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April 2004
Media Contact:
Brenda Wishart, Co-Director
Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation Entrepreneurship Initiative
413.565.1229
bwishart@baypath.edu
Dowload Press release here.
1st Annual Entrepreneurship Initiatives Banquet - April 2004
Thursday evening’s 1st Annual Entrepreneurship Initiatives Banquet was a huge success as nearly 250 attended this celebration of local student entrepreneurs. The event, sponsored by the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation, brought thirteen colleges located in the Pioneer Valley together to recognize the entrepreneurial spirit of twenty-five students (see attached list of students that were recognized along with a paragraph highlighting their businesses/concepts). All those being recognized received monetary awards during the 2003-04 academic year.
Participating schools include:
- University of Massachusetts
- Hampshire College
- Springfield Technical Community College
- Springfield College
- Mount Holyoke
- Smith College
- Bay Path College
- Western New England College
- Westfield State College
- American International College
- Elms College
- Holyoke Community College
- Greenfield Community College
Faculty advisors from each college were also honored for their efforts in supporting, informing and inspiring student entrepreneurs. During his keynote address, Jeff Taylor, founder and CEO of Monster.com, shared his experiences as a budding entrepreneur beginning in the late 1970’s and how he has developed one of the most highly recognized and successful global companies that exists today.
Another highlight of the evening was an ‘Elevator Pitch Competition’ sponsored by several local banks, including Westbank, Peoples Bank, Westfield Savings Bank, United Bank, Country Bank, Woronoco Savings Bank, and Bank of Western Mass. A student contestant from each college ‘pitched’ a business concept to a panel of judges, consisting of bank executives. Each pitch was limited to ninety seconds. At the end of the evening the top three winners were awarded monetary prizes of $3000, $2000, and $1000, respectively. Alex Cohen from the University of Massachusetts brought home the top prize for his innovation called Artemis X, a software package that is superior to, and can replace, current fileservers (patent pending). Second place was awarded to Heather Kiersznowski from Bay Path College and third place to John Fijalkowski from Westfield State College.
The Entrepreneurship Initiative’s segment of the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation was created last year in an effort to encourage people to innovate and to turn their innovation and creativity into businesses that will ultimately create economic opportunity and growth in the Pioneer Valley. Dr. Linda Peters serves as the Program Director, uniting the various schools with the Foundation for the purpose of promoting entrepreneurship. |
