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Meet the 2025 Midwest winners

Congratulations to the Entrepreneur Of The Year^® 2025 Midwest winners, the shapers of our future! These ambitious visionaries are boldly disrupting markets, revolutionizing industries, and transforming lives, paving the way for a brighter tomorrow. 

Learn more about our winners

Stefan Batory | Booksy Group Corp. | Chicago, Illinois

Stefan Batory is CEO and Founder of Booksy Group Corp. Booksy is the largest and fastest-growing booking platform that connects beauty, wellness and health professionals with local customers, powering hundreds of millions of appointments each year.

Booksy Biz, designed specifically for small business owners, is Booksy’s mobile-first SaaS platform that combines all the tools providers need to attract new customers, take appointments, manage staff and payments, and build a loyal client base. Booksy Biz makes running a beauty business simple, convenient and accessible so providers can focus on providing exceptional service to their customers. 

The Booksy Marketplace is where millions of consumers around the world find, schedule and manage appointments with stylists, barbers, braiders, nail artists, aestheticians, massage therapists, salons and spas in their communities. Customers can browse business profiles, reviews, services, pricing and availability and instantly book appointments with the click of a button. 

Founded in 2014, Booksy has operations in the United States, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom and France and works as a distributed, remote-first team.

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Adam Kroener | Carbliss | Plymouth, Wisconsin

Adam Kroener is CEO and Co-founder of Carbliss. Carbliss was founded in 2019 by Adam and Amanda Kroener, who were looking for a beverage to drink while on the keto diet.  Carbliss cocktails are ready-to-drink vodka, tequila and rum cocktails in a can that are full of flavor, low in carbonation and have zero carbs, zero sugars and 100 calories. Carbliss is sold in single-flavor four and 12 packs, as well as multiple variety packs. 

In 2019, Carbliss sold roughly 2,000 cases. In 2024, it sold more than two million cases and ranked not only No. 7 on Inc. 5000’s list of fastest-growing privately owned companies, but became the No. 1 food and beverage company on the list the following year.

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Amanda Kroener | Carbliss | Plymouth, Wisconsin

Amanda Kroener is Co-founder of Carbliss. Carbliss was founded in 2019 by Adam and Amanda Kroener, who were looking for a beverage to drink while on the keto diet.  Carbliss cocktails are ready-to-drink vodka, tequila and rum cocktails in a can that are full of flavor, low in carbonation and have zero carbs, zero sugars and 100 calories. Carbliss is sold in single-flavor four and 12 packs, as well as multiple variety packs. 

In 2019, Carbliss sold roughly 2,000 cases. In 2024, it sold more than two million cases and ranked not only No. 7 on Inc. 5000’s list of fastest-growing privately owned companies, but became the No. 1 food and beverage company on the list the following year.

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Neil Araujo | iManage | Chicago, Illinois

Neil Araujo is CEO of iManage. With over 30 years of industry experience, iManage empowers leading organizations to create, store and manage confidential documents and emails, boosting productivity, security and effectiveness. The cloud-native platform manages billions of documents for a diverse customer base of over 1.5 million users, including Global 100 law firms; the UK Magic Circle; top Australian, Canadian and Western European law firms; top US commercial banks; and Fortune 100 companies. iManage serves over 4,000 organizations globally, helping them operate more efficiently and securely while complying with regulatory and ethical standards. The iManage platform, enhanced by AI-powered services and backed by industry-leading security, is built to meet the unique needs of knowledge workers. It offers an intuitive and seamless user experience for storing, sharing and collaborating on work product, making knowledge work smarter, faster and safer.

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Leo Tropeano | Mugsy | Chicago, Illinois

Leo Tropeano is CEO and Founder of Mugsy. Over a decade ago, a guy walked into a department store, tried on every pair of jeans on the shelves—a pile stacked waist-high—and walked out empty-handed. Armed with no apparel experience, Mugsy Founder Leo Tropeano set out to redesign men’s jeans from the ground up, with one simple goal: You shouldn’t have to sacrifice comfort to look good. After years of research and countless samples, the first pair of Mugsys was born. Men everywhere finally had jeans that not only looked great but felt as comfortable as sweatpants. Since then, Mugsy has evolved into a full men’s clothing brand, relentlessly focused on creating stylish and insanely comfortable clothes.

