POTSDAM – Businessman and Waddington Town Supervisor Mark Scott will be honored with the Entrepreneur of the Year award at the third annual Entrepreneur Recognition Dinner, hosted by Clarkson University’s Reh Center for Entrepreneurship Friday, April 19.

North Country small business owners and interested community members are invited to attend the event, which will recognize four individuals for their commitment to and support of entrepreneurship.

Mark Scott, founder of Artworks Creperie in Waddington, will receive the Entrepreneur of the Year award, which recognizes a practicing entrepreneur who demonstrates an unwavering commitment to building a small business and supporting the community. As town supervisor, Scott has been instrumental in community development and engagement in Waddington.

Also to be honored are:

• Marc Compeau, instructor for Clarkson University’s School of Business, receiving the Entrepreneur’s Hero Award, given annually to an individual or group that provides resources resulting in increasing the viability of multiple entrepreneurs in the communities served by the Reh Center. Compeau is the founding director of the Reh Center and his collaboration with practicing entrepreneurs through the My Small Business 101 series and individual consultation has resulted in increased survival and profit for hundreds of small businesses in the North Country.

• Jeff Taylor, director of the Career Center at Clarkson, with the Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award, given annually to a student, faculty, staff member, office or organization at Clarkson University that through the creation of a new program, organization or value added offering, demonstrates a deep commitment to the Clarkson community and demonstrates each of the key characteristics of successful entrepreneurs. The award announcement says that Taylor’s energy and dedication to creating unique programs and customized services has resulted in increased employer recruiting on campus and an employer fair specifically for regional employers.

• Randy Roth, chief executive officer of ViTEX, Mooresville, N.C., will be inducted into the Clarkson Alumni Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame inductees are entrepreneurs who have consistently demonstrated an unwavering drive, dedication, determination and commitment to pursuing entrepreneurship. They have risen to the highest level of entrepreneurial achievement, having achieved national recognition as a leader in their field. Inductees must have graduated from Clarkson University and founded a firm.

The event will feature an address by Mark Dzwonczyk, a Clarkson University trustee and the CEO of Nicholville Telephone Company, who has been building and re-building businesses in California’s Silicon Valley for the past 20 years.

The dinner is at 5 p.m. Friday, April 19, at Clarkson’s Cheel Campus Center.

Social hour, sponsored by the Fresh Sound Foundation, will begin at 5 p.m. Dinner will be served at 5:30 p.m., and awards will follow.

The cost of the event will be $20 per person, which includes dinner, drinks and dessert. Those interested in attending should call the Reh Center for Entrepreneurship at 268-3995 or 268-4650.