The Entrepreneurial American Leadership Award

The Entrepreneurial American Leadership Award acknowledges the civic capacity building, commitment, vision and entrepreneurial spirit of an individual. Those honored with this award are real “doers” that accomplish change for the betterment of our communities.

Past individual recipients of the venerable Entrepreneurial American Leadership Award include architect and sculptor Maya Lin; Senator George Voinovich, for his strong leadership during his time as Mayor of Cleveland and Governor of Ohio; Janet Marie Smith, for "Field of Dreams" at Camden Yards and sports stadiums across America's cities; Deborah Szekely, for her lifelong career of entrepreneurship and public service spanning over six decades as former President of the Inter-America Foundation and Eureka Communities; John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann, Co-Directors of the Asset Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern University, for their great contributions to the entire field of community development through their asset-based neighborhood development and community building research; Jan Kreamer, Former President of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, for her pioneering efforts to redefine the leadership role that community foundations have in creating regional cooperation across the United States; and Albert Simone, President of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), for his commitment to RIT, promotion of equity, and outstanding community involvement in the City of Rochester.