“Our mission is to help companies grow and provide jobs for Northern Arizona,” Saville said.
The combination of Stover, Watts and NACET aligned two goals that are critical to their mutual success: the need to create higher-wage jobs for college graduates, and the desire to prevent “brain drain” by keeping trained prospective employees in Arizona to benefit the local economy.
“Our plan is to involve students. We hope to work cooperatively with ERAU, to seek out top students from the GSIS program for potential employment,” said Watts.
Open source intelligence analysis – which means mining anything that is available without using classified networks – is a service that is needed by companies looking to expand into foreign markets, in order to assess the potential risks to their international operations. Companies such as weapons manufacturers, solar and wind power engineering firms, or anyone manufacturing equipment that could be copycatted and sold for less abroad need to know where those risks are and how to avoid them.
“We seek out violations of trademark, copyright, intellectual property theft, and advise companies before they start what the risks are when they enter the international theater,” said Stover.
Dr. Ricardo Carreras, Associate Professor of Economics, was impressed how his students used knowledge from their GSIS and Aviation Business Administration classes to create their company. “They are both very dedicated students, certainly on the right path for success and growth,” Carreras said.
Dr. Frank Ayers, Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer at Embry-Riddle Prescott, stated, “It’s not uncommon for our students to go from classroom to career with this kind of confidence and knowledge. We’re extremely proud of the work they do.”
The pair had a solid business plan in hand when they approached Saville and within a couple months were working closely with the professional mentors provided by NACET. Attorneys, marketing professionals, accountants, graphic designers and branding experts—all affiliates of NACET—volunteered their time to helped jump start the official launch of Iron Sights Intelligence in January 2011. A $2500 grant was also awarded for start-up expenses, with thousands of dollars worth of in-kind services provided by the mentors over a 12-month period allotted for their start-up program.
Saville is enthusiastic about the potential success of Iron Sights Intelligence. “Our future with ERAU looks very bright. We are trying to have a larger presence down in Prescott and we’ve seen a lot of phenomenal projects coming from ERAU,” Saville said. “Brett and Andrew are the first set, and they are two incredibly bright students.”
Embry-Riddle business faculty member Professor Richard Gibson described the young men as born entrepreneurs. “We have more students groups from my Small Business Management class that are now actively shopping for funding. Iron Sights is setting a very positive example for them.”
Stover is trained in French and both he and Watts speak Mandarin Chinese. They have recruited colleagues who speak other languages to help expand their potential client base. Languages in demand for them include Russian, Arabic, Japanese, French and various African languages. Eventually, they would like to grow the company into an international private security consultancy.
Both Stover and Watts are confident that being Embry-Riddle students has gotten them far ahead of their peers. As many GSIS students do, both previously worked summer positions at the Department of Defense. There, they first saw a need in the international business community for their service. They also both are members of the business club, Phi Beta Lambda, a student organization that has bested all other competing Arizona universities, including Arizona State University and the University of Arizona, four years in a row at state competitions.
They are equally enthusiastic about their partnership with NACET.
“I get really excited talking to Jeff. It’s about striving to help keep America strong. There’s a patriotic element to it. A lot of people think you can only serve America through the government sector, but this is a way to serve as a private citizen,” Stover said.
“For us, it’s about creating a strong business opportunity and also securing American interests overseas,” Watts said. “It’s great watching your ideas come to life.”
For more information on NACET, visit http://www.nacet.org/
To learn about Iron Sights Intelligence, LLC, visit http://www.ironsightsintel.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment