John H. Sykes is an American businessman who is the founder of Sykes Enterprises Incorporated (

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

listing SYKE). Sykes was born in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

and attended

High Point University High Point University (HPU) is a private university in High Point, North Carolina, United States. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The university was founded as High Point College in 1924, and it became High Point University in ...

and

Queens University of Charlotte The Queens University of Charlotte is a private university in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It has approximately 1,900 undergraduate and graduate students. Established in 1857, the university offers 50 undergraduate majors, 58 minors, ...

, as well as

Rollins College Rollins College is a Liberal arts college, private liberal arts college in Winter Park, Florida. It was founded in November 1885 and has about 30 undergraduate majors and several master's programs. Florida's fourth oldest post-secondary institut ...

. He serves a Chairman Emeritus of Sykes Inc. and remains active in the

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

Business community.

Career

Sykes founded Sykes Enterprises in 1977 in

Charlotte Charlotte most commonly refers to: *Charlotte (given name), a feminine form of the given name Charles ** Princess Charlotte (disambiguation) ** Queen Charlotte (disambiguation) *Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, a city * Charlotte (cake) ...

and later moved the company to its present headquarters in Tampa, Florida in 1993. Prior to founding Sykes Enterprises, Sykes served as Senior Vice President in charge of Corporate Development for the CDI Corporation. Sykes has also branched out into the

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

horse breeding business. He purchased Clover Leaf Farms II in

Ocala, Florida Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County, Florida, United States. Located in North Central Florida, the city's population was 63,591 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 56,315 at the 2010 census and making ...

in 1997. The farm was outfitted as a facility designed for the breeding, development and training of thoroughbreds. It also focuses specifically on sale preparation and resale. The farm made headlines for selling I'll Get Along, the dam of the thoroughbred champion

Smarty Jones Smarty Jones (February 28, 2001) is a champion Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes and came second in the Belmont Stakes. Background Born at Fairthorne Farm in Chester County, Pennsylvania, the horse was ...

University of Tampa

Sykes made his permanent mark on the city of Tampa when, in 1997, he made a 10 million dollar donation to the

University of Tampa The University of Tampa (UTampa, UT or Tampa U) is a private university in Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. UTampa offers more than 200 programs of study, including 19 master's degrees and a br ...

. He topped this gift in 2000 by donating an additional 28 million dollars, thought to be the largest gift ever given to a Florida University as of that time. In honor of his generous contributions and in recognition of his achievements, the University of Tampa renamed its College of Business the John H. Sykes College of Business. He also holds two honorary doctorates from the University of Tampa one in

Business Administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

and another in Humane Letters.

References

External links

University of Tampa Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sykes, John H. Living people Businesspeople from Tampa, Florida Businesspeople from Charlotte, North Carolina Rollins College alumni Queens University of Charlotte alumni Year of birth missing (living people)