About Tom Holce
Tom Holce is known as Oregon’s quintessential entrepreneur. That is why OEN named its Entrepreneur Awards program for him. He was both an entrepreneur, and an angel investor, who built, and helped build, dozens of successful Southwest Washington and Oregon businesses over the last 50+ years. Sadly, Tom passed in summer of 2010 after a battle with cancer.

Tom was the founder/CEO of such companies as Kentrox, Sentrol, and Mikros, and held senior positions at ESI, and Plantronics. He served as Chairman of Seasons Foods, BLT Technologies, Mitron, and Decision Dynamics. He also served as Chairman of the Portland Art Museum, and Chairman of Pacific University. He was a board member of Unicru, Stormwater Management, EID Access, Study Dog, and has sat on the boards of over 20 other Northwest businesses, organizations and institutions.

Tom received many honors and recognitions for his entrepreneurialism, service and philanthropy, including the first OEN Lifetime Achievement Award, High Tech Executive of the Year, and Philanthropist of the year 2000. Tom had a BS in Math and Physics, and Honorary Doctor of Science from Pacific University, and held over 20 US Patents.

The Entrepreneurship Award “O” Award
Origins – In 2002, Ziba Design created the designs for the beautiful lead crystal “O” shaped, hand-blown award to symbolize Oregon and to represent the lifecycle of a company.

The OEN Tom Holce Entrepreneurship Awards honors the skill, and the courage, it takes for entrepreneurs to create a business out of an idea. They are intended to not only celebrate entrepreneurs, but to highlight their importance to the region’s economy.

The OEN Tom Holce Entrepreneurship Awards are a highly competitive process and it is a significant achievement just to be named as a finalist. In honor of that, OEN not only produces a gala celebration focusing on excellence in entrepreneurship, but also presents awards to the winners that are true works of art.

It is fitting that the OEN Entrepreneurship Awards were designed by the world-renown company Ziba Design, founded by local entrepreneur, Sohrab Vossoughi. Ziba Design solves business problems with great design.