My wife Betty, daughter Mary Ann, and Robert Craig — a financial advisor — had the good opportunity to attend the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program in Palm Desert the weekend before last. At the gathering on Saturday night, Entrepreneur of the Year recognition was awarded in a number of different categories, including distribution, manufacturing, and security; energy, chemicals and mining; financial services; media and communications; real estate and construction; retail and consumer products; and services. In addition, an overall Entrepreneur of the Year was chosen. Over 1,000 people attended this four-hour event, and Jay Leno was the master of ceremonies. The overall winner was Richard E. Caruso at Integra LifeSciences Corporation.
An observation from the series of meetings was that entrepreneurship is alive and well in the United States, and maybe that means that American competitiveness is not in as bad a shape as I had imagined. There are many other entrepreneur award ceremonies throughout the country sponsored by local organizations, such as the regional chapter for San Diego’s Entrepreneur of the Year program. If those of you who are entrepreneurially inclined have an opportunity to become a part of this process, I would highly recommend it as a good place to hone your skills.
The event in Palm Desert was sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, which was established by Ewing Marion Kauffman to further entrepreneurship and education. If you are perchance involved in any entrepreneurial organizations and would like to tell me about your activities, I would be interested in hearing about them.
Click on the comments link to share your thoughts.
– Bob
Here are my responses to previous weeks’ comments:
Kathleen Connell (Week 26): As a Republican, I would like to respond to your blog entry, not that I really disagree with what you had to say. As you know, technology is not the private property of any political party — everyone is pro technology. The issue is how the federal government and private industry are going to respond to making investments in a multitude of opportunities. For example, the Republicans are traditionally more pro-defense than the Democrats, and less interested in supporting health care and environmental programs. Both parties are probably equally interested in doing something about our energy crisis, although each has their own approach, with the Republicans more inclined to further oil and gas exploration than the Democrats. The 21st Century challenge is: where is the money going to come from, and will industry join harmoniously with the government in sponsoring these mega projects?