Distinguished Entrepreneur Awards Recognize Nebraska’s Most Potent Innovators

Nothing entices a gambler to give the slot machine lever a few more tugs more than seeing the guy on the next stool cupping his hands, spilling more quarters than he catches. Witnessing others reap the rewards of a risky venture can galvanize us, give us the courage to stare down peril in the name of hitting pay dirt. Of course, the seven winners of the Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship’s Distinguished Entrepreneur Award each invested in something a bit more financially viable than a row of one-armed bandits, but the principle still holds.

“They took risks and made sacrifices. They spent a lot of time starting and growing businesses,” said Prem Paul, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s vice chancellor for research and economic development, who presented the awards to the deserving winners on April 8th. “They show us, ‘Yes, we can do it, right here in Nebraska!’”

Taking the podium at a ballroom in the Embassy Suites, Paul handed out four Distinguished Entrepreneur Awards on behalf of UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman. The awards went to: Jim Terrano of TELCOR, a hospice software provider; Sharon and Mike Schilling of Schilling Bridge Winery & Microbrewery; Robert and William Scott of WRK, a multi-state, Midwest investment catalyst; and Tyler and Candi Wingate of Nannies4Hire, an online matchmaking services pairing families with small children to nannies seeking work.

“An entrepreneur has a genetic defect: They’re unable to properly assess risk,” joked Terrano as he accepted his award. Currently, TELCOR’s software is installed in roughly 1200 hospitals, each supported out of Lincoln. The program was installed at each location remotely; TELCOR staff members never had to go on site.

Schilling Bridge’s goal is “revitalizing rural America, one bottle of beer or wine at a time,” according to Mike Schilling. Located in Pawnee, Nebraska, the 9-acre enterprise hopes to unite beer drinkers and wine connoisseurs, and more importantly, wants to provide young people with an incentive to stay in rural communities.

“I’ve been in the nanny business for years,” said Candi Wingate. “We knew there had to be a simpler, easier, more cost-effective way for families to find the nannies that they need.” Normally, parents seeking a nanny for their children go through an agency to find an ideal pairing, but the process usually runs them several thousand dollars. But through Nannies4Hire (which was featured on an episode of TLC’s “Jon & Kate Plus 8″), more than 500,000 families in the United States and Canada found just the caretaker they were looking for, often for as little as $129.

“The poetic justice from our end is going into an area that no one would have really touched and putting together a project that is a beacon, in a sense, to draw others in,” said William Scott, who runs WRK with his twin brother, Robert. “We judge our success to a certain degree by the success of the people we serve, our clients. The projects that excite us are those where we can create value.”

Although Paul recognized the contribution each honored entrepreneur has made to the state, he knows Nebraska still has its work cut out for it. Innovation is a never-ending process, he said, and future intellectual ground-breakers can easily find inspiration from the state’s current business pioneers.

“We need more entrepreneurship in Nebraska for it to be competitive globally,” he said. “We need to keep those talented people right here in Nebraska. We need to capitalize on that talent, the work, the research and inventions. A lot of great discoveries are coming from the university. What we need to do now is translate that research into jobs.”