Locations

Ray Ellen is a broker at our Lowell, AR office.

Ray Ellen is an Arkansas native who has always had a love for business! 
When Ray was 6 years old, his father retired from the ministry and began his own small business. From an early age, Ray’s dad taught him the importance of developing professional skills and knowledge in business. Following his father’s example, at the age of 15, Ray started his own company, designing websites & advertising graphics for other business owners in his community. Ray took his love for business to college and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. He then went on to work in marketing and advertising sales in his father’s company. He worked closely with small business owners to plan and execute a marketing campaign that would provide them with a competitive advantage and maximum exposure. He then married his college sweet heart, Katie, and settled in Rogers. Katie graduated with her masters in teaching from the University of Arkansas and became a teacher in Springdale. Ray worked as manager in two local franchises breaking sales records and achieving “perfect productivity”. With a desire to gain knowledge and expertise in Real Estate, he became an assistant with Lindsey & Associates where he marketed over $40 million in properties in 9 months using everything from advanced technological skills to old fashioned word of mouth. He also developed a proven 15 step marketing plan for selling properties. He then became a licensed Realtor®, selling 4 homes in his first 2 months and sold his first listing in 3 days! Later, he moved to Crye-Leike Realtors to learn their business system. While there, he maintained a professional website that averaged over 500 hits per week! Currently Ray & Katie reside in Springdale, Arkansas and are members of Fellowship Bible Church in Rogers. They are active in the community, teaching the “Financial Peace University” course by Dave Ramsey to young married couples. They are also active in the international community, spending a few weeks every summer leading short term mission projects all over the world.
Ray is excited to be part of the world's largest business brokerage network. He has completed Sunbelt formal training  and is now interviewing business owners to help them plan exit strategies. 

John Farris is a broker in the Springfield, MO office.

John joined Sunbelt after 22+ years with Ford Motor Company rather than uproot his family for another corporate relocation. He held a number of key management positions with Ford Motor Credit Company while conducting business in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Arkansas, and Missouri. He also has operational experience from the 'home office' perspective during his tenure with Ford Credit in Dearborn, Michigan. In directing sales, marketing, loan underwriting, fee income products, collections, and customer service operations while providing lending services to hundreds of business owners and their customers, John has gained a broad knowledge of the challenges faced by both business owners and buyers. John also has hands-on experience in operational consolidations and transitions, and past clients have ranged from small, family-owned/managed businesses to multi-million dollar, multiple-point operations. He has a broad base of experience in many industries, both wholesale and retail, and particularly in manufacturing, distribution, and sales. A native of Sikeston, MO, John and his family have lived in Springfield since 1998 following corporate moves throughout the U.S.

Dennis Jones is a broker in the Springfield, MO office.

Dennis has a widely varied background in business. After graduating from Texas Tech University with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, he went to work for Bell Telephone Laboratories at their location at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico and worked as an engineer on several missile and radar projects. While with Bell Labs, he earned a master's degree in electrical engineering from New Mexico State University. From there he went to work for IBM in its data processing division and worked as a systems/sales engineer in Los Angeles. He later joined Texas Instruments in Los Angeles and then transferred to its Sherman, Texas location working primarily in the area of product marketing and marketing research. While with T.I. he earned a master of business administration degree. He left T.I. to purchase a franchise company. After purchasing more locations with the same franchisor, he sold all locations and worked as an independent contractor for satellite data systems providers. After several years, he purchased a different franchise company in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Having owned that company for two years, he sold it and moved to Springfield. During his years of owning his own businesses, his main focus was service to his customers. Shortly after moving to Springfield, he began volunteer work with SCORE, "Counselors to America's Small Business." SCORE is a volunteer organization that is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration and counsels people who are in business or who are seeking to go into business. During his eight years of service with SCORE, he has volunteered over 3500 hours of work with small business owners and has held numerous offices in the Springfield chapter. As a result of this service he received, personally from President George Bush, the President's Call to Service Award in November 2006. During his time with SCORE, he has specialized in counseling clients who want to buy or sell businesses, and has given numerous workshops on buying and selling businesses. His extensive education, his wide range of business experience, his work in business counseling, and his customer service focus form a perfect fit for his work with Sunbelt clients. Dennis is licensed as a real estate broker in the state of Missouri and is a member of the International Business Brokers Association.

Mike Mecke is a broker in the Springfield, MO office.

Stuart Ward is a broker in the Joplin, MO office.

Stuart's roots run deep in the Joplin area. Born in Joplin, he attended Missouri Southern State College, where he was a member of the 1972 NAIA national champion Lions football team. Then, graduating from Ozark Christian College, he had ministries in Oklahoma, Texas, and Alabama. Many aspects of Stuart's ministry experience come into play at Sunbelt: The ability to handle many roles and tasks, the need to help educate buyers and sellers of their roles in the process, the attention to detail that ensures a successful transaction, but most of all, the desire to truly help people. The exciting business environment of southwest Missouri, combined with the excellent recreational pursuits, have brought Stuart back to his Ozark roots. He's looking forward to working with business buyers and sellers for many years to come. Stuart teaches a weekly adult bible study class at Fir Road Christian Church, where he attends with wife Laura. Son Matthew lives and works in Huntsville, Alabama, and daughter Rachel lives and works in Louisville, Kentucky. His mother and father are semi-retired from the ministry, and live in Purdy, Missouri. He says, "You really can come home! And I'm enjoying the opportunity to enhance the business climate in southwest Missouri."