ISU Bengal

Issue date: 3/5/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Photo Services Arlo D. Luke speaks during the dinner held Tuesday, Feb. 26, in his honor as the 45th recipient of the Idaho Business Leader of the Year Award.

Mr. Arlo D. Luke, co-founder, President, and CEO of Varsity Contractors, Inc., has joined accomplished business leaders such as J. R. Simplot and Don Aslett as the fourty-fifth recipient of the 'Idaho Business Leader of the Year' Award. An awards ceremony was held Tuesday, Feb. 26, in his honor.

ISU's Delta Upsilon chapter of Alpha Kappa Psi, a national business fraternity, presents the award every year to someone they deem as an important business leader in the community. They must also be involved with community service, support higher education, and maintain a reputation as an ethical businessperson. The members of the fraternity seek out nominations and vote every year on who they think best fits this description.

"When we discussed the award among the students we didn't focus on his success but his charity and on-going service at ISU. Those things made the difference," said Ben Clark, Alpha Kappa Psi member and chairman of the awards ceremony.

Luke's major business accomplishment was co-founding Varsity Contractors, Inc. - a facilities services company - in 1957 with Don Aslett. Luke said they started the company as a way to put themselves through college, but after graduating with a degree in pharmacy he decided to become a full-time businessman. Now their company is a nationwide success with over 5,000 employees.

Besides being a successful businessman, Luke is the founder of Valley Pride, a civic beautification organization. He also serves in the Boy Scouts of America, and has made generous contributions to Pocatello and ISU.

"(Luke) exemplifies all the attributes that we seek to develop in our fraternity," said Derek Moss, President of Alpha Kappa Psi. "He is our example. Mr. Luke has grown a business - in conjunction with a co-founder - from scratch to 5,000 employees."

Luke is very humble about his accomplishments, however, and said he believed everybody in a company is equally important, whether they play the role of CEO or employee.

"Some people have the role of leader and some people have the role of worker," Luke said.

"I feel under-deserving and over-honored. You always feel in life you don't get anywhere without good people surrounding you. If anybody gets anywhere at all, it's really a shared honor."

Prior to the awards ceremony, Luke and the other leaders of Varsity Contractors went to ISU's classrooms by Alpha Kappa Psi to speak with business students and to even teach a few classes. This is meant to provide an opportunity for ISU students to learn from professionals who are currently active and successful in the business world.

"Our fraternity is not a social fraternity," Moss said. "It is designed to help students develop professional skills. One of the main ways we do that is to link up students with successful people in the community."

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