Ashlee Green

Ashlee Green is an entrepreneur, information technology professional and passionate advocate for people through personal connection and advanced technology. Green serves as a product manager for The Boeing Company and is the founder of Serve & Jam, LLC. When Green began her MS ITM program in the Naveen Jindal School of Management, outside of her tech courses, there were two courses she was excited to take: Negotiation and Dispute Resolution (OB 6332) and Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ENTP 6370).

“I honestly felt like it was simply perfect timing for me to launch my company. UTD was a huge part of that through resourcing me and providing mentors”
– Ashlee Green

“What I really loved about the entrepreneurship class,” she said, “is that we had the opportunity to work in teams and work on incredibly detailed business plans over the course of a semester.”

Her semester in entrepreneurship equipped her with the foundational knowledge and resources to develop a sound business idea and plan.

“The following courses I took layered onto that knowledge of entrepreneurship, of marketing, of innovative technologies that let me feel like starting a business was realistic,” she said.

In her last year at UT Dallas, Green connected with the Blackstone Launchpad and its resources, eventually becoming a semifinalist in the Big Idea Competition, utilizing the Comet X Summer Accelerator program.

“I honestly felt like it was simply perfect timing for me to launch my company,” she said. “UTD was a huge part of that through resourcing me and providing mentors.”

Green’s company, Serve & Jam, launched in January, provides charitable engagement events, team building activities, and services that generate resources for nonprofits and communities in need. It has already serviced a Fortune 100 company. Her company also has provided thousands of dollars in good and resources to non-profits and communities across the country, including essential goods to support Texans experiencing homelessness. Serve & Jam’s volunteer activities are integrated directly into social events through interactive and gamified elements that directly produce resources for people in need.

For her efforts, Green was awarded $15,000 from the 2023 Texas Business Hall of Fame and the AT&T Future Legend First in Family Award. The award will further her work on a larger scale to inspire both nonprofits and for-profit organizations.

“Helping people is at the core of who I am, what I do, and what I am passionate about,” she said. As a result, that is the core of what Serve & Jam is all about. “It is my goal to be able to continue to help people and communities through the services that we offer and to continue to benefit Texans and individuals across the country

Tamara Marshall

Marshall is pursuing a double degree — an MBA and an MS in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. She was motivated to apply for the Texas Hall of Fame as a way to fund her startup.

“I was looking for scholarship opportunities and pitch competitions to get money for my business,” she said. “The concept that you could win a scholarship and be plugged into a big network, like Texas Business Hall of Fame, with access to mentorship, is a big deal for a startup like mine.”

Marshall is in the process of creating an innovative device for the saltwater tank industry — an automated fish food freezer that is placed on top of the fish tank.

“Saltwater fish must be fed two to three times a day,” she said. “Feeding your fish every day is difficult, so going out of town becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible.”

Marshall believes that her technology will help to improve the quality of life for many people across the country who own saltwater fish tanks.

“I used to own a saltwater fish store,” she said. “Everybody wanted a frozen fish food feeder, including myself, but it just didn’t exist. I had a lot of customers in the past who just wouldn’t go on vacation. It had been 5-10 years, and they hadn’t gone on vacation because they didn’t have anyone to take care of their fish.” Although Marshall’s product is not a new concept, it would be unique in her industry.

“The product I am working on is very difficult,” she said. “Everyone has wanted one, but it hasn’t been done before because when you use shrink-freezing technology, it becomes very difficult. So we had to be very creative in the design process.”

“The concept that you could win a scholarship and be plugged into a bi network, like Texas Business Hall of Fame with access to mentorship is a big deal for startup like mine.”
– Tamara Marshall

Many investors have seen the value in the product Marshall is creating. She has won $50,000 in cash and prizes for her startup. The Mitchell Family Foundation Award will go toward funding Marshall’s patent. Recently, Marshall entered the UTD Big Idea Competition and won $5,000 through the Retail Track where she ended up placing second overall. Marshall also won $2,500 at the CometX Accelerator pitch competition and the UT Design track. The prototype is being designed by the UT Design Senior Capstone team out of The Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Science. Work will continue for the next nine months. The prototype and the app will be completed by May 2024.

Amir Muriby

Muriby is a partner at Dynamic SLR and was a co-founder of Capture Solar. Although he is working to combat the effects of climate change through sustainable housing initiatives, he did not start out in the clean energy sector. He began his work in home improvements with his company Prime Shutter, LLC.

“Back in 2018, I looked into the industry, and I saw that there were very few companies that were specializing in plantation shutters,” he said. “So, I decided to partner up with a buddy of mine. He’s an electrical engineer, so he was the technical guy; I was the sales guy, and we started out just by knocking on doors.”

