GAINESVILLE – Nine local business leaders were honored Wednesday morning at the Brenau Downtown Center as part of the annual program “Entrepreneurs: Masters of Innovation”.
Dr. Suzanne Erickson, Dean of the College of Business & Mass Communications at Brenau University, welcomed guests, and described the Masters of Innovation program as “the brainchild of Gus Whalen.”
“Gus wanted the high school students…to be exposed to as many career opportunities as possible,” Erickson explained. “He wanted to encourage entrepreneurship in Hall County and his ultimate goal was that you would start businesses and stay in Hall County.”
“He saw these Masters events as a tool of economic development and he really wanted to keep the kids home,” Erickson added.
Whalen passed away in June, 2015, but spent years promoting small business enterprise and was involved in the creation of Featherbone Communiversity which presently serves as home to the Brenau University Department of Nursing, the Interactive Neighborhood for Kids (INK), Lanier Technical College Manufacturing Development Center, University of Georgia Small Business Development Center, and the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute.
Operations Manager in the Brenau College of Business and Mass Communication, Lila Westmoreland, organized the event and explained the criteria used to determine honorees.
“Being innovative, being creative, thinking outside the box, visionary,” Westmoreland said were elements of those nominated.
“The purpose of the event is to affirm the honorees and recognize them for their work, learn from the honorees by hearing their stories and their approach to entrepreneurship and innovation, and to encourage others to follow their example,” Westmoreland said in a press release earlier this week.
Dr. Erickson explained that this year’s candidates represent three levels of entrepreneurship: “we have today what I call the ‘pillars’ of the economy…the ‘intermediates’…and the ‘newbies’ who are honored for taking the risk to start your own business.”
“To be successful in entrepreneurship you have to have a passion for what you do…you’ve got to have a vision and be able to execute on that vision…and in the beginning wear all the ‘hats in the company’ from taking out the trash to making executive decisions,” Erickson said.
Those being honored are as follows:
Pillars: Abit Massey, President Emeritus of the Georgia Poultry Federation; Wendell Starke, co-founder of Invesco; and Jack Hough, President and founder of MSE Branded Foods.
Intermediates: Dr. Ron Wilson, founder of Wilson Orthodontics; and Amanda Wilbanks, founder of the Southern Baked Pie Company.
Newbies: Katie Dubnik, founder of Forum Communications; and the co-owners of Georgia MedPort, Jeremy Lord, Zach Nix and Matthew Rider.
