David Duffield, founder, president, chief executive officer and chairman of PeopleSoft, a developer of client/server business software, has been named Cornell University's 1996 Entrepreneur of the Year. Duffield's honor is a highlight of the Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise (EPE) Celebration '96, which will be held April 25 and 26 on the Cornell campus.

Duffield, who earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and an MBA from Cornell in 1963 and 1964, respectively, will be the guest of honor at a dinner hosted by Cornell President Hunter Rawlings April 25 at 7:30 p.m. in the Carrier Ballroom of the Statler Hotel. Duffield will give a public lecture April 26 at 2 p.m. in Bache Auditorium of Malott Hall.

Prior to founding PeopleSoft, Duffield established two mainframe application software companies. Most recently he was president, chairman and chief product architect at Integral Systems, a California-based vendor of the first DB2- based human resource and accounting systems. Under his leadership, Integral grew to be a multi-product, international concern with revenues of $57 million. Previously Duffield was co-founder of Information Associates, where he was instrumental in the development of systems for the higher education market.

The Entrepreneur of the Year award, established in 1984 by Cornell and the Johnson Graduate School of Management, recognizes the achievements and qualities of Cornell alumni who best exemplify the ideals of entrepreneurship. The Entrepreneur of the Year is selected by a committee composed of deans, faculty, students and alumni. Past recipients include John F. Mariani Jr. of Villa Banfi, USA (1986), Julius G. Kayser and Arthur S. Wolcott of Seneca Foods Corp. (1988) and Kenneth H. Blanchard and Marjorie McKee Blanchard of Blanchard Training and Development Inc. (1991).

The EPE celebration this year will feature an alumni and student workshop on "An Insider's View of Going Public." The panel will be moderated by Bob Felton '61, president and chief executive officer of The Indus Group Inc., a worldwide developer and supplier of computer software products for government and industry; Jim Hauslein '81, MBA '84, chairman of Sunglass Hut International and President of Hauslein and Company; and Theresa M. Welbourne, the J. Thomas Clark Professor of Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise. The alumni workshop will be held April 25 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in 265 Statler Hall; the student workshop will be held April 26 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in the Statler Hotel amphitheater.

A career panel and networking luncheon, moderated by Andy Potash '66, chief executive officer of Capital Risk Strategies, a risk management firm in New York City, will be held April 26 from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Carrier Ballroom of the Statler Hotel.

EPE was founded in 1992 as a multidisciplinary approach to the study of entrepreneurship and implements programs that benefit students and the community at large. More than 750 undergraduate and graduate students participate in EPE courses each year. EPE also places more than 30 students annually in internships with small businesses.

For further information on EPE, please contact the program office at 607-255-1576.