The Midwest division extends to Illinois and Indiana, though most of those selected are right here in Chicago. The finalists were selected by an independent judging panel consisting of CEOs, private capital investors, regional business leaders and previous winners of the award.
Winners will be picked June 22 at the Sheraton Chicago, but in the meantime, this serves as a good, focused list of people with breakout ideas who managed to execute them expertly -- something any entrepreneur should strive for. Here's the full list:
Jack W. Blumenstein and Michael J. Small: Aircell -- Itasca, Illinois

Scott Graf: BCD Meetings & Incentives -- Chicago, Illinois
Guy H. Morgan: BlueStar Energy Services, Inc.-- Chicago, Illinois
Michele Honomichl: Celergo -- Deerfield, Illinois
Shawn Riegsecker: Centro -- Chicago, Illinois
Stuart Bernsen: Chiro One Wellness Centers -- Oak Brook, Illinois
Jeff Silver: Coyote Logistics, LLC -- Lake Forest, Illinois
John Priest: Equable Ascent Financial, LLC -- Buffalo Grove, Illinois
Jai Shekhawat: Fieldglass, Inc. -- Chicago, Illinois
Joseph J. Slawek: FONA International --Geneva, Illinois
Andrew Mason: Groupon, Inc. -- Chicago, Illinois
Mike Evans and Matt Maloney: GrubHub, Inc. --Chicago, Illinois
