EUGENE, Ore.–The University of Oregon’s Charles H. Lundquist College of Business (LCB) will honor a leader in wholesale discount marketing, the head of one of California’s largest wineries and the owner of an international manufacturing firm at the college’s Visionaries Awards luncheon on Thursday, March 16, in Portland.

"The Visionaries Awards are given to those individuals who, by challenging our concepts of business practices and social responsibility, have changed the way we teach and conduct business in this country and around the world," says Philip Romero, dean of the Lundquist College of Business.

James Sinegal, president and CEO of Costco Wholesale Companies, Inc., will receive the Visionaries Trendsetter of the Year Award. Costco is a $32-billion discount retailer that sells nationally branded and selected private label merchandise to businesses and individuals who are members. Sinegal was a founder of Costco Wholesale in 1983 and helped parent the merger of the Price Company in 1993 to form CostCo Inc.

Jim Coleman, co-president of E & J Gallo Winery, will receive the Visionaries Alumni Trailblazer Award. A 1958 graduate of the College of Business, Coleman first began his career selling wine in Portland, Ore. He is a 40-year employee of the E & J Gallo Winery and a member of the firm’s board of directors. He has been a member of the board of directors of the Wine Institute for 25 years and is chairman of the advisory board of the Viticulture and Enology Research Center at California State University at Fresno.

Kazumitsu Shiomi will receive the Visionaries Lifetime Achievement Award. He is chief executive officer of Fiji Filter Manufacturing Co., Ltd., in Japan and chairman of Wuhan Fuji Filter Co., Ltd., in the People’s Republic of China. The company produces filtration systems used in the petrochemical and the automotive industries and in the production of textiles. Shiomi studied science and business at the University of Oregon during the 1952-53 academic year.

Past Visionaries Award winners include Charles Lillis, founder of MediaOne; Richard Wendt, chairman of JELD-WEN; Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft Corp.; Paul Brainerd, founder of Aldus Corp.; Charles H. Lundquist, entrepreneur; and Ed Artz, chief executive officer of Proctor and Gamble.

The University of Oregon’s Lundquist College of Business Visionaries Awards ceremony will be held at noon on Thursday, March 16, in the Crystal Ballroom of the Benson Hotel in Portland.

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