Drury honors businesswomen in symposium

Drury University honored two female business owners March 21 during the seventh annual Women in Entrepreneurship Symposium.

Dianna Devore was named Woman Entrepreneur of the Year and Haden Long took home Woman-Owned Startup of the Year, according to a news release.

A former 25-year employee in the Springfield ReManufacturing Corp. family of companies, Devore sold her 401(k) and stock options to purchase Design Fabrication from its retiring owners in late 2010.

In her first year, revenue was $100,000 shy of her $2.3 million goal, and the structural steel shop posted 2014 revenue of $4.8 million, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.

Long, too, took a risk in opening her interior design store, Ellecor Design and Gifts, by leaving a job as director of Grove Spa.

She launched the retail business in February 2014 at Farmers Park - the first retailer at the mixed-use, south-side development, according to SBJ archives.

Drury’s Edward Jones Center for Entrepreneurship sponsors the event, which was held at the school’s O’Reilly Family Event Center, according to the release.