Published on September 9, 2010 by Mary Wimberley  

Three former Samford University classmates who are now successful business partners in Tennessee have been named the school’s Outstanding Young Alumni of the Year.

Ted Alling, Allan Davis and Barry Large---executives at  Access America Transport (AAT)---will be honored during Homecoming weekend activities Nov. 5-7. All three are 2000 Samford business graduates.

AAT, a leading third-party logistics company, was founded in 2002 in Chattanooga, Tenn., by Alling and Large as the logistics division of a brick company.   The company grew quickly and now serves North America from eight locations in four states, specializing in truckload, less-than truckload, and supply chain management services. It employs 200, and is expected to gross $100 million in revenue in 2010.

Alling is president and Large is chief financial officer of the company. Davis, who joined the company in 2003, is chief operating officer.

The company has been recognized as Best Employer in Tennessee for three consecutive years, and was named  2010  Business of the Year by the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce. It is listed among the 50 most engaged workplaces and one of 100 great supply chain partners for 2010. Inc.com magazine recently named Access America one of this year’s 500 fastest growing companies in North America.

The  honorees met at Samford as freshman business majors and Sigma Nu pledge brothers.  Alling is married to Samford 2000 graduate Kelly Schmidt Alling. As students, Alling was from Vestavia Hills, Ala.; Davis was from Signal Mountain, Tenn.; and Large hailed from Chattanooga.

They make annual visits to their alma mater to lecture to business classes. During their return for Homecoming weekend, they will be recognized at an alumni banquet on Friday, Nov. 5, and during a parade and football game on Saturday, Nov. 6.

The young alumni award, given for the first time in 2009, recognizes distinguished graduates who are under age 40 and who earned a Samford degree within the last 15 years.

Other graduates to be recognized during Homecoming are Philadelphia attorney Ann Thornton Field, Class of 1977, and Birmingham business executive William (Bill) J. Stephens, Class of 1970. They will be honored as Alumni of the Year.

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 5,791 students from 49 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.