Gary S. Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship Alumni

Leading While The World Waits

Five savvy alumni are building business models and products that can help their businesses—and their customers—thrive, even during a global pandemic.

University of Minnesota – Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year Award

YearRecipient(s) & Organization
2006Gary Holmes – CSM Corporation
2007Robert Stephens – Geek Squad
2008Tim & Valerie Doherty – Doherty Employment
2009Joel Ronning – Digital River
2010Steve Flagg – Quality Bicycle Products
2011Monica Nassif – Caldrea
2012Bob Coughlin – Cross Telecom
2013Greg Frankenfield – Magenic
2014Steve Eilertson – Grain Millers
2015Joel Schleicher – Presidio
2016Nazie Eftekhari – HealthEZ
2017Marcia Page – Varde Partners
2018David Meyer – Titan Machinery
2019Larry & Caryl Abdo – Abdo Market House
2020‑21Lee Jones – Rebiotix & Inlet Medical
2022David Kristal – Augeo
2023Joy Lindsay – StarTec Investments
2024Michael Ramlet – Morning Consult

University of Minnesota – Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award

YearRecipient(s) & Venture
2014Luke Burns – Entre Club & Endle
2015Tyler Ebert – Adrenacard
2016Elise Maxwell – OvaWoman
2017Jamie Glover – Asiya
2018Kate Kuehl – Mobineo
2019Peter Schultze – Plyo
2020Erik Muckey – Lost & Found
2021Morgan Kerfeld – ShaqoSearch & Telo
2022Anna Pedrick (Lovelace), Annagrace Vargo (Grapefruit Apparel) & Kelli McCarthy (Theodora)
2023Efraín Torres – Adialante
2024Aditya Prabhu – Alure

University of Minnesota – Entrepreneurship Teacher of the Year Award

YearRecipient(s) & School/College
2014Steve Spruth – Carlson School of Management
2015Barry Kudrowitz – School of Design
2016Jaio Luo – Carlson School of Management
2017Art Erdman & Will Durfee – College of Science & Engineering
2018Carla Pavone – Carlson School of Management
2019Fred Rose – Acara
2021Terri Barreiro – Carlson School & Humphrey School
2022Anne Cohen – Carlson School
2023Toby Nord – Carlson School
2024Jeffrey Stamp – College of Food, Agriculture & Natural Sciences