Acadiana Business

Get your Entrepreneur of the Year nom in by Friday

by Leslie Turk

Know an innovator, job creator and visionary with a penchant for hard work? We want to know that person.

An entrepreneur can be many things. But he or she is almost always a risk-taker, willing to initiate or finance new commercial enterprises.

If you've lived in these parts for any significant amount of time, you know Acadiana has never had a shortage of entrepreneurs. In recent years, ABiz began recognizing an Entrepreneur of the Year for our region, and the call for nominations for the 2014 honor is under way.

We welcome nominations from readers and leaders throughout the business community in Lafayette and the eight surrounding parishes (St. Landry, Evangeline, Acadia, Iberia, Jefferson Davis, St. Martin, St. Mary and Vermilion). There is no specific grading system, but our editors and staff assess nominees for innovation, job creation and potential for job creation, vision, leadership, expansion, financial performance, community involvement and ethics in business. Please submit suggestions, a brief description of your nominee's accomplishments and contact information to ABiz Editorial Director Leslie Turk at [email protected]. Deadline for nominations is Friday, Oct. 31.

Thanks to Regions Bank, this year's Entrepreneur of the Year issue will also be accompanied by a special symposium in honor of the winner, his or her company, and to celebrate that special quality that we also call locally "our wildcatter spirit."

Past honorees include digital audio pioneer Scott Eric Olivier, Schumacher Group founder Dr. Kip Schumacher and Lenny Lemoine, CEO of The Lemoine Company. The issue will be published on Nov. 14, and the symposium is slated for mid-December. More details to come.