By Jacob Terry
Mountain West Venture Group awarded former BYU professor Kenneth Woolley its annual Entrepreneur of the Year award during a special luncheon Wednesday.
Woolley is CEO of Extra Space Storage Inc., a company he founded in 1977.
?The most amazing thing about Ken Woolley is that he?s very unassuming; he?s extraordinarily unassuming,? said Franci Eisenberg, a member of the Mountain West Venture Group Board of Directors. ?He?s done so many things, he?s often surprised when he forgets two or three of them.?
Woolley may not remember all his business accomplishments, but the selection committee did.
During the selection process, the committee whittled down a list of 30 to 35 candidates over several months until they presented Woolley?s name to the board of directors. He was unanimously approved.
The committee of The Mountain West Venture Group searches every year for an entrepreneur who meets three criteria. The entrepreneur must have built a Utah-based company, remain personally involved in the company, and inspire others to invest and then deliver a return on that investment.
?They need to return to the community,? Eisenberg said. ?Either to the community of investors or to the Utah community as a whole.?
In August of last year Extra Space Storage returned to its community of investors with its initial public offering. The company raised more than $250 million through the IPO, but that wasn?t the driving factor in the selection process, said Mountain West Venture Group President Tom Taylor.
?The selection is typically based on their entire career and not something that?s happened in the last one or two years,? Taylor said. ?It?s not a snapshot, it?s an entire career analysis.?
Woolley?s career has been vast and varied. He has been responsible for the founding of successful companies in mining, ice cream manufacturing, electronics, real estate development and retail grocery, according to a Mountain West Venture Group press release.
?What?s impressive is that they?re not just technical companies, and he didn?t necessarily succeed at everything he?s done,? Eisenberg said. ?He?s failed a couple of times, and he?s failed big. But he keeps going.?
Woolley received a BA in physics from BYU and came back to teach for 19 years as an associate professor and later as an adjunct professor. He taught undergraduate and MBA classes in corporate strategy and real estate. Taylor met Woolley in 1983, when Woolley was his business strategy professor.
?He was one of those outstanding professors,? Taylor said. ?I remember thinking way back then that this guy is sharp; he?s going to go on to do some big things.?
