4 area entrepreneurs advance to regional level

5/12/2006

Four Toledo-area business people from three companies were selected last night to represent northwest Ohio in Great Lakes regional Entrepreneur of the Year competition next month in Detroit.

The area entrepreneurs are Michael Anderson, president and chief executive officer of The Andersons Inc., of Maumee; Kim Davis, founder and president of TalentTrack in downtown Toledo; and Lynne Gould, president, and Purri Gould, vice president, of Crikey's Orignal Australian Pies, in Toledo.

"Our 2006 finalists demonstrate that the entrepreneurial spirit has long been present in northwest Ohio and that it continues to drive our economy today," said Larry Davenport, a partner in the accounting firm Ernst & Young, which sponsors the contest.

The Andersons grew from a family firm begun in 1947 to a public company with grain, retail, rail-car, turf-products, and ethanol segments employing about 3,000.

Mr. Davis, of TalentTrack, a recruiting agency, began with two employees in 2002 and now has 91 in 44 states.

Crikey's was started by Ms. Gould, an immigrant from Australia, in the kitchen of a neighborhood church. It now markets its meat pies in 150 stores.

The finalists will be added to others from Michigan, and the regional winners will be announced June 8 in Dearborn and move on to compete Nov. 18 in a national event in Palm Springs, Calif.

Also honored last night were other candidates this year: Tony Marks, president of TMT Warehousing in Perrysburg Township; Tim Rathbun, chief executive, and Craig Rathbun, president, of Encore Plastics in Bellevue; and Jeffrey Anstead, president and founder of American Broadband and Telecommunications in Sylvania.