Ozarks Tech CEO speaks
Artie Romero was the speaker at the Stilwell Area Chamber's May 2025 meeting
by Renee Fite
City of Stilwell Director of Public Relations and Media
Artie Romero and wife Connie moved to Stilwell in 2017, from Colorado, after investing in a property near Bell.
Gardening, and buying and selling items as a vendor and online, keep Connie busy. Artie most recently worked in sales at the Stilwell Democrat Journal and has recently started a business building websites.
With a background in the arts, Romero discovered a talent for comic book art early on, and has had a colorful career in the field of video games and animation.
“I decided to become an artist when I was about 15. I sent a letter to Stan Lee in 1968, which he published along with my mailing address and his reply in Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #4. I got a lot of mail from comics fans after that, and I was encouraged to become a fan artist. Within a few months I became co-editor of Minotaur, an amateur comic book (or fanzine) edited by Carl Gafford in New Milford, Connecticut. I was responsible for drawing 10 pages of comics for each issue,” he said.
In 1973, after studying art in college, he founded Everyman Studios with some high school buddies in Colorado Springs, and after a few years, it evolved into a comic book publishing company, Everyman Comics.
“In 1981 I converted Everyman into an animation studio. Business was slow, so I took a management job in the video game industry, but I decided to get back into animation full time after a decade in upper management,” Romero said.
Artie Romero presented a program at the May 1 Chamber of Commerce meeting. The Chamber meets the first Thursday of each month at noon at the Depot.
photo: Sandy Girdner
“My second animation studio, which I still own, is ARG! Cartoon Animation LLC. You can see some of our work at www.artiestick.com.”
In 1995 he taught himself to code web pages, created a website for ARG!, and added website design to their services, under the name CityStar Group, Inc.
“I was in the right place at the right time, and found great success online. My company kept creating websites and animation until 2014, when I sold CityStar. I kept the animation studio, and it continued to prosper through all of this, thanks to our popular website,” he said.
He founded Ozarks Tech LLC less than two years ago.
Today he builds websites, and he was the first to move his office into the entrepreneurship or business incubator room at City Hall.
“My company leases it. In 2023 I presented the City of Stilwell with a proposal for a new city website design with more features, better navigation and improved functionality. Our proposal was accepted. The site was completed early last year,” said Romero.
The design of the new City Hall included space for entrepreneurs.
“I asked Mayor Wright for a space, and City Council approved it earlier this year,” Romero said.
Some of the websites he’s built are for the City of Stilwell, Kiwanis, Stilwell Chamber of Commerce and Town of Westville.
“I'm very pleased that we were selected to build new sites for those cities. We have more than 50 active accounts, and we stay busy building new sites,” he said. “I love helping businesses and organizations who are unhappy with their existing site, or the lack of personal service. We provide a substantial volume of volunteer work for local nonprofits, and we cover all their hard costs.”
Great customer service makes it all happen.
“We answer the phone, listen to our customers, and do our very best to give them what they need. Too many internet companies outsource their support to call centers overseas, and an increasing number have totally automated customer support,” he said. "On average it takes us around three weeks to build a website. It varies quite a bit, and can take months for some. Others can be completed in a week or less,”
Romero joined the Stilwell Area Chamber of Commerce within a year of moving here as an avenue to meet business leaders and get involved with the community.
“The Stilwell Chamber and Kiwanis, which I also joined, do a lot of good work. Stilwell is a very supportive community,” he said.
The website business is soaring.
“We're reaching out to businesses in Arkansas with a new radio ad campaign, and I believe this could take our business to the next level. We're very happy living and working here, and I really want to help more people, and help bring a lot more dollars and creative energy into Adair County,” said Romero.
"Strawberry Dude" is Stilwell's new animated mascot. Romero was given a small commission to design and animate him in 2024.