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Stephen Smith | NOCD | Chicago, Illinois

Stephen Smith is Co-founder and CEO of NOCD. NOCD is a platform that provides virtual therapy for OCD, specializing in exposure and response prevention, the gold-standard treatment. Inside the NOCD platform, people with OCD and related conditions can receive personalized therapy, 24/7 peer support and educational resources, making effective OCD care accessible and affordable while improving mental health outcomes.

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Giacomo Fallucca | Palermo Villa Inc. | Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Giacomo Fallucca is Chairman of the Board and CEO of Palermo Villa Inc. Palermo’s Pizza is a leading producer of high-speed crust and frozen pizza, offering both private label and branded products. The company leverages advanced automation, such as robotics and high-speed case packing, to enhance efficiency and precision. 

The focus on continuous improvement relies on data-driven decision-making. By analyzing real-time data, the business can enable Palermo teams to act quickly and maintain operational excellence. Quality is integral to the processes, with facilities always ready for audits, demonstrating commitment to delivering outstanding products.

Palermo’s invests in manufacturing plants to stay competitive and meet evolving customer needs. These investments incorporate new technologies, boost efficiency and ensure a safe work environment. This approach secures Palermo’s position at the leading edge of the frozen pizza industry.

Currently, Palermo’s leads in frozen pizza brands and is expanding its family of brands, including Palermo’s^®, Screamin’ Sicilian^™, Urban Pie Pizza Co.^™, Connie’s^® Pizza and Funky Fresh Spring Rolls. The award-winning company oversees manufacturing, distribution, sales and marketing, fulfilling its mission to deliver a great pizza experience.

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Wendell Jisa | Reveal | Chicago, Illinois

Wendell Jisa is Founder and CEO of Reveal. Reveal is a global leader in AI-powered legal technology, offering the most advanced e-discovery platforms in the industry powered by a single AI engine. With a unique dual platform strategy, Reveal addresses the full spectrum of market needs: Logikcull provides intuitive self-service e‑discovery capabilities for organizations ranging from solo practitioners to Am Law 100 firms and Fortune 500 companies, while Reveal Enterprise delivers a comprehensive, end-to-end solution for solving the most complex legal challenges with highly scalable technology.

As one of the largest legal-focused AI providers globally, Reveal embeds sophisticated artificial intelligence throughout the e‑discovery workflow, enabling legal professionals to automate processes, analyze vast amounts of data efficiently, and uncover actionable insights from both structured and unstructured data. The company serves over 4,000 clients across more than 40 countries, including major corporations, top law firms and government agencies, with operations in more than two dozen countries worldwide.

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Jeff Liegel | S&L Companies | Portage, Wisconsin

Jeff Liegel is CEO of S&L Companies. S&L Companies is a Culver’s franchise restaurant group that operates 111 restaurants in five states.

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David Rabie | Tovala) | Chicago, Illinois

David Rabie is Co-founder and CEO of Tovala. Tovala is a meal service that makes home cooking effortless by pairing a Wi-Fi-connected smart oven with fresh, chef-crafted meals. Customers choose from a rotating menu of high-quality, pre-prepared meals, which are delivered fresh and cooked to perfection with a simple QR code scan. The Tovala Smart Oven uses steam, baking and broiling to automatically cook each meal in minutes, with less than a minute of prep required. It also scans and cooks thousands of store-bought items, expanding meal options.

Designed for busy professionals, families and anyone seeking convenience without sacrificing quality, Tovala offers a hassle-free way to enjoy home-cooked meals. By combining smart technology with culinary expertise, it transforms mealtime into an effortless, delicious experience.

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James Bascharon | Vetnique | Naperville, IL

James Bascharon is Founder and CEO of Vetnique. In 2012, James Bascharon created a vet-founded pet health company unlike any other. His intuition was that with the right nutritional supplementation, pets could not only lead healthier lives but truly thrive.  

Today, Vetnique continues the legacy of its global best-selling supplement Glandex® with a comprehensive portfolio of products designed for lasting pet health and wellbeing.

Vetnique connects with pet parents worldwide because of a shared a common belief — that pets are a core part of the family. It’s what drives the business to create trusted, effective products focused on not just the wellbeing of pets but also the families that care for them. 

As a veterinarian-founded company, it genuinely understands the health needs of pets better than anyone. With its veterinary expertise, it offers unique solutions to everyday problems facing pet families. Vetnique doesns't just help pets live happier, healthier lives — it helps them thrive!

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