Tulane Honors Most Distinguished and Social Entrepreneur of the Year

Tulane University"s A. B. Freeman School of Business will honor Rick S. Rees as the 2009 Tulane Most Distinguished Entrepreneur and SENO (Social Entrepreneurs of New Orleans) as the Tulane Social Entrepreneurs of the Year at an awards ceremony scheduled for 6 p.m., Friday April 17, at the Westin New Orleans at Canal Place.

The awards, which are presented by School of Business Dean Angelo DeNisi, are given to those who exemplify true entrepreneurial spirit and philanthropic generosity. Rees is co-founder of LongueVue Capital. He is the former chief financial officer of Halter Marine Group, a $1 billion revenue company at the time of its merger with Friede Goldman, Inc. (FGI). Following the merger, he joined FGI as its chief financial officer.

Rees" professional career also includes serving as past president of Texas Drydock, Inc. (TDI), a rig repair and conversion business. He also served as principal of Maritime Capital, Inc., a company formed in 1989 to purchase and service a portfolio of distressed marine loans. Rees graduated cum laude from Tulane University with a BA in 1974 and earned an MBA in 1975. He is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Past award recipients of the Tulane Most Distinguished Entrepreneur award include: Sydney Besthoff (2001) of Property Management Group; Albert Fraenkel (2002) of Fraenkel Furniture; William A. Goldring (2003) of Republic Beverages, Frank B. Stewart Jr. (2004) of Stewart Capital , John K. Koerner III (2005) of Koerner Capital, C. Berdon Lawrence (2007) of Kirby Corp. and James J. Reiss Jr (2008) of Reiss Companies LLC.

The group being honored as 2009 Tulane Social Entrepreneur of the Year will be SENO, Social Entrepreneurs of New Orleans. SENO"s mission is to build a powerful community and ecosystem of support for social entrepreneurs so that social entrepreneurship will thrive and all citizens can act as agents of change. Just as Silicon Valley has become known as the center for technological innovation, New Orleans is striving to become the hub of social entrepreneurship and innovation. The principals of SENO include: Andrea Chen, Morgan Williams, Kristen Hoplin, David Robinson-Morris, Christopher Brown, Jewel Constance, Tom Fischmann, Chris Boudy, Tung Ly, Eduardo Platon, Karen Leung, Elizabeth Shephard, Lavonzell Nicholson, Lauren Bartlett, Blake Haney and Laura White.

The awards are given by the Freeman School"s Levy Rosenblum Institute for Entrepreneurship in recognition of individuals who support for-profit and not-for-profit entrepreneurial initiatives that improve the community. Other awards to be given out at the ceremony include: winners of the annual Tulane Business Plan Competition, the Freeman School"s TABA Community Service best project and entrepreneurship education awards.