Barry Batcheller, BS ’77, recently was the recipient of the Entrepreneur of the Year award from the Fargo-Moorhead West Fargo Chamber of Commerce.

The Entrepreneur of the Year award is part of the annual ChamberChoice Award Luncheon, which was held May 17 at the Holiday Inn in Fargo. More than 500 people attended the event, which honors the entrepreneurial spirit and important contributions made by businesses in the Fargo-Moorhead and West Fargo metropolitan area.

ChamberChoice Award finalists were selected by a panel of independent judges from the regional business community, who evaluated accomplishments in the areas of business growth, innovation, creativity, community involvement and unique achievements relating to a specific business or industry. 

To view a list of other ChamberChoice award winners visit fmwfchamber.com/blog/2012/05/17/2012-chamberchoice-winners-announced.

This past spring, Batcheller also was honored with an NDSU Alumni Achievement Award, which celebrates individuals who have achieved distinction in their professional field.

Batcheller earned an electrical and electronics engineering degree from NDSU and has been involved in the founding of six start-up companies, including Phoenix International, Appareo Systems and Intelligent Agriculture Solutions. He is the holder of more than 20 U.S. patents on controls, instrumentation and embedded mobile electronic devices, and has written numerous technical papers on the use of electronics in agriculture.

NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.