Dwolla founder and CEO Ben Milne won Startup Executive of the Year at the inaugural awards in Omaha.

Initially startup executives and student entrepreneurs might seem like an unusual pairing. But the more we thought about it, the more sense they made together in one post. From one end of the spectrum to the other, all of these finalists have done incredible work, regardless of career stage. In many ways, the students have just started class and the executives have graduated to another level.

During the second annual Silicon Prairie Awards, held August 29, two of these eight individuals will be named as the Executive of the Year and Student Entrepreneur of the Year. In anticipation of that celebration, we’ve put together overviews of the four contenders for each award category. The finalists—48 in all—are the result of public nominations submitted in July and input from our selection committee earlier this month.

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A public vote will help determine the winners of the awards, so cast your ballot for the Executive of the Year and Student Entrepreneur of the Year below, or visit the awards page to vote on all 12 categories.

Join us for the Silicon Prairie Awards: We have an exciting evening of community celebration planned for August 29 at Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines. Tickets are still available for the event, which includes an opening reception, keynote talk by The Brandery co-founder and Rockfish CMO Dave Knox, awards ceremony and closing party. Purchase your tickets today.

Meet the Executive of the Year finalists

This C-level executive, president or founder led a startup to the next stage, hit milestones and overcame odds. (Descriptions, accomplishments and media appearances provided by each finalist)

	Paul Jarrett, Bulu Box (Lincoln, Neb.) Paul Jarrett is the co-founder and CEO of Bulu Box. Under his leadership, the company launched its ecommerce site, secured access to more than 5,000 brands and created a rewards program that helped double subscriber retention. Jarrett was selected as a 2013 Pipeline Fellow and has been featured on a number of radio programs, including School for Startups and the Entrepreneur Podcast Network. He serves as a mentor for the Nebraska startup accelerator NMotion as well as with StraightShot. Read more on Twitter, LinkedIn and SPN.
	Ben Milne, Dwolla (Des Moines) Ben Milne is the founder and CEO of Dwolla, a payments startup, building the ideal way to move money as quickly and safely as possible. Milne oversaw Dwolla during 14 feature and product releases; in particular, Masspay, Partnership with MFoundry and partnerships with the state government. In April, Dwolla closed a $16.5 million Series C round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Their growth at the end of 2012 had surpassed 250,000 users and is on pace to shatter $1 billion in processed funds by the end of 2013. More importantly, Ben has grown the company to 48 employees—40 of which are located in Iowa or Kansas City. Business Insider featured Dwolla as “Most Disruptive StartUp” and they were awarded as “Software Company of the Year” at the Prometheus Awards in April. Milne was recognized as a “Disruptor of the Year” by Forbes, awarded Inc.’s “30 under 30” award, named one of the “Most Successful New College Dropouts” by Business Insider and recognized as one of the MIT Technology Review’s “35 Innovators Under 35.” Milne won the golden analog for Executive of the Year at the inaugural Silicon Prairie Awards last year. Read more on Milne’s website, Twitter, LinkedIn and SPN.
	Nick Bowden, MindMixer (Omaha) Nick Bowden is the CEO of Omaha-based startup MindMixer. Under his leadership over the last 12 months, MindMixer was one of six companies selected to participate in the inaugural Code for America accelerator, completed an acquisition of VoterTide, and closed a $4 million Series B fundraise. This year Bowden was named a Forbes “Up and Comer” and recognized by the Omaha Chamber as Innovator of the Year. MindMixer also gained recognition as one of Entrepreneur Magazine’s “5 Startups to Watch.” Read more on Twitter, LinkedIn and SPN.
	Toby Rush, EyeVerify (Kansas City) Toby Rush is the president and CEO of EyeVerify. Since the company was founded in January 2012, EyeVerify has raised $1.5 million in seed funding. Additionally the company raised $2.3 million in a Series A round that closed earlier this year. In June EyeVerify was named one of the Kansas City Business Journal’s “Four Kansas City Life Sciences Companies You Should Know About.” Rush also was featured in the Kansas City Business Journal in July. Read more on Twitter, LinkedIn and SPN.

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Meet the Student Entrepreneur of the Year finalists

This student or group of students—college undergraduate or younger—built a notable business, launched a praise-worthy app or created an impactful entrepreneurial initiative. (Descriptions, accomplishments and media appearances provided by each finalist)

	James Verhoeff, Pickit (Lincoln, Neb.)* James Verhoeff is the founder and COO of Aymm Inc.—a company with the flagship product, Pickit. Verhoeff is a senior studying business and economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with plans to graduate in May 2014. Pickit is an Android and iOS app that allows shoppers to use coupons and save money at their favorite local businesses and organizations. The company launched in March and has since received $100,000 in funding through a UNL business plan competition and a prototype grant. Read more on Twitter and LinkedIn.
	Sourabh Chakraborty, HIVE (Lincoln, Neb.) Sourabh Chakraborty is a student leader at HIVE, a collaborative student community at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Chakraborty is a new student lead and helps teach programming workshops. Chakraborty is a senior in computer engineering student at UNL with no set graduation date. HIVE officially began in August 2012, and during its first semester, the program hosted seven events. By spring 2013, the program facilitated about 70 events, including a Startup Weekend and an end-of-semester showcase, offering help to about 300 students. Read more on Twitter, LinkedIn and SPN.
	John Ruiz, e-Beacons (Kansas City) John Ruiz is the co-founder and CEO of e-Beacons: Public Safety Services, a company that provides public safety solutions in the form of web and mobile applications. Ruiz is an Entrepreneurship Scholar candidate at the University of Missouri–Kansas City graduating in May 2014. This year e-Beacons signed two beta clients—Titan Protection and Homeland Services—and is in the process of signing more. The company also received funding from Digital Sandbox KC. Read more on LinkedIn.
	Joe Dallago and AJ Nelson, clusterFlunk (Iowa City, Iowa) Joe Dallago (top left) is the co-founder and CTO of clusterFlunk. AJ Nelson (bottom left) is the company’s co-founder and CEO. Before deciding earlier this year to pursue their company full-time, Joe and AJ studied computer engineering and business respectively at the University of Iowa. In May 2013, clusterFlunk launched. In less than three months, the platform successfully captured 10 percent of the University of Iowa undergraduate population as active users, sometimes seeing 500 downloads per day. In July 2013, ClusterFlunk closed a seed round of $100,000 from a series of strategic investors, including Anthony Marlowe, Ben Milne, Brad Dwyer and Josh Cramer. Read more about Joe on Twitter, LinkedIn and SPN. Read more about AJ on Twitter, LinkedIn and SPN.