Mark Peters, CEO, Butterball Farms Inc.
Semifinalist, Consumer Products As the second-generation CEO of Butterball Farms Inc., Mark Peters has successfully managed to build upon the success of his father and grow the company into an industry leader. According to business experts, family businesses survive through a second generation only 30 percent of the time. Through hard work, the influence of […]
Sandy Scott, CEO, Sprint Industrial Holdings LLC
FINALIST / LOGISTICS & INDUSTRIAL SERVICES Sandy Scott always challenges herself to be better than she was the day before. As CEO of Sprint Industrial Holdings LLC, a provider of industrial equipment rentals used in the oil and gas industry, she expects the same from her company. Over the past two years, Scott has worked […]
Shari Dingle Sandifer, founder and CEO, Avant Healthcare Professionals
FINALIST – Health Care Shari Dingle Sandifer founder and CEO Avant Healthcare Professionals Shari Dingle Sandifer didn’t always plan to start her own business, much less as a staffing agency. It was her experience as a nurse that drove her to fill a key industry need — the need for quality foreign health care professionals. […]
"Across the Divide" offers valuable leadership lessons from entrepreneur Susan S. Elliott
How to be a more effective leader
Doug Engfer, Co-founder, President and CEO, Invivodata Inc.
FINALIST / HEALTH SCIENCES Doug Engfer thought there was a better way to record the data that is essential to the success of clinical drug trials. Before invivodata inc. was launched, patients were asked to record the details of their experience in a paper-based logbook. Unfortunately, there was no way to know when the data […]
Concert and business: Two-part harmony
Commercial strategies gleaned from a Keith Urban show
Gary Davis, president, Aetna Plastics Fabrication
FINALIST: Industrial and Engineered Products and Materials In 1975, when he was 23 years old, Gary Davis was forced into the role of business leader without any qualifications. Davis’ father had died and left Aetna Plastics to his wife and son. The business was struggling and in need of a reboot, which Davis had to […]
Marie Seipenko, President and CEO, Preferred Solutions Inc.
Semifinalist, Staffing & Support Services Working at Preferred Solutions Inc. for 17 years, Marie Seipenko has stamped her unique ideas all over her business, from its products to its unique business strategy designed around customer needs. Seipenko understands that a company doesn’t have to be big to diverge from the industry norms and try new […]
Alex Kazerani, chairman and CEO; James Segil, president, EdgeCast Networks
Finalists – Technology For Alex Kazerani and James Segil, starting a Web hosting company in the ’90s involved significant risk and uncertainty. However, the co-founders accepted that risk and uncertainty and built EdgeCast Networks into a position of strength. The primary differentiators for EdgeCast revolve around the technology — fewer servers, massive amounts of storage, […]
Randolph Buseman and Michael Hickenbotham, partners, Ernst & Young
DIRECTORS INTRODUCTION – St. Louis Randolph Buseman partner Kansas City office of Ernst & Young Michael Hickenbotham partner St. Louis office of Ernst & Young For more than 25 years, Ernst & Young has celebrated the entrepreneurial spirit of men and women who make our economy vibrant. Ernst & Young founded the Entrepreneur Of The […]