Jules Kroll, Cornell University alumnus, executive chairman of the board of Kroll Inc. and acknowledged founder of the modern corporate investigative and security industry, will be honored Oct. 23 and 24 on the Cornell campus as Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year 2003.

The award is given annually to a Cornellian who best exemplifies entrepreneurial achievement, community service and high ethical standards.

Kroll received a B.A. degree in government from Cornell in 1963 and an LL.B. degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1966. He founded his company in 1972 to provide consulting services to corporate purchasing departments. During the 1980s and 1990s, as mergers and acquisitions increased, Kroll Inc. gained prominence by helping clients size up suitors and targets. High-profile cases also helped the company's reputation spread, as it tracked down assets hidden by Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, and Saddam Hussein.

Beginning in 1998, Kroll Inc. made a series of strategic acquisitions of companies specializing in forensic accounting, background screening, drug testing, security engineering, corporate restructuring and data recovery. Those additions expanded Kroll's capabilities and led the company to its current structure of five business groups.

Today, Kroll is acknowledged as the world's leading independent risk consulting company, providing services to clients worldwide and employing more than 2,200 people, many from international auditing firms, multinational corporations, the military, law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Kroll reported revenue of $289.2 million in 2002. Its clients include corporations, law firms, nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, governments and individuals.

The Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year award was established in 1984 by Cornell's S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management, and it is now managed by the university's Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise Program (EPE). Founded in 1992 as a combined initiative of the Johnson School and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, EPE supports instruction, internships, student groups and an alumni network. The deans of the nine participating Cornell schools and colleges govern the program. A committee of Cornell alumni, faculty and students reviews the nominations for the award and selects the recipient.

The past three Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year award winners have been: Rob Ryan '69, founder of Ascend Communications and Entrepreneur America; Jeffrey Parker '65, M.Eng '66, MBA '70, founder of First Call and co-founder and chairman/CEO of the Corporate Communications Broadcast Network (CCBN); and Jeff Hawkins '79, inventor of the PalmPilot and co-founder of Handspring Inc.

This year's entrepreneur of the year celebration will begin with an award-presentation dinner and reception Oct. 23, hosted by Cornell President Jeffrey Lehman. The celebration will include a public address by Kroll on Oct. 24 at 4 p.m. in the Statler Auditorium on campus.

For further information about the entrepreneur of the year celebration or EPE, contact John Jaquette, EPE executive director, at (607) 255-9675, or see this Web site: http://epe.cornell.edu.