OTC selects Rick’s Automotive owner for business award

Ozarks Technical Community College chose the owner of Rick's Automotive Inc. for its annual Excellence in Business award.

Rick Hughlett, the company’s founder and president, is scheduled to be honored during an April 20 ceremony at the John A. and Genny Morris Conservation Center, according to a news release.

He started Rick’s Automotive in 1980 and built it to 40 employees who work on 1,000 vehicles, including 135 fleets, per month at 2121 S Campbell Ave. The company in 2013 was a Springfield Business Journal Business Class honoree with 2011-12 revenue growth of 4 percent to $5.3 million.

A graduate of OTC precursor Graff Vocational Technical School, Hughlett has been active with the community college since it was founded in 1990. He helped form an automotive committee to work with the school’s transportation department and has mentored students in its automotive repair program. He also established a scholarship fund for those students through the OTC Foundation, according to the release.

Last year, OTC honored Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris with the Excellence in Business award. Past recipients include Jeff Schrag, Jim Anderson, Jack and Peter Herschend, Sam Hamra, John Q. Hammons, the O’Reilly family and Jack Stack.