PROVO — Morgan Lynch was frustrated.

Lynch was the director of marketing for a large software company and was going through what he says was a long, painful process of buying logo designs from advertising agencies.

"It was very inefficient, very time-consuming, very expensive," he said.

Lynch had determined that the entire process was in need of a makeover, and so in 2001 he founded LogoWorks.

Today, LogoWorks provides entrepreneurs and small businesses with high-quality and affordable designs from professional graphic artists.

And on Thursday, Lynch was honored as Entrepreneur of the Year by the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum during the nonprofit group's annual awards ceremony at the Provo Marriott.

Other winners were Network Composer by Cymphonix, Most Innovative Product; Certiport, Utah Valley's Best Kept Secret; Kyle Love, Greatest Contribution to Entrepreneurship; and DirectPointe CEO Michael Proper, Ronald K. King Community Service Award.

"These individuals and companies are ambassadors of the best that Utah and Utah Valley has to offer," said John Richards, UVEF board chairman. "They are representative of diverse efforts to continue the common goal of growing Utah business."

In LogoWorks' four years of operation, more than 30,000 businesses have turned to the Lindon-based company for their design needs. The majority of those customers are entrepreneurs and small businesses, Lynch said.

"We realized that small-business owners don't really have many options (for graphic design)," he said. "If you're a small-business owner, what you really want is your logo, your business card and you want the process to be painless. We essentially give that to small-business owners."

LogoWorks is owned and operated by ARTEIS Inc.

According to the Cymphonix Web site, www.cymphonix.com, Network Composer utilizes next-generation intelligence to redefine how a firewall can protect organizations. Network Composer allows administrators to see what is happening on the Internet and Wide Area Network resources, both by application and user. It also provides both real-time visibility and historical reporting, resulting in secure, intelligent data flow.

David Saedi, president and CEO of Certiport, accepted the award for Best Kept Secret. Over the past seven years, the American Fork-based company has emerged as a world leader in training, assessment and certification solutions, helping individuals succeed and advance in academic and business environments.

Love, co-founder of the UVEF, serves on boards of the Orem incubator program, Omniture and ShopSite Inc., as well as on advisory boards for various companies and organizations such as CORDA Technologies Inc. and Utah Valley State College's Center for the Advancement of Leadership. He is a founding member of Utah Angels, a group of private investors backing Utah entrepreneurs. Love's investments through Utah Angels include MyFamily.com, Omniture, CORDA, TruVision Inc. and Alianza Global Communication Services.

Proper was recognized for his service in the community, which includes regular speaking engagements at high schools, where he encourages students to surround themselves with great people and never quit what they start. DirectPointe is a Lindon-based technology-management company for small and midsize businesses.

UVEF was founded in 1989 as a support group to promote development and encourage the creation and growth of entrepreneurial ventures.

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