Muriby’s company quickly grew.“We just jumped right in,” he said. “When we got into the industry of home improvements and started building a brand, we started creating partnerships with different local vendors and builders.”

Muriby said he and his business partner had an opportunity to make a larger difference by stepping into the renewable energy sector.

“We basically took the same model that we were doing in the window treatment world,” he said, “and we established our company called Capture Solar.”

“One way I plan to continue my involvement is to work with local municipalities to identify areas of need throughout the metroplex and how we can grow and develop available land to fit those needs”
– Amir Muriby

Muriby saw a need and transitioned his business to meet it by moving his company in the direction of solar panels. Originally quoted at 35 accounts per quarter, Muriby’s company was closing over 40 accounts per month. In September 2022, his company entered into a merger and acquisition with Dynamic SLR.

With the exponential growth of his company, Muriby put his degree on pause during the pandemic.

“It is interesting because when I started my business, I was a student at UTD, and I was on track to finish my Business Administration degree,” he said. “I decided to put my degree on pause. And I’m so glad that I did make that decision to prioritize the transition at the time, because ultimately it led to us having the biggest year yet until that point. Even though it was the year of the pandemic, we took a little hit in the beginning of that year after March, but we picked up towards the end of the year and finished off very, very strong.”

Muriby is continuing his degree at UTD and plans to complete it by the Fall of 2024. He won $15,000 as a 2024 Texas Business Hall of Fame Mitchell Scholar. He said he plans to continue to make a significant difference in the renewable energy sector throughout Texas. He said that since the Texas energy grid has been straining to keep up with customer demand over the past couple of years, it needs all the help it can get from homeowners becoming a little bit more independent with their power.

“There is a huge need that our local cities have for expanding, bringing people in, just developing the area and making it more attractive and more appealing for residents and for people who are planning to move to the area,” he said. “One way I plan to continue my involvement is to work with local municipalities to identify areas of need throughout the metroplex and how we can grow and develop available land to fit those needs.”

Tim Reazor

Tim Reazor, MBA’18, MS’19, is the CEO and co-founder of Fifth & Cherry — producing handcrafted, end-grain cherry cutting boards from responsibly-sourced wood that come with a lifetime warranty. His company exists, he said, to elevate how we connect with one another.

“I believe the world has lost tangibility,” he said. “No one is going to look back 10 years from now and think ‘Dad told a great joke on Facebook that day.’ But if you go into the

kitchen and touch your mom’s cast iron, your dad’s knife set, or a cutting board, you will be transported right back to that time where you rolled cookie dough with your grandma. That’s tangibility. A cutting board isn’t a utilitarian device, it’s a lineage and link to the people you love.”

Reazor received both his EMBA and MS in Innovation & Entrepreneurship from the Jindal School. He was intentional during that time on campus to be proactive about seeking advice from mentors and utilizing all the resources that JSOM and UTD make available to their students.

“I attended UTD with the specific goal of launching Fifth & Cherry cutting boards,” he said. “When I first stepped on campus, I didn’t know how to articulate my business idea or the steps to take to make it a reality.” Through curriculum, classes, mentors, and UTD resources like the Blackstone Launchpad, Reazor was eventually able to marry the economic value of the gift industry and the idea that cutting boards, and kitchens, were more than utilitarian devices.

“I had all this bottled up inside and I didn’t know how to get it out,” he said. “I kept taking the classes, not because I needed the financial accounting class, but because I knew if I surrounded myself with ideas and people, I would grow.

Reazor was awarded $15,000 donated through the Texas Business Hall of Fame by the Mitchell Family Foundation to further his goal of creating a generational business.

“The Texas Business Hall of Fame is going to unlock networking to further grow my business,” he said. “I believe we are on a path to change the kitchen industry forever. We’ve been in business for 40 years. Hopefully, with my stewardship, we will be in business for another 40 years. My plan is to develop Fifth & Cherry into a generational business. I want to build things that people love and build things that bring them joy. I want to build things that bring people together.”

Candidates for the scholarship must submit nomination letters when they submit their applications. Dr. Diane McNulty, associate dean for external affairs and corporate development at the Jindal School, wrote one for Reazor. In her position as co-vice president of the scholarship committee at the Texas Business Hall of Fame, she interviewed several candidates from outside the Dallas-Fort Worth area and was impressed by the sheer number of students who had entrepreneurial ideas to improve the quality of life of Texans— not only from UT Dallas but throughout the state.

“We have worked hard to build a great entrepreneurial program at UT Dallas,” she said. “Increasing numbers of students are opting into entrepreneurship and innovation more than ever before — with all the associated creativity and risk. That is great news for the future of the State of Texas. Every one of these scholars has staked his or her future on making sure our state’s economy and its people continue to thrive.