Kevin and Carole Chase, Chase Plastic Services Inc.
Winner, Distribution As the head of Chase Plastic Services Inc., Kevin Chase has always been an entrepreneur at heart. The principles and discipline he brings to the office permeate the company’s culture and energize his workforce as they work toward common goals. Together with his wife Carole, they framed their vision in a manner so […]
David Overton, chairman and CEO, The Cheesecake Factory Inc.
Winner – Food Services David Overton co-founded The Cheesecake Factory with his parents, Evelyn and Oscar Overton. The chairman and CEO created the company’s namesake restaurant to showcase his mother’s unique desserts and opened the first The Cheesecake Factory restaurant in 1978 in Beverly Hills, Calif. Overton has grown the company from its mom-andpop roots […]
Tanvir Arfi, President, SPX Service Solutions
Finalist, Industrial Products The automotive aftermarket and repair shops have undergone great changes over the last decade, forcing suppliers to those markets to anticipate the changes and adapt to them. SPX Service Solutions, led by President Tanvir Arfi, has done these things well. As a result, the company got through the recession relatively unscathed, remaining […]
Jason Teshuba, CEO, Mango Languages
Semifinalist, Services When working for an Italian company after graduating with a computer engineering degree from Michigan State University, Jason Teshuba wanted to learn Italian. However, he could not find a good teaching program that provided a fresh and practical way to learn a language. This experience led him to develop his own business, Mango […]
David Kim and Jerome Fink, The Bascom Group
FINALIST – Real Estate & Hospitality David Kim and Jerome Fink co-founders and managing partners The Bascom Group In 1996, three Wisconsin University classmates returned for their alumni celebration at a time when California’s real estate market was the worst in decades. After poring over past college projects to find an old case study on […]
Jonathan Paul DeWys, President, DeWys Manufacturing
Semifinalist, Manufacturing The unexpected death of DeWys Manufacturing Inc. founder Mark DeWys in January 1999 was a critical time for the metal fabricating company. On top of Mark’s untimely death, the economy crash of that same year put added pressure on the business. Mark designated his brother and business partner Jonathan DeWys to continue to […]
Mark Rutter, chairman and CEO, GROUP360 Worldwide
FINALIST GROUP360 Worldwide began life more than 50 years ago, providing color separations to the printing industry. Over the years, the company expanded through the acquisition of other businesses, such as publishing, packaging and large format printing. Each business ran as a completely separate unit with no combined efficiencies and no cross-selling of capabilities. Most […]
H. Rochelle Stachel, President and Founder, HRV Conformance Verification Associates Inc.
WINNER / CONSTRUCTION H. Rochelle Stachel did not pick the most opportune time to launch a business. She had two kids in college and a lucrative job, and it seemed as if there was no logical reason for her to shake up the status quo. But Stachel saw an opportunity — the lack of customer […]
Taseer Badar, President and CEO, ZT Wealth Inc./Altus Healthcare Management Services
FINALIST / HEALTH CARE & HEALTH CARE SERVICES Taseer Badar already had experience operating his own business after he graduated from Texas A&M University and began working for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. During that time, he learned several critical tricks of the financial services trade and made many important friendships. While he developed these networks, […]
Chris Beckett, Founder and CEO, Pacific Drilling
FINALIST / OIL FIELD SERVICES In 2008, Chris Beckett left a career with an established offshore drilling contractor to build an ultra-deepwater drilling company — from scratch. Despite the huge challenges and personal risk of this decision, Beckett believed in the possibilities of a company created without the legacy problems common to companies developed over […]