Four successful entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds were inducted into Bowling Green State
University’s Dallas-Hamilton Center Hall of Fame last week. The ceremony was held at the Clazel in
downtown Bowling Green.
This year’s inductees are Albert Caperna, William Centa, Nicholas Mileti and Brian Sokol.
Sponsored by the College of Business Administration’s Dallas-Hamilton Center for Entrepreneurial
Leadership, the Hall of Fame was created in 2008. It inducts BGSU graduates or honorary degree holders
who have achieved excellence in entrepreneurship and have demonstrated an entrepreneurial spirit that
inspires others. Inductees must have achieved great distinction for founding, leading or building a new
business enterprise for five years or more.
Caperna has founded numerous companies since receiving his bachelor’s degree from BGSU in 1976. His
businesses have produced a variety of patents, been named to Inc. magazine’s "500 honor roll"
and been recognized as some of the fastest-growing private businesses in America. Caperna is chief
executive officer of CMC Group in Bowling Green, the parent company of Century Marketing, Century
Marketing Wholesale, DayMark Safety Systems and NovaVision. His companies manufacture a wide array of
print and recycling materials and systems, including food date-coding systems, equipment for thermal and
laser printers, and print holograms. The group represents one of the largest label and tag businesses in
the world.
Caperna was named a Master Entrepreneur by Ernst and Young in 1995 and is now leading a new venture,
Affirm Global Development, which is working to empower entrepreneurs globally in setting up businesses
and helping to end economic poverty. He serves on numerous local community boards and supports local
organizations.
Centa, a 1974 BGSU alumnus with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, has been involved in
financial and business management for more than 30 years. He received his MBA from Cleveland State
University in 1977.
Centa acquired and grew Mayfran Holdings Inc., a 70-year-old Cleveland company, by 150 percent in less
than six years. Mayfran International is a global manufacturer of engineered automation systems and
equipment for metalworking, metal forming, recycling, solid waste processing and other operations. Centa
has also been associate director of mergers and acquisitions for Ernst & Young LLP, and chief
operating and financial officer for iPower Logistics. He was a co-winner of the 2009 Ernst &
Young Entrepreneur of the Year award and recipient of the Global Business Leadership Award.
He is active in the philanthropic organizations in the Cleveland area.
Mileti graduated from BGSU in 1953 and went on to earn a law degree and open a practice in Lakewood,
Ohio, where he eventually became a prosecutor. He moved into the broadcasting and sports industries,
purchasing the Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Crusaders hockey team and founding the Cleveland
Cavaliers, in the 1970s. He also owned the radio station 1100 WWWE. Mileti oversaw the development of
the 22,000-seat Richfield Coliseum, and then purchased the arena and its prime tenant, the original
Cleveland Barons hockey team.
After retiring from his numerous ventures, Mileti became a writer and has published three books. Mileti
has been honored extensively by BGSU. The Alumni Center is named for him, and he was listed among its
100 Most Prominent Alumni in 2010. He has also been honored for his philanthropic activities nationally.

Sokol, a 1982 MBA alumnus of BGSU, has spent 26 years growing consumer products companies through product
innovation, brand building and business integration. He has served on the boards of Slazenger Golf,
Hinckley Lighting and the Motor Equipment Manufacturers Association and is past chairman of the
Automotive Chemical Manufacturers Council.
As vice president of marketing of Loctite, he was responsible for the commercialization of automotive
aftermarket products in international markets. Sokol also served as president of Blue Coral, a privately
held auto-appearance products business, and was a corporate executive with Quaker State Oil Co., where
he oversaw the merger and acquisition of four consumer-products businesses. After Quaker State was sold
in 1998 to Pennzoil Lubricants, he was named president of the consumer products group, where he
dramatically grew the profitability of the organization by integrating supply chain logistics for the
specialty-chemical consumer products business.
In 2001, Sokol founded Innovation Direct, which has created and commercialized new products for clients
such as Kimberly Clark, Slazenger Golf and Activity Targeted Supplements. In 2010, he and a group of
partners from the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University acquired the Oasis Mouthwash
business and formed Oasis Consumer HealthCare, of which he is currently CEO.