Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Adam Davenport. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Adam thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I graduated from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, OH with a Major in Marketing and a Minor in Entrepreneurship in 2005. When I graduated, I knew I didn’t want to work for a large corporation. I went to work for a small company, Gorillas & Gazelles LLC doing personality assessments for high school students, college students and businesses to help them hire the right people for the job. While at Gorillas & Gazelles, LLC, my father Larry Davenport, retired partner in charge of the Entrepreneurial Services Division at Ernst & Young, LLP had told the company that E&Y was getting rid of the Entrepreneur of the Year Program in Toledo, Ohio and merging with Detroit. With Ernst & Young’s blessing, we created the Entrepreneurial & Business Excellence (EBE) Hall of Fame in 2006. The concept of the EBE Hall of Fame is to honor and recognize regional Entrepreneurs and business owners in NW Ohio and SE Michigan. In the year 2010, I reconnected with my friend from Cardinal Stritch High School, Megan Stockburger, who had just started her own Event Planning Business. I knew how to sell sponsorships and do the process of getting nominees to be interviewed and then selecting each year’s winners, what I didn’t know how to do at the time was run an actual event, so we hired her and her expertise. Since then we’ve been doing an Annual Induction Ceremony for the EBE Hall of Fame and have inducted hundreds of people and their businesses.

The National Law Enforcement Officer (NLEO) Hall of Fame was created in 2016 when, Megan’s father Joel, a retired Toledo Police Department LEO, asked Megan why we weren’t doing a Hall of Fame for LEO’s. We were astounded to learn there wasn’t one already. Within a month, we had a name, logo, trademark, LLC and everything set up. We started small as a lunch; with I believe 65 people in attendance and honored LEO’s from around the NW Ohio area. In 2019, we went National and honored someone posthumously from Lee County Sheriff’s Department in Florida. We recently received our nonprofit status so that people donating to our cause and mission can get a tax deduction.

Since it’s inception we have inducted 44 LEO’s from I believe 20 states. We didn’t hold ceremonies in 2020 or 2021 for obvious reasons and we didn’t want to hold a virtual Induction Ceremony because we believe our countries LEO’s deserve the very best. for 2025, we already have nominees from over 30 states. Megan and I are so excited to see what the future holds for the National LEO Hall of Fame and see all of our ideas come to fruition. The goal for the Induction Ceremony is to have 4 regional award ceremonies and then those winners compete in the National Induction Ceremony.

Adam, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I graduated from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio and was one of the first graduates with the Entrepreneurship Minor. I was around entrepreneurial minded people all my life and knew I wasn’t made for the corporate world. The 2 brands we have are the Entrepreneurial & Business Excellence (EBE) Hall of Fame and the National Law Enforcement Officer (NLEO) Hall of Fame.

For the EBE Hall of Fame, we honor and recognize entrepreneurs and businesses that make a positive impact in the community whether it’d be from employing people, donating of goods, time and money to their community and the overall economic impact they provide. There are many times that the people we induct, people may not even know they existed but make the community a much better place.

For the NLEO Hall of Fame, we honor and recognize Law Enforcement Officer’s across the country and the contributions they give to their districts. We also like to showcase all of the positive things that LEO’s do every day that people may not see or hear about. Many LEO’s are very humble and don’t necessarily want the recognition. We started this organization, so that we can help give a positive voice to the profession. We obviously run this organization very lean and need the help of people across the country to help us spread the word through articles, podcasts (which we’re always happy to go on) and through other forms of media. Because we are a nonprofit, any donation helps us put on an Induction Ceremony which is unlike many others out there. If you ask past attendees, the amount of comradery and what we call “Our NLEO Family” is so positive and people leave the ceremony, saying “How can we help grow this even bigger and better?”

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the biggest lessons I learned is while taking classes in college and even in my first job doing business development, I was told it is strictly a numbers game. This meant that the more people you contacted, the more business you would get. I, personally, am the worst person doing “cold calls” on businesses and people. I was trying to figure out how to not make all of those calls each and every day. As I was talking with my father, Larry, he told me to “put down the phone, get involved in organizations, network and make friends.” From this advice, I joined about 7 different organizations that were aligned with my beliefs and how I could learn about people. To this day, many of my friends are from those organizations. To this day, when I speak with younger people starting out in business, I tell them to go out and get involved in your community.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I’m never one to simply go to a 9-5 job and do the same thing over and over each day. The biggest pivot of my business career was when Megan Stockburger and I took the National LEO Hall of Fame National and realized the US is our market now, not simply a 50 mile radius of NW Ohio. We have met so many incredible people and have had experiences we never would’ve thought we’d have with an organization that is only 8 years old. To go from a lunch in Maumee, OH to holding a dinner at The Omni, in Fort Worth, TX was such a big step for us but we both knew it is what our business needs to bring the growth that we know will come. Our goal is to have 500 or more people in attendance for the 2025 Induction Ceremony.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nationalleohalloffame.com,
• Instagram: @nationalleohof
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nationalleohalloffame
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14083121/
• Twitter: @nationalleohof