Step into the Entrepreneur Hall of Fame, where honor meets inspiration.

The Henry W. Bloch School of Management is the proud home of the Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. The Bloch School’s mission is to inspire and develop purposeful, entrepreneurial, innovative leaders. What better source for inspiration than the successful entrepreneurs in our own backyard?

The inaugural class of entrepreneurs forms an impressive group. Our inductees’ impact, much like the Bloch School’s, has stretched far from Kansas City — across the region, the country and the world. They built businesses. We build leaders. More than the first inductees into the Hall of Fame, they’re an example to the next generation of entrepreneurs.

SCROLL TO MEET THE INDUCTEES

G. Kenneth Baum

George K. Baum and Company
Inaugural Inductee

“Always keep looking for opportunities. When you find them, be persistent in their development, and never be afraid to take a risk.”

G. KENNETH BAUM

Henry Bloch

H&R Block
Inaugural Inductee

“No shortcuts.”

HENRY BLOCH

David Brain

EPR Properties
Inaugural Inductee

“The Myth of Entrepreneurship is that it is working for yourself or being your own boss. The reality is that you work for your customers and they are the boss. To be successful you need to focus on meeting a need or solving a problem. By doing that and creating value, you create entrepreneurial opportunity.”

DAVID BRAIN

Mike Brown

Euronet Worldwide
Inaugural Inductee

“Integrity does not just mean telling the truth. In difficult situations, integrity forces positive creativity and determination to ethically succeed, thereby keeping your promises to your stakeholders.”

MIKE BROWN

Neal Patterson, Cliff Illig and Paul Gorup

Cerner Corporation
2019 Inductees

Innovation & Culture”

NEAL PATTERSON, CLIFF ILLIG, PAUL GORUP

Bill Dunn, Sr.

JE Dunn Corporation
Inaugural Inductee

“Our philosophy is focused on providing a quality product delivered on time and for the least amount of money. You treat everybody fairly, whether it’s the client, the designer, the employees, the subcontractors, material suppliers; it really is treating everyone the way you would want to be treated.”

WILLIAM DUNN, SR.

Ollie Gates

Gates Bar-B-Q
2017 Inductee

“STAY READY, so you don’t have to GET READY.”

OLLIE GATES

Barnett and Shirley Helzberg

Helzberg Diamonds, Inc.
Inaugural Inductee

“Build your integrity by avoiding omissions or commissions. Total transparency is key.”

BARNETT AND SHIRLEY HELZBERG

Lamar Hunt

Kansas City Chiefs
Inaugural Inductee

“My ‘best day’ is yet to come, because I look forward to the challenge of upcoming projects, always with the knowledge that there are solutions for everything. I look on tomorrow as the ‘best day’ opportunity.”

LAMAR HUNT

Ewing Kauffman

Marion Laboratories
Inaugural Inductee

“You should not choose to be a common company. It’s your right to be uncommon if you can. You seek opportunity to compete. You desire to take the calculated risk – to dream, to build, yes, even to fail, and to succeed.”

EWING KAUFFMAN

Bonnie Kelly, Teresa Walsh and Jerry Kelly

Silpada
Inaugural Inductee

“While it's the original, innovative ideas that make the headlines, most successful, new businesses come from simply doing it better or differently. And it's in the ‘doing it better or differently’ that takes experience, vision and commitment.”

JERRY KELLY

John "Jack" Lockton III

Lockton Insurance Companies
Inaugural Inductee

“I know a little bit about leadership. And I can tell you the number one most fundamental element to leadership is to do it by example. It's indisputable.”

JOHN "JACK" LOCKTON III

Dan Lowe

RED Legacy
Inaugural Inductee

“Have the audacity to dream big and the discipline to pursue that dream with hard work. The payoff will be greater than you ever imagined.”

DAN LOWE

John McDonald

Boulevard Brewery
Inaugural Inductee

“Embrace your vision, then build your business by hiring talented, passionate people. Always do the right thing. Honesty and integrity are key qualities for a successful business, and have some fun along the way.”

JOHN MCDONALD

Thomas A. McDonnell

DST Systems Inc.
2017 Inductee

“Believing is seeing.”

THOMAS A. MCDONNELL

Regnier Family

Regnier Family Foundations
Inaugural Inductee

“Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity and innovation in the face of risk, ambiguity and uncertainty, which often results in an unconventional solution where the reward is the added value earned by the product of that pursuit.”

REGNIER FAMILY

John Sherman

Inergy
Inaugural Inductee

“Successful entrepreneurs must be flexible. No matter how much you plan, you will be confronted by something you did not anticipate. You will be tested early and often.”

JOHN SHERMAN

Kate Spade

kate spade and Frances Valentine
2017 Inductee

“I like clean modern design with an element of interest.”

KATE SPADE

Jim & Virginia Stowers

Stowers Institute for Medical Research
2018 Inductees

“Hope for Life.”

HIM & VIRGINIA STOWERS

Terry Van Der Tuuk

Graphic Technology, Inc.
Inaugural Inductee

“Good enough is never good enough.”

TERRY VAN DER TUUK

L. William Zahner

A. Zahner Company
Inaugural Inductee

“Never stop learning. Gain an understanding of why things are what they are, but don't accept those limits as unmovable. Expand them and see where it may lead you. Those that follow will have a wider horizon to work within.”

L. WILLIAM ZAHNER

Annie Hurlbut Zander

Peruvian Connection
2017 Inductee

“Having a passion for what you do is essential. When times are good, passion supplies the rocket fuel needed to bring your ideas to life. When times aren’t good, it keeps enough gas in the tank to get you through.”

ANNIE HURLBUT ZANDER

Hugh Zimmer

The Zimmer Companies
Inaugural Inductee

“My business life has been one of negotiations on behalf of clients as well as for our own account. Most involve significant financial exposure. We approach every transaction with integrity and expect integrity in return. If we sense that integrity is not on the other side, we avoid the transaction. Integrity is the foundation of all of our business relationships.”

HUGH ZIMMER