and Myrtle praise God for this miracle.

WOMAN HEALED OF SYSTEMIC LUPUS; RETURNS TO WORK IN FIVE DAYS

"I was practically an invalid,” Brenda says of the severe effects of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). "I couldn't sit or walk without pain.” She consulted five physicians before the disease was diagnosed.

As Brenda lay on the sofa watching television one morning, she came across Success-N-Life. When Robert Tilton prayed for the sick, she put her hand on the TV screen and felt an intense heat go through her body.

"Everything miraculously changed,” she exclaims. Then Brenda called the prayer line and made a $100 vow of thanksgiving.

Five days later, she felt so good that she went back to work for the first time in months. Brenda knows God completely healed her (Ps. 103:3-4). She no longer has aches and pains and is able to be in the sun without repercussions. Not only were her doctors amazed, but when her husband saw her healing, he accepted the Lord as his Savior.

"I knew miracles were possible. I just didn't know how to ask for them,” Brenda says. "But through this ministry I have learned how to use my faith.”