John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center Student Entrepreneur of the Year

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(319) 273-JPEC (5732) Fax: (319) 273-5733
E-mail: [email protected] www.jpec.org

Creating a Culture for Entrepreneurship at UNI!

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Introduction 2007 Winner 2006 Winner 2005 Winner
2004 Winner 2003 Winner 2002 Winner Contact Us

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The University of Northern Iowa John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center's Student Entrepreneur of the Year is awarded annually in the spring semester to a UNI student entrepreneur majoring in accounting, economics, finance, management, marketing, MIS, Real Estate, MaCC or MBA who is admitted to the College of Business Administration and who owns and runs an independent small business which has demonstrated sales and definable goals preferably outlined in the form of a business plan, a marketing plan, or a feasibility study. Certain exceptions may be made for exceptionally meritorious entrepreneurial achievement other than starting a small business.

Faculty, staff and student nominations are solicited until the middle of the spring semester. The nominations are reviewed by a committee and the most well-rounded, industrious, enthusiastic student entrepreneur is selected as the award recipient for that year. The award is presented to the student at the College of Business Administration's annual spring recognition banquet.

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2007 Winner Dustin O'Leary and Ben Frein

Ben Frein, who is a senior majoring in computer science and finance at the University of Northern Iowa, and Dustin O'Leary, who is a senior marketing major, are the recipients of UNI's John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center's (JPEC) 2007 Student Entrepreneur of the Year award. The award, which was presented on April 19, 2007, at the College of Business Administration's gala, comes with a $200 cash prize for each owner.

Frein and O'Leary are from Garner and have been business partners since high school. They are the owners of E-Holdings, a business in the UNI Student Business Incubator. E-Holdings is the parent company of BellyBling.net, an e-commerce site for belly button rings, and a new company whose product is a Facebook application. Frein and O'Leary were also selected as one of the state winners of the Pappajohn New Venture Business Plan Competition held in Des Moines on March 29, 2007.

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2006 Winner Carlos Arguello

Carlos Argeullo, who is a senior marketing major at the University of Northern Iowa, is the recipient of UNI's John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center's (JPEC) Student Entrepreneur of the Year award. The award comes with a $200 cash prize.

Arguello is from Caroll and originally from Nicaragua. He owns two businesses that are operating in the Student Business Incubator run by the UNI JPEC. One business is a Spanish/English translation and interpretation business focusing primarily on the banking, medical, and legal industries and the other business is a Spanish-language newspaper for Western Iowa that he hopes will eventually serve all of Iowa. He is a member of the Iowa Council for International Understanding and a member of UNI's Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization. He previously worked at Veridian Credit Union and has an internship this summer with Principal Financial in Des Moines.

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2005 Winner Russell Hotchkiss and Randy Pilkington

Photo Caption: Russell Hotchkiss (left) and JPEC Director Randy Pilkington.

Russell Hotchkiss, who graduated in May from the University of Northern Iowa with a major in finance, is the recipient of UNI's John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center's Student Entrepreneur of the Year award. The award comes with a $200 cash prize. It was presented to Hotchkiss at the College of Business Administration's Spring Gala.

Hotchkiss, while a UNI student, purchased Waterloo Fire Extinguisher in 2001 from a local family. He brought new energy to the company and has more than doubled revenue, services, trucks, and employees. The company remains more than one year ahead of its revenue goals and is making plans to purchase three competitors within the next year.

Being an entrepreneur and a student simultaneously has been a challenge and a substantial test of character and will. However, Hotchkiss made a promise to his mother before her death in December of 1993 that he would be the first in the family to obtain a college degree.

Hotchkiss has taken the cash award and matched it with funds from his company. That money has been sent to Peoria, Illinois, for the college fund of Keenan Gienau. Keenan Gienau is nine-years-old and the son of Hotchkiss's high school friend, Brian Gienau, of Tripoli. Brian Gienau was killed in Iraq on February 27, 2005. The last time Hotchkiss saw Brian Gienau was in the fall of 2003, when the two were in a marketing class together.

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2004 Winner

No photo available Ryan J. Bullerman, who graduated from UNI in May of 2004 with majors in accounting, finance, and real estate, was the recipient of UNI's John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center's Student Entrepreneur of the Year award for 2004.

Bullerman completely overhauled, revised, reformatted, recalculated, and reformulated a JPEC proprietary software application called Project This! The new Project This! is user-friendly with fillable input sheets and the data flows from report to report. Additionally, the Project This! now has two versions - one for retail/service and one for manufacturing businesses.

Bullerman is the son of Joe and Marcia Bullerman of Calmar, Iowa. He is currently employed in an accounting firm in the Dubuque area.

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2003 Winner

2003 JPEC Student Entrepreneur of the Year Shannon Blake, who will graduate in December from the University of Northern Iowa with a major in finance, was the recipient of UNI's John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center's Student Entrepreneur of the Year award. The award comes with a $200 cash prize. It was presented to Blake at the College of Business Administration's Spring Gala.

Blake, who is from Guttenberg, assumed a very important leadership role in fostering student entrepreneurship at UNI. Blake was elected the president of UNI Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (UNI CEO).

The purpose of CEO is to encourage, inspire and support students who want to become entrepreneurs and offer networking and training opportunities for students. During this academic year, UNI CEO hosted guest speakers on topics of entrepreneurship, sponsored seminars on starting small businesses and attended the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Iowa Conference in Iowa City.

Because of Blake's hard work this year, Randy Pilkington, executive director of UNI's Business and Community Services noted, "We have high expectations for this student entrepreneurs' organization over the next few years."

Blake is the daughter of Tom and Martha Blake.

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2002 Winner

2002 JPEC Student Entrepreneur of the Year

The 2002 JPEC Student Entrepreneur of the Year was Brent Bierstedt. He is being presented his award and check by Randy Pilkington, JPEC Interim Director at the College of Business Administration Spring Recognition Banquet in April of 2002.

Brent Bierstedt, who graduated from the University of Northern Iowa earlier this month with a major in management information systems (MIS), is the first recipient of UNI's John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center's Student Entrepreneur of the Year award. The award comes with a $200 cash prize. It was presented to Bierstedt at the College of Business Administration's Spring Recognition Banquet.

Bierstedt, who is from Lone Rock, plans to runs his Web hosting service company, Unlimited Web Network, in Algona. He founded the company three years ago.

He was nominated by three College of Business Administration faculty members for this award. The selection committee was "unanimously impressed with his entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to academics," according to Katherine Cota-Uyar, selection committee chair.

Nominees were required to be a UNI College of Business Administration student entrepreneur majoring in accounting, economics, finance, management, marketing, MIS, Macc (master of accounting) or the MBA program. They also had to be admitted to the College of Business Administration, and to own and run an independent small business which has demonstrated sales and definable goals, preferably outlined in the form of a business plan, a marketing plan or a feasibility study.

Roberta Roth, UNI associate professor of management, wrote in her nomination of Bierstedt that his company's sales "have doubled each year of its existence." She said "I chose to use the Unlimited Web Network to host web sites for several companies with which I'm involved, and I found that it provides high quality service at reasonable costs with excellent customer support.

"Brent has created a thriving business in the complex, competitive world of Internet hosting services. Brent has also shown his entrepreneurial talents in several other endeavors. He has founded several other companies, including a company providing computer help, a DJ Service Company, and a student information site called InfoPanther that was subsequently acquired by UNI."

He is the son of Lynn and Kitty Bierstedt.

To contact us:

John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center
University of Northern Iowa
Business and Community Services, Suite 128
Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0130

Phone: 319-273-JPEC (5732)
Fax: 319-273-5733
Email: [email protected]