Alumni Council Entrepreneur of the Year award winners

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During Entrepreneur Weekend, the Colgate University Alumni Council will give out this year’s Entrepreneur of the Year award to Ello Chief Operating Officer Pete Sheinbaum ’92 and Patagonia Sur Chief Executive Officer Warren Adams ’88.

Prior to being named the COO of Ello, Sheinbaum was the Founder and CEO of LinkSmart, Inc., a Peter Sheinbaum Colgate University alumnistealth startup backed by the Foundry Group and Sutter Hill Ventures and based in Boulder, Colorado. Sheinbaum is also the former CEO of DailyCandy, Inc. In 2000, DailyCandy hired Sheinbaum to assist with the launch and development of DailyCandy.com. In 2003, he was named COO of DailyCandy and in 2005 named CEO. After a successful sale of DailyCandy to Comcast Interactive Media in 2008, Sheinbaum guided the company though the transition before departing in May 2009.

Adams, a pioneer in the field of social networking, founded PlanetAll. The social-networking site, one of the first on the Internet, had more than 100,000 groups, organized around real-warren-adamsworld counterparts such as academic institutions and employers. Amazon.com acquired the site in 1998, so Adams turned his professional attention to advising and investing in early-stage entrepreneurial enterprises through his fund, Vineyard Ventures. After traveling in Patagonia, he was motivated by the region’s incredible natural beauty to apply his business acumen toward acquiring, conserving, and protecting large tracts of pristine land there, culminating in the 2007 establishment of Patagonia Sur. Adams received a BA from Colgate University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Last year, the Council gave the Entrepreneur of the Year Award to Julian Farrior ’93, CEO of Backflip Studios. Watch his acceptance speech below.

Please join us, and the Alumni Council, in congratulating these amazing entrepreneurs.

Also don’t miss: This year’s Entrepreneur Weekend will kick off on Friday, April 10, with a superstar panel featuring Jessica Alba, founder of The Honest Company; Neil Blumenthal, co-founder and CEO of Warby Parker; Greg Coleman, president of Buzzfeed; MC Hammer, serial entrepreneur and entertainer; Jennifer Hyman, CEO and co-founder of Rent the Runway.

Visit colgate.edu/eweekend for a complete Entrepreneur Weekend schedule.