FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: William Pendergast
(805) 756-2730
wpenderg@calpoly.edu
‘Monster’ Entrepreneur to Deliver
Keynote Address May 7
at Second Annual Cal Poly Entrepreneurial Leadership Awards
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Cal Poly alumnus Noel Lee, “Head Monster”
and founder
of Monster Cable Products, Inc., will be the keynote speaker at Cal
Poly’s second annual Entrepreneurial Leadership Awards (ELA 2004)
Friday
evening, May 7, at the Fairways at Dairy Creek in San Luis Obispo.
The award reception begins at 5 p.m. Lee’s address begins at 5:45
p.m.
and will be followed by a ceremony announcing the 2004 winners of the
Orfalea College of Business Entrepreneurial Leadership Awards. The
annual awards program recognizes exceptional entrepreneurial leaders who
are Cal Poly graduates or residents of San Luis Obispo County, explained
business Professor William Pendergast, awards program advisor and
coordinator. The event is open to the public. Tickets are $10 and can
be
reserved in advance by contacting Pendergast at wpenderg@calpoly.edu.
Following Lee’s remarks, the 2004 Entrepreneurial Leadership Awards
will
be presented. Finalists for ELA 2004 Awards in industry categories
include: Wine Industry: Tobin James, Tobin James Cellars;
Austin Hope,
Treana Winery. Restaurants and Catering: Larry Kowalski,
LP Kowalski;
Giuseppe DiFronzo, Giuseppe’s Cucina Italiana; Robin Covey, Robin’s,
Novo, French Bakery; Alex Madonna, Madonna Inn. High Tech:
Ronald
Haynes, FzioMed; Judy Ledford, Renewable Energy Concepts; Bryan Sarlitt,
TechXpress; Randy Flamm, IQMS Software. Building and Real Estate
Development: Dave Beck, XL Construction; Randy Paul, Obispo Pacific; Don
Walters, Walter Brothers Construction.
Consumer Products: Ron Meritt, Meritt Electronics; David
Karr, Guayaki;
Kirk Perron, Jamba Juice; Bill Trussler, San Luis Paints. Services:
Carrol Pruett, Mid-State Bank; Jeff Reynolds, VAS Entertainment; Victor
Montgomery, RRM Design Group; Aaron Steed and Evan Steed, Meathead
Movers; Tom Brown, Docuteam/Brown Shoe-Fit; Industrial Products: Ty and
Trudie Safreno, Trust Automation; Paul Burkner, AIM; Greg Graham, Thin
Gap.
In addition, awards may be made in special categories: Emerging
Entrepreneur (25 years and under), Socially Responsible
Entrepreneur,
Community Involvement, and Lifetime Achievement.
About Noel Lee
Lee earned his bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly’s College
of Engineering
in 1970. After graduating, he worked as a laser-fusion design engineer
at Lawrence-Livermore Laboratory and was an audiophile and professional
drummer with a band called Asian Wood. This led to his
discovery that wires of different construction produced a higher quality
audio performance than the lamp wire in common use. He founded Monster
Cable in his San
Francisco garage in 1979.
Since then, Monster Cable has created a new industry of high-performance
speaker cable components and today is the world's leading manufacturer
of high-performance connections for audio, video, home theater, computer
and car stereo components and professional musical instruments,
Pendergast said. The company holds over 127 U.S. and international
patents, offers more than 3,000 products that are sold in more than 80
countries worldwide, Pendergast said.
Lee’s leadership has earned numerous accolades. He has received
the 14th
annual Ernst & Young Northern California Entrepreneur of the Year
Award,
the Distinguished Corporate Executive Award from the Asian Business
League of San Francisco, the Small Business Owner
of the Year Award from the San Francisco Small Business Network, and the
Dealerscope Consumer Electronics Marketplace magazine's Hall of Fame
Award.
The Los Angeles Unified School District presented Lee, a strong
supporter of education, with a Humanitarian Award for his generous
contribution to their Employment Preparation Program. In 2003, Lee was
a
first recipient of Cal Poly’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Award (ELA).
Lee has been profiled in Success Magazine, HFN, Forbes, and World Trade.
About the Entrepreneurial Leadership Awards
Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business organizes the Entrepreneurial
Leadership Awards to recognize successful entrepreneurs and provide
students an opportunity to meet entrepreneurs and study and research
entrepreneurship. Students solicit nominations from the community and
present written and oral profiles on entrepreneurs to an independent
panel of judges. Awards are based on founding or reorienting a company,
innovation, growth, sustainability, community involvement and social
responsibility. Students organize the awards event.
Sponsors for the 2004 awards ceremony include Mid-State Bank, Barbich
Longcrier Hooper and King, Central Coast Bank, the Orfalea College of
Business, The Tribune, and Cal Poly’s Associated Students Inc.
For more details, visit the Entrepreneurial Leadership Awards Web site
at www.criterion.net/ela.
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