In 1977, Rita Sparks of Memphis, Tennessee, and her late husband, Willard, built Sparks Companies, Inc., which provides risk management tools to agribusinesses and farmers. The worldwide company is a leading agricultural research and consulting business, focusing on grains, cotton and livestock.

 

The Sparks’ focused on commodity merchandise while operating one of the largest cattle operations in the nation. Today, Sparks Companies, Inc., continues to impact agriculture around the United States and beyond.

 

After Willard’s passing in 2005, Rita formed her own investment company, Sparks Enterprises, Inc.

 

The Sparks have invested in a number of OSU and DASNR endeavors, such as establishing scholarships for agriculture students, endowing a chair in agricultural economics and serving as donors and fundraisers for the Willard Sparks Beef Research Center.

 

The center is one of the most modern facilities in the country for research on shipping stressed calves and feedlot cattle. The goals of the center are to improve production efficiency in cattle, have a positive effect on beef quality and have a positive economic effect on all farmers and ranchers.

 

Sparks exemplifies the power of women’s leadership and philanthropy. In 2010, she received both the University of Memphis Distinguished Friend Award and the Tennessee Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Philanthropy for her support of higher education. She was the Memphis recipient of the 1999 Outstanding Volunteer Fund Raiser from the National Society for Fund Raising Executives and a member of the 1996 Leadership Memphis class. Sparks has been a licensed commodity broker since 1980.