SPOKANE AREA COWBOY GETS BIG BOOST FROM NEXT IT
Next IT CEO supports Tyson Durfey’s goal of becoming national champion
Spokane, WA. (December 1, 2007) - Next IT’s CEO, Fred Brown, is well known for his entrepreneurial spirit and successful business strategies; however, what some may not know is that Brown also has a great history of calf roping and rodeo competition. Bringing these two passions together, Brown and Next IT are sponsoring Colbert, WA. cowboy Tyson Durfey at this year’s National Finals Rodeo (NFR) competition in Las Vegas, NV.
The 23 year-old Durfey was the 2006 Canadian champion roper and is currently ranked 12th in the world standings. With Next IT’s help, Durfey will work to move up in the rankings next week in Las Vegas as he takes on the world’s best ropers.
Brown, an avid roper himself, says it did not take long to forge a friendship with Durfey after the two met at a Montana rodeo. In a September article in The Spokesman-Review, Brown told staff writer Dave Trimmer that, “You meet a lot of people out rodeoing. He's a good kid. He had an interest in business (and) was looking for his next opportunity."
In addition to rodeoing, both Brown and Durfey share an interest in business ventures. Brown’s company, Next IT, is the creator of the ActiveAgent™ technology and its implementation in the form of SGT STAR is currently being used by the U.S. Army on its website www.goarmy.com. In his own experience, Durfey formed his own construction company out of high school to help pay for his roping.
Competing in the National Finals Rodeo, what some call the rodeo world’s World Series and Superbowl combined, has been a goal of Durfey’s since he was two years old. Durfey told Trimmer, “Talking to Fred about my goals, I said I wanted to be a successful businessman but I don’t want to ever lose sight of making the National Finals Rodeo. Fred basically said if you see something you want, go get it, no matter what it takes.”
For Brown, the choice to support such a vibrant and determined young man in his efforts was an easy one. “Tyson reminds me a lot of myself when I was younger,” Brown told Trimmer. “His dedication to this sport is something that I both admire and respect. I could think of no better person for my company to support than him.”
The National Finals Rodeo competition is scheduled for December 6th-13th, 2007 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, NV. For more information on the National Finals Rodeo, please visit http://www.prorodeo.com/Series_Home.aspx
About Next IT Corporation
Next IT Corporation is an innovator in simplifying the communication between people and computers. The company’s core platform, ActiveAgent™, accurately understands and interprets natural language questions and delivers exact results across multiple service channels such as the web, contact center, intranet, and mobile devices. For more information on Next IT, please visit www.nextit.com.
Press Contact:
Jennifer Mitchell
Next IT Corporation
509.458.8656
marketing@nextit.com
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