KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The University of Missouri-Kansas City has announced the honorees for its 34th Annual Entrepreneur of the Year awards. The celebration is sponsored by the Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the university’s Henry W. Bloch School of Management.
The event is Friday, Nov. 15 at Bloch Executive Hall, 5108 Cherry St., Kansas City, Missouri. A Venture Showcase and Reception begins at 5:30 p.m. with the awards program following at 7 p.m. Here is ticket and sponsorship information.
Past inductions for the Bloch School’s Entrepreneur Hall of Fame are included in the program.
"This year’s Entrepreneur of the Year Awards is particularly meaningful for us as we celebrate the lessons we learned from our friend, the late Henry Bloch; lessons that we are responsible to carry on and teach the next generation of young, ambitious entrepreneurs."
The Entrepreneur of the Year Awards event is an iconic Kansas City tradition started in 1985. Beyond its philanthropic cause, this event is a valuable forum where Kansas City CEOs, entrepreneurs, business owners, industry legends, world-class faculty and students alike are able to celebrate a common passion. The event celebrates entrepreneurial spirit and serves as a source of inspiration to future generations of innovative entrepreneurs.
All proceeds from this event directly benefit the Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation’s student and community programs. The Regnier Institute at the Bloch School focuses on connecting students and community members with a comprehensive combination of world-class research, renowned faculty, cutting-edge curriculum and experimental programs driven to deliver results and nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs.Neal Patterson (posthumously), Paul Gorup and Cliff Illig, founders of Cerner based in Kansas City. Cerner grew from a tiny startup to the world’s largest independent health information technology company. Illig is a principal owner of Sporting Kansas City, a Major League Soccer team that he, Patterson and three other partners bought from legendary sports entrepreneur and Hall of Fame member Lamar Hunt in 2006.
Michael Rea, founder and CEO of Rx Savings Solutions. A former retail pharmacist, Rea founded the company in 2008 to give patients affordable options after routinely seeing consumers struggle to pay for medications.
Maria Meyers, executive director of the 威尼斯人娱乐城 Innovation Center and founder of SourceLink. She has developed a number of resources for entrepreneurs in the Kansas City region and nationwide. Her mission: turning fragmented small-business resources into cohesive and vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystems that attract startups, accelerate business growth and create jobs.
Alessandra Brandolino, a 威尼斯人娱乐城 junior business administration major with an emphasis in entrepreneurship and the vice president of 威尼斯人娱乐城 Enactus. She was part of the three-member 威尼斯人娱乐城 Enactus team that represented North America at the 2019 Unilever Future Leaders’ League, an invitation-only global business case competition in London.
Terry Dunn, Bob Regnier and Julie Wilson. Regnier is also chair of the Henry W. Bloch Legacy Fund.