ADA, Okla. – David Panter has been named the 2025 Smith Center for Entrepreneurship Entrepreneur of the Year at East Central University (ECU). He will be presented with the award at the Annual Limes Lecture Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 11:45 a.m., following the Tiger Tank Pitch Competition Event at 9 a.m.

Panter is a 1989 graduate of ECU, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in History while also playing for the ECU Tiger Football team.

He began his professional career in collegiate athletics, dedicating 13 years to coaching at Northeastern A&M College, Texas A&M University, and Tyler Junior College. Over the course of his coaching career, he advanced to the position of Offensive Coordinator before transitioning into the business sector.

Upon entering the construction industry, Panter served as owner of a General Contractor Company for 15 years, managing large-scale industrial, hospitals and church-based projects.

In 2014, he founded a medical distribution company known as MedReps, where he currently serves as Chief Executive Officer, which has grown to encompass more than 200 sales representatives across 14 states.

In addition to his leadership in medical distribution, Panter has founded and operated several high-growth startups, including medical laboratories, pharmacies and other innovative healthcare ventures.

Today, he is recognized as a serial entrepreneur and investor, actively engaged in developing and funding a diverse portfolio of businesses focused on emerging technologies and market innovation.

Following the annual Tiger Tank Pitch Competition, Panter will receive his Entrepreneur of the Year honor and will afterwards deliver the Annual Limes Lecture.

The Limes Lecture is named for Leonard Limes, who attended ECU in the 1940’s. He established the lectureship in 2000 with a $25,000 gift to the ECU Foundation. Limes’ vision was to bring entrepreneurs who would tell their stories to inspire ECU students and the community. The inspiration would lead entrepreneurs to create companies, wealth and jobs for Oklahoma’s economy.

The Annual Tiger Tank Pitch Competition calls for individual students, or teams, to pitch new business ideas that are product or service oriented and be able to answer questions about the pitch, idea and opportunity. It is divided into three categories including high school, collegiate and advanced collegiate.

For more information, contact Stacey Bolin, Wilburn L. Smith Center for Entrepreneurship Director, at 580-559-5596 or email sbolin@ecok.edu.

-ECU-