North Carolina A&T State University Board of Trustees member and entrepreneur, Janice Bryant Howroyd can add yet another award to her list of accomplishments.

After a motivational keynote address during the Aggie Alumni Entrepreneur’s Conference on Oct. 25, she was presented with the inaugural Distinguished Aggie Alumni Entrepreneur Award.

“It’s always new,” she said about being honored by N.C. A&T. “It’s emotional. It’s motivational and it shows that I’m growing.”

Howroyd is chairwoman and chief executive officer of the Act•1 Group, a global leader in the staffing and human resources industry that has provided more than 30 years of service to companies in the Fortune 1000. The Act•1 Group consists of: Agile•1 Workforce Solutions, AppleOne Staffing and Business Services Solutions.

A fiery motivational speaker, Howroyd shared with conference attendees how she left North Carolina for California and turned $1,500 and a single phone line into a $3 billion company.

“Act•1, in so many ways, is a house Dean Craig built,” she shared. “I realized earlier on that the talent in my organization has to be better educated – Dean Craig sent some of that talent to my organization.”

Howroyd says the education students receive at A&T is on par, if not superior to the education received at some of the world’s finest universities.

“I know what I speak because I don’t just hire for my company, my company assists many organizations in hiring for themselves across the globe,” she said.

This is the second year for the entrepreneur’s conference that will become an annual event during Homecoming week. Dr. Thaddeus McEwen, professor and director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Entrepreneurship and E-business told the audience that this conference is the only one of its kind in the Piedmont Triad region.

“It was a tremendous success,” McEwen said. “There was excellent attendance and participation in the breakout sessions.”

Attendance this year grew to include more than 200 alumni entrepreneurs and prospective student entrepreneurs. This year’s successful conference has McEwen looking ahead to next year.

The first conference was last year and included a student elevator pitch contest. This year, the award was added.

“Next year we are considering including an expo, so it will be the Aggie Entrepreneurship Conference and Expo,” he said.

According to McEwen, the entrepreneurship program in the School of Business and Economics is the fastest growing in the Department of Management.

“We are looking to partner with our alumni entrepreneurs to help us by coming in to speak during workshops or classes and to be mentors for our students,” he said.

In addition to Howroyd’s keynote address and the elevator pitch competition, attendees had an opportunity to attend various breakout sessions to learn more about social media marketing, transitioning from start up to growth and increasing sales through government and corporate contracts.