St. John’s, Newfoundland (February 26, 2009) – Ryne Flood, owner of 6am Software and full time student at Memorial University, has been named the 2009 Newfoundland Student Entrepreneur Provincial Champion for the second year in a row by national charitable organization, Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship “ACE” and proud program supporter, CIBC.

Since 2005, Ryne, a Computer Science student, has owned and operated 6am Software, a software business that aims to provide high quality school administrations software tools and commercial websites. The Online Parent Teacher Interview Scheduler, OPTIS, is his first commercial and most successful program. It is an online scheduling tool that allows administrators, teachers and parents to coordinate and schedule parent-teacher conferences online. This program ultimately was created to improve communication between home and school.  

Operating 6am Software has provided Ryne with the opportunity to:

• Integrating the OPTIS software program in more than 70 schools across Canada. 

• Expecting to expand the number of schools to approximately 100 schools across Canada. 

• Experienced a 5650% growth in net income over the last 3 years. 

“It is definitely an honor to receive this award. This competition is great for young entrepreneurs like myself and has already opened a lot of doors as well as providing some great publicity for my company,” says Ryne. “I am looking forward to competing again this year and representing Newfoundland at the regionals, as well as gaining more recognition for my products/company at the national level.

The regional round of competition will take place at the 2009 ACE Regional Exposition in Halifax, Nova Scotia on March 6th, 2009. Provincial Champions will each present their business to a live panel of business professionals who will decide the two Regional Champions, who will each receive a $1,000 cash prize and move on to the final round of competition taking place at the 2009 ACE National Exposition in Toronto on May 6th, 2009. The National Champion will be named and will receive a $10,000 cash prize and represent Canada at the international level of competition, the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards, if he or she qualifies.

“Given the changing economy student entrepreneurs are being forced to take on new challenges to ensure their businesses thrive” says Amy Harder, President of ACE. “ACE provides an experience that strengthens and supports student development to create a more sustainable and enterprising Canada.”

For more information about the Student Entrepreneur Competition taking place regionally and nationally in 2009 please visit www.aceexpos.ca.

About ACE
Founded in the mid-1980s, ACE is a national charitable organization that is teaching and igniting young Canadians to create brighter futures for themselves and their communities through enterprise. Working in partnership with business and higher education, ACE operates a team-based program, Students In Free Enterprise “SIFE” and an individual-based program, Student Entrepreneur. Through these two programs, ACE guides students along the path to becoming the champions that will define the enterprising mission of Canada. For more information about ACE, visit www.acecanada.ca.

Operated by ACE and proudly presented by CIBC, the Student Entrepreneur Program is the only National program to focus solely on full time Canadian post secondary student entrepreneurs. It is a program that strives to enrich participant’s lives through feedback, recognition and networking opportunities.

- 30 -

For more information, please contact:

Andrea Louden
Coordinator, Communications and Events
ACE (Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship)
416.304.1566 ext 233
1.800.766.8169 ext 233
andrea@acecanada.ca
www.acecanada.ca
www.aceexpos.ca

Ryne Flood
Owner- 6am Software
Cell: 709-746-5399
ryne@6amsoftware.com
www.partnerinterview.com