Past Entrepreneur of the Year & Excellence Awardees

Since its founding in 2012, the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Alliance (GEA) has represented the voices of entrepreneurs among Georgetown's alumni community. The GEA is proud to confer the Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards — celebrating the contributions of alumni entrepreneurs that embody and exemplify the spirit of people for others and a passion for innovation.

Previous Awardees

2023

Grant Pickering (MBA’97), CEO, Director, & Founder, Vaxcyte

Grant Pickering is a seasoned pharmaceutical and biotech executive with over 30 years of experience across vaccines and immunotherapeutic drug development and commercialization, as well as the successful formation and financing of multiple platform companies. Pickering is currently the CEO, Director, and Founder of Vaxcyte. Vaxcyte is a clinical-stage vaccine innovation company based in San Carlos, California with a unique ability to rapidly engineer, optimize and manufacture superior, high-fidelity vaccines at scale. They re-engineer how highly complex vaccines are made, using advanced chemistry and modern synthetic techniques to create difficult-to-make proteins that deliver enhanced immunological benefits.

Prior to founding Vaxcyte in 2013, Pickering served as the CEO of Mymetics Corporation, was an executive-in-residence at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, and served as the CEO at Juvaris BioTherapeutics. Prior to Juvaris, Grant spent a number of years at Dendreon Corporation, playing a prominent role in the company’s IPO and run-up to commercialization.

Pickering currently serves on the board of directors of Athira Pharma, Inc. He earned his BS degree in marketing from The Pennsylvania State University and his MBA from Georgetown University with high honors.

Category Award Winners

Rising Star: Caroline Cotto (NHS’14), Renewal Mill
Outstanding Investor: Soraya Darabi (C’05) and Marina Hadjipateras (C’05), TMV
Best of Retail: Neel Premkumar (B’02), Dyla Brands
Best of Social Impact: Daniela Fernandez (C’17), Sustainable Ocean Alliance
Best of Hospitality: Missy Robbins (C’93), Grovehouse, Lilia, Misi, and MISIPASTA
Best of Technology: Patrick Sheridan (MBA’09), Modus Create

2022

Daina Trout (NHS’03), Co-Founder & Chief Mission Officer, Health-Ade Kombucha

Daina Trout co-founded Health-Ade Kombucha in 2012 alongside her husband, Justin Trout, and best friend, Vanessa Dew to brew the best tasting and highest quality kombucha on the market.

Trout first learned how to make kombucha during her tenure at Tufts University, where she earned Masters’ degrees both in Nutrition and Public Health after receiving her BS from Georgetown University. During that time, she developed her personal philosophy that health is less about science, and more about what makes you feel good and happy.

Today, Trout taps into that philosophy as Chief Mission Officer where she leads Health-Ade’s mission-based initiatives and inspires employees and customers alike to tap into the power of their gut.

Category Award Winners

Rising Star: Ryan Wilson (C’12, L’15), The Gathering Spot
Outstanding Investor: Michael Brown (B’94), Battery Ventures
Best of Retail: Chip Malt (C’10), Made In Cookware
Best of Social Impact: Melissa Bradley (B’89), 1863 Ventures
Best of Hospitality: Jessi (C’00) and Joe (C’98) Baker, Ole Smoky Distillery & Yee-Haw Brewing
Best of Technology: Sina Chehrazi (B’13, L’17), Nayya

2019

Reggie Aggarwal (L’98), CEO & Co-Founder, Cvent

The Cvent business idea came to light after Aggarwal spent years painstakingly planning hundreds of events for the Indian CEO Network of which he was president. Driven by the desire to transform the meetings & events industry, Cvent has grown to over 4,000 employees on 4 continents under Aggarwal's leadership, & the 2013 IPO boasted a market capitalization of more than $1 billion. In 2016, Cvent was taken private by Vista Equity Partners for $1.65 billion, providing a 70% premium for Cvent stockholders.

Cvent is now a leading meetings, events, & hospitality management technology provider, serving more than 27,000 customers & 300,000 users worldwide with the solutions organizations need to automate & simplify the entire event planning process & maximize the impact of their meetings program. The Cvent Hospitality Cloud partners with hotels & venues to help them drive group & corporate travel business.

Aggarwal graduated with a BS degree from the University of Virginia, a JD from Washington & Lee University Law School, & an LLM from Georgetown University Law School. Aggarwal has received numerous recognitions & accolades, including the #1 Top SaaS CEO, Most Admired CEO by the Washington Business Journal, Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young, a rising star by Forbes Magazine, & a Tech Titan by The Washingtonian. Aggarwal lives in Northern Virginia with his wife & three children.

Category Award Winners

Best of Retail: Bill Creelman (C’96), Spindrift
Best of Hospitality: Mary Giuliani (C’97), Mary Giuliani Catering & Events
Best of Technology: Joel Montaniel (C’06), Sevenrooms
Social Impact: Michael O’Neil (L’02, MBA’02), Get Well Network
Rising Star: Courtney Carlsson (C’08), Paradym

2018

Doug Bouton (C’07), President, Halo Top

Doug Bouton (C’07) is the President and COO of Halo Top Creamery. Halo Top launched its all-natural low-calorie treat in 2012 - by 2017, it had surpassed mainstay brands like Ben & Jerry’s and Häagen-Dazs to become the best-selling pint of ice cream in America, according to Business Wire. Bouton left a job as a corporate lawyer to help launch the company with founder Justin Woolverton. Among other accolades, in August 2017 Halo Top became the #1 selling pint of ice cream in the United States, and in November 2017, Time Magazine named Halo Top one of its top inventions of the year. Bouton currently serves as CEO of Halo Top International.

Category Award Winners

Best of Retail: Monica Ferguson (B’00), Solemates
Best of Hospitality: Jake DeCicco (B’16), Sunniva Super Coffee (now KITU Super Coffee)
Best of Technology: Luke Schoenfelder (C’12), Latch
Social Impact: Lynn Margherio (C’88), Cradles to Crayons
Rising Star: Luisa Santos (C’14), Lulu’s Ice Cream

2017

Randy Goldberg (B’00), Co-FoundeR and Chief Brand oFficer, Bombas

Bombas was founded in 2013 as a buy-one-give-one sock company, when co-founders Randy Goldberg and David Heath learned that socks were the most requested clothing item for homeless shelters. In 2019, the brand moved into t-shirts and, in 2021, into underwear and slippers. Over the past few weeks, the brand has consecutively announced its sixth product partnership with Sesame Street, its first product partnership with Disney and its first international expansion to the U.K. The brand is considered one of TV show Shark Tank’s biggest successes: Bombas grew its revenue 40% between 2019 and 2020 and has donated (and thus sold) over 45 million items to date. The brand announced that it was profitable by its third year of business.