Trae Ratliff to give Battenfield-Carletti lecture

Tahlequah native Trae Ratliff will offer his entrepreneurial insights during the Battenfield-Carletti Distinguished Entrepreneur Lecture at Northeastern State University on Feb. 1 at 10 a.m.

The lecture, in the auditorium of the W. Roger Webb Educational Technology Center, will be followed by a question and answer session at approximately 11 a.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Ratliff is a lifelong resident of Tahlequah. In the spring of 2003 he received a bachelors degree in business with an emphasis in NSUs newly established entrepreneur program. He turned his business plan, a class project, into R.A.T.S. or Rapid Area Transit System. He was vice president of the Entrepreneurship Club, a placekicker for the NSU football team and the recipient of the NSU Student Entrepreneur Award in 2004.

After closing R.A.T.S. in the summer of 2005, Ratliff was employed for five years with Yellowbook USA. More recently, he owns and operates The Lost Pines Ranch and is a local agent for Shelter Insurance.

Established in 2002 through the NSU Foundation by Dr. Harold Battenfield and Dr. John Carletti, the Battenfield-Carletti Distinguished Entrepreneur Lectureship Series invites two NSU alumni entrepreneurs each year to speak to students. The lecture series allows students to learn, from successful entrepreneurs, ways to identify new opportunities and translate ideas into action.

For more information call Dr. Roger Collier, interim dean of the College of Business and Technology, at 918-444-2910.