Hamaker earns Excellence in Business Award

|tab|

Tedd A. Hamaker, 39, Springfield veterinarian since 1991, is one of 12 small business owners in Missouri to be recognized for entrepreneurial excellence in 2001.|ret||ret||tab|

Hamaker, who will be honored Feb. 12 in Jefferson City, was selected by the Missouri Small Business Development Centers to receive the Excellence in Business Award. The award is presented each year to business owners throughout Missouri who exemplify the best attributes for small business success. The honorees are nominated by their local SBDCs.|ret||ret||tab|

Hamaker bought the historic Springfield Veterinary hospital at 1213 St. Louis Street from the heirs of Dr. Carson Moore in 1991. He attributes much of his success to the help he received from Rayanna Anderson, counselor with the local Small Business Development Center at Southwest Missouri State University. |ret||ret||tab|

"I feel extremely fortunate to have found that resource in my own neighborhood," Hamaker said. "In the past few years I have enrolled in their very affordable night courses geared toward aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners, and have learned valuable lessons regarding management and accounting." |ret||ret||tab|

Hamaker said he liked the informal style in which the courses were taught and the close attention paid by Anderson to his business. |ret||ret||tab|

"My years in formal education focused primarily on biological science and veterinary medicine," he said. "I, admittedly, was ill-prepared to take on the challenges of running a small business." |ret||ret||tab|

That has changed over time, he said. His recent $250,000 expenditure to update equipment and remodel, add a larger surgery area, a dentistry suite and more boarding space testifies to that change. |ret||ret||tab|

Hamaker decided to become a veterinarian during a 4,000 mile bicycle trip he made after college with some friends. Biking from Seattle to Connecticut, he was intrigued with the rural veterinary hospitals he saw. |ret||ret||tab|

A graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia Veterinary School, Hamaker came to Springfield by accident. He was working at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, when he came across Dr. Moore's obituary in a veterinary journal. |ret||ret||tab|

"I sent my dad down from Kansas City to check it out," he said, and he was pleased with what he found. "This place would be a showcase if it were in Atlanta." The hospital had an apartment upstairs, perfect for the then-single Hamaker.|ret||ret||tab|

He had decided to strike out on his own in practice instead of attaching himself with a larger hospital in Atlanta because he felt that was the only way to be successful and be his own man. He had seen other young veterinarians worked hard then tossed out for new, younger graduates at the vet hospitals in Atlanta. |ret||ret||tab|

When he came to Springfield, "I felt like an immigrant," he said. Hamaker didn't know a soul, "so I had no distractions. I worked in the hospital all day, then worked all night to gut the upstairs." |ret||ret||tab|

Now Hamaker is a fixture in the community, with a television show every two weeks, "Ask Dr. Tedd" on KOLR. He's participated in Little Theatre and agreed to kiss a pig to raise money for diabetes research. |ret||ret||tab|

"My friends were apprehensive of my choice to locate on the edge of downtown. Sometimes it's not a bad thing not knowing any better," Hamaker said, considering the way downtown has taken off.|ret||ret||tab|

"That whole neighborhood was touch and go. Loft apartments were not catching on. Now the whole thing has steamrolled with Civic Park," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

Hamaker enjoys an urban existence, having lived in San Francisco, Kansas City and Atlanta. But he likes the smallness and friendliness of Springfield. "It's a great thing. If you want to do something, to see something happen as a citizen, you can have a direct effect." He likes seeing City Council members walking down the streets. "They're real people."|ret||ret||tab|

His life changed six years ago this May when he married Lisa Kristek, a Springfield native and Southwest Missouri State University fine arts graduate. For a time she was office manager of the veterinary hospital. "She has a gift for promoting," Hamaker said. |ret||ret||tab|

They now have two children, Joseph, 6, and Lena, 3.[[In-content Ad]]