GREENVILLE, PA – Hermitage resident John M. Hudson, president and principal shareholder of Hudson Group Inc., will receive the Thiel College 2006 Haller Enterprise Institute Entrepreneur of the Year Award at a ceremony at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 4, in the Lutheran Heritage Room of the Howard Miller Student Center.

Given annually to a business owner who has demonstrated entrepreneurial leadership, the award will be presented to Hudson by Thiel President and CEO Dr. Lance A. Masters and professor David Miller, executive director of the Haller Enterprise Institute.

In 1978 Hudson founded a small residential contracting company which quickly became an established general contracting firm with a successful track record in commercial, industrial, and institutional construction throughout Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio.  In the mid-1980s, he formed a real estate development firm with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as its first client.

Under his leadership, Hudson Investment Properties’ holdings spread statewide and within five years the company emerged as Pennsylvania’s lead developer.

In 1997 Hudson undertook management of the newly formed Hudson Group Inc., which specializes in institutional and medical construction.  It has grown to include 50 full-time employees and earns annual revenues in excess of $20 million.

With the development of Hudson Holding Company, Hudson Ventures, and Hudson Asset Management, he has negotiated multi-million dollar acquisitions and sales of properties in Philadelphia, Florida and Texas.

In 2003 Hudson Holding Company formed an additional subsidiary to provide specialized services relating to government financed elderly housing. Hudson’s firm has been chosen as the contractor for four government-financed elderly housing projects. Projects are currently under way in Hermitage, Titusville, Girard, Ohio, and Chippewa, Pa.

Hudson is a member of the Thiel College Board of Trustees. He and his wife, Mariangela, have six children.

The Haller Enterprise Institute, originally named the Thiel College Enterprise Institute when it was organized in 1983, was renamed in 1996 when Pittsburgh residents Dr. Henry E. and Grace Mary Haller provided a $1 million gift to develop entrepreneurial education at Thiel College.