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
2006 Gary Holmes, CSM Corporation
2007 Robert Stephens, Geek Squad
2008 Tim & Valerie Doherty, Doherty Employment
2009 Joel Ronning, Digital River
2010 Steve Flagg, Quality Bicycle Products
2011 Monica Nassif, Caldrea
2012 Bob Coughlin, Cross Telecom
2013 Greg Frankenfield, Magenic
2014 Steve Eilertson, Grain Millers
2015 Joel Schleicher, Presidio
2016 Nazie Eftekhari, HealthEZ
2017 Marcia Page, Varde Partners
2018 David Meyer, Titan Machinery
2019 Larry & Caryl Abdo, Abdo Market House
2020-21 Lee Jones, Rebiotix & Inlet Medical
2022 David Kristal, Augeo
2023 Joy Lindsay, StarTec Investments
2024 Michael Ramlet, Morning Consult
University of Minnesota – Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award
2014 Luke Burns - Entre Club & Endle
2015 Tyler Ebert - Adrenacard
2016 Elise Maxwell - OvaWoman
2017 Jamie Glover - Asiya
2018 Kate Kuehl - Mobineo
2019 Peter Schultze - Plyo
2020 Erik Muckey - Lost & Found
2021 Morgan Kerfeld - ShaqoSearch & Telo
2022 Anna Pedrick (Lovelace), Annagrace Vargo (Grapefruit Apparel) & Kelli McCarthy (Theodora)
2023 Efraín Torres - Adialante
2024 Aditya Prabhu - Alure
University of Minnesota – Entrepreneurship Teacher of the Year Award
2014 Steve Spruth - Carlson School of Management
2015 Barry Kudrowitz - School of Design
2016 Jaio Luo - Carlson School of Management
2017 Art Erdman & Will Durfee - College of Science & Engineering
2018 Carla Pavone - Carlson School of Management
2019 Fred Rose - Acara
2021 Terri Barreiro - Carlson School & Humphrey School
2022 Anne Cohen - Carlson School
2023 Toby Nord - Carlson School
2024 Jeffrey Stamp - College of Food, Agriculture & Natural Sciences