The University of Missouri-Kansas City has announced the honorees for its 35th 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 2020 EOY Ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, November 12, with a Student Venture Showcase at 4:30 p.m. and the awards program beginning at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are not required but advance registration is required for the virtual program.
The full list of 2020 honorees includes:
- Henry W. Bloch International Entrepreneur of the Year Award: Yvon Chouinard, founder, Patagonia.
Our Henry W. Bloch International Entrepreneur of the Year truly has had global impact. The honoree not only built a company but transformed his industry and significantly contributed to the economic and cultural development of many throughout the world. Chouinard is an itinerant adventurer, passionate activist and iconoclastic businessman. In 1973, he founded Patagonia, a mission-driven company known for its environmental and social initiatives. Chouinard is a surfer, mountain climber, gardener, falconer and is particularly fond of tenkara fly fishing. - Kansas City Entrepreneur of the Year: Nathaniel Hagedorn, founder and CEO, NorthPoint Development.
With 18 years of commercial real estate experience, Hagedorn is responsible for the overall strategy of the company. He has helped raise in excess of $7.1 billion in capital over the last eight years for the company’s real estate investments. NorthPoint has developed and managed in excess of 88 million square feet of commercial space and over 4,900 apartments. The NorthPoint family of companies has grown to include the real estate development and management company, an international logistics and freight forwarding firm, a third-party logistics company, warehouse technology and supply chain integration company, and an industrial architectural and engineering firm.
- Marion and John Kreamer Award for Social Entrepreneurship: Robert W. Hatch, chairman and CEO, Cereal Ingredients, Inc. and Great Plains Analytical Lab.
Hatch founded Cereal Ingredients, a specialty-food ingredients manufacturer, and Great Plains Analytical Laboratory in 1990. Hatch is also Chairman of FINCA International (Foundation for International Community Assistance), a not-for-profit microfinance organization with a mission to provide financial services to the world’s lowest-income entrepreneurs so they can create jobs, build assets and improve their standard of living. FINCA pioneered the “village banking method” of credit delivery, which offers small loans and a savings program to those without access to traditional banks. - Student Entrepreneur of the Year: Jonaie Johnson
Johnson is currently a Dean’s List business student and athlete at UMKC majoring in entrepreneurship. She started her company, Interplay, when she was accepted into the E-Scholars program. Interplay is working towards automating pet interaction by providing dog owners with an interactive, automated dog crate. Last year, she was a starter on the UMKC Roos Western Athletic Conference champion women’s basketball team.
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.