It’s been 30 years since Oregon Entrepreneurs Network was founded, and as part of this year’s annual awards program the group is handing out a 30th Anniversary Award to mark the occasion.
The finalist list is out and it’s a who's who of successful Oregon entrepreneurs covering the state’s broad business ecosystem: tech, food and beverage, apparel, and biotech. The winner of this award will be voted on by the event audience on Nov. 18.
This year’s award show is taking place on the Brandlive event platform with virtual tables and official watch parties. More info is available online.
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A team of independent judges selected the finalists. They looked at 200 companies and narrowed to the six finalists. All of the finalists for the 30th Anniversary Award were past OEN award or Angel Oregon finalists or winners. Here’s who is up:
- Eric Breon, founder of Vacasa. The company manages vacation rental properties for owners. Breon won the Entrepreneurial Achievement Award in 2015 and the company won the Growth Stage Award in 2018. It is currently in the process of going public via a SPAC merger. Breon stepped down as CEO in February 2020.
- Monica Enand, founder and CEO of Zapproved. The company makes software used by corporate legal teams to track, collect and analyze information for legal proceedings. Enand won the Entrepreneurial Achievement award in 2016.
- Kim Malek, co-founder and CEO, and Tyler Malek, co-founder and head of innovation at Salt & Straw. The cousins created an ice cream empire with unusual ingredients and fostered a specific sense of place to build community around the brand. The company won the Development Stage Award in 2014.
- Sean McClain, founder and CEO of Absci. The biotech company an AI-powered platform to create novel biologics faster and cheaper. The company went public over the summer. The company won the Game Changer Award in 2015 and the Startup Stage Award in 2017. This year it is up for the Growth Stage Award.
- Emma McIlroy, founder and CEO of Wildfang. The apparel company is built on inclusion, sustainability and breaking gender norms. It has built a community around its brand. Earlier this year Wildfang inked a partnership with retailer Nordstrom. The company won the Development Stage Award in 2013 and McIlroy won the Entrepreneurial Achievement Award in 2018.
- Henry Schuck, founder and CEO of ZoomInfo. The company’s software is used by customers for business intelligence for sales, marketing and recruiting. The company was known as DiscoverOrg for much of its life but changed to ZoomInfo after a massive acquisition in 2019. It went public last year. The company won the Growth Stage Award in 2015.
