Medallion for Entrepreneurship Recipients - 2013
The Entrepreneurship Medallion is awarded to outstanding individuals who combine innovative business achievement with service to humanity. The individuals’ accomplishments may have taken place anywhere in the world, but must be consistent with the ideals of Beta Gamma Sigma. The BGS Medallion for Entrepreneurship was established to provide appropriate recognition to those individuals and firms that contribute significantly to the vitality and strength of the economy, combining innovative business achievement with service to humanity.
Darrell S. Freeman, Sr.
Founder and Executive Chairman, Zycron, Inc.
Nominated by: Belmont University
Founding Zycron, Inc. in 1991, Darrell S. Freeman has been busy overseeing the Tennessee-based information technology consulting firm's more than 300 employees across the country. Zycron is recognized as an industry leader in the field of information technology services, providing client-specific solutions across all industries with extensive experience in industries like healthcare, energy and utilities and state and local government. Headquartered in Nashville, the company has five offices across the U.S. as well as an office in South America.
Known for giving back to his community, Freeman was appointed to a four-year term from 2012 to 2016 as a member of the Tennessee Board of Regents for the Seventh Congressional District. He also served two terms from 2006 to 2008 as Chairman of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce, in which he welcomed President George W. Bush to Nashville for a federal budget talk. Currently, he is a board member of the Centennial Medical Center, the Nashville Entrepreneur Center and the Nashville Public Education Foundation.
Freeman earned his bachelor of science degree in computer technology as well as his master's in industrial sciences from Middle Tennessee State University.
Beatriz M. Manetta
Founder, President and CEO, Argent Associates, Inc.
Nominated by: Seton Hall University
Beatriz M. Manetta founded her certified minority- and female-owned company, Argent Associates, Inc., in 1998. Since then, she's served as the company's president and CEO, overseeing Argent's work within the telecommunications industry, annual revenues that posted at $107 million in 2011 and the company's wrork to track technology assets and monitor the environment of assets and shipments across the world. Its customers range from those in government, enterprise and telecommunications sectors. Argent has offices in Texas, New Jersey and North Carolina and has clientele at many Fortune 500 companies.
Manetta gained more than 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, working at companies like AT&T and Lucent Technologies. She also has more than 10 years of international experience, conducting business in the telecommunications sector in the Middle East and Latin America for AT&T and served on the President's Export Council (PEC), which advised President George W. Bush on important international trade matters.
Manetta received a bachelor of science degree in marketing and accounting from Rutgers University. She earned her master's in international business from Seton Hall University.
Marla Johnson Norris
CEO, Aristotle, Inc.
Nominated by: University of Arkansas at Little Rock
As CEO and co-founder of the continually growing internet and interactive design, marketing and consulting firm, Aristotle, Inc., Marla Johnson Norris consults with clients across the country on topics such as online marketing, strategic branding and design, research and reporting and integrated public relations. Established in 1995, Aristotle has worked with cilents like Silver Dollar City, Long Island, Baptist Health System, Elvis Presley Enterprises and more.
Norris has received multiple recognitions, including the Travel South USA Ambassador Award in 2009, the 2012 University of Memphis Centennial Alumni Processional Honoree recognition and the Multi-Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame First Women and Service Award in 2012. Norris is known to lead Aristotle staff in support of causes with financial and in-kind contributions, and she has given over $15,000 to multiple philanthropic causes over the last two years.
Norris earned her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Memphis and earned her master's in education from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
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