Rachel Sullivant believes entrepreneurship succeeds when people have the right support at the right time. This philosophy has guided her work creating the Entrepreneurial Law Project, a University of Arkansas initiative that connects entrepreneurs with free legal services.
As director of entrepreneurial resources in the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation and managing director of the Entrepreneurial Law Project, Sullivant oversees programs that support students, faculty, alumni and entrepreneurs across Arkansas. Under her leadership, the project provides biweekly legal checkups, statewide outreach and partnerships that connect founders with pro bono attorneys and law students for guidance on business formation, contracts, intellectual property and other legal issues.
“The thing I am most proud of in my entire life professionally is what I’m doing right now,” Sullivant said. “That’s creating an ecosystem that pulls together all these different parties and just benefits the state in a really tactile way.”
Sullivant was born in Fayetteville and spent much of her childhood in Olney, Md. She earned a bachelor’s degree from East Tennessee State University, an MBA from John Brown University and a law degree from the UA. She joined the UA to help build its entrepreneurship program and later launched the Entrepreneurial Law Project after securing grant funding.
Sullivant hopes to secure long-term funding to ensure the program’s future while expanding support services for entrepreneurs statewide.
“A big goal for me is ensuring that any entrepreneur that we touch through our office gets wraparound support to be able to be successful and build the things that they’re dreaming of building,” she said.
Outside of work, Sullivant is passionate about creating lasting, community-centered change through education, collaboration and service.
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