Junior Achievement of Delaware has announced the 2019 slate of Delaware Business Leaders Hall of Fame inductees. This year's group will be honored on Wednesday, October 2 at the Wilmington Country Club.

The 2019 inductees include: former PNC Bank Delaware Chairman, President and CEO Calvert A. Morgan, Jr; entrepreneurs Sam and Mariah Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery; and media pioneer Thomas Henry Draper, who will be honored posthumously.

The Hall of Fame honors local business and industry leaders who have made a positive impact on workforce and economic development in the areas of strategic management, entrepreneurship and innovation or invention.

“This year’s Hall of Fame laureates allow us to look back a few decades into Delaware’s storied corporate past, and to look toward our necessary entrepreneurial future," said Rob Eppes, president of the Junior Achievement of Delaware. "Their stories range from those of today’s current pioneers creating their own pop-culture phenomenon, to an icon who is now an untimely part of Delaware history.”

Last year's honorees included Mike Bowman, Bob Perkins and Terry Strine. The two prior years included Ernie Dianastasis, Rob Siegfried, Ellen Kullman, Al Fasnacht, Fred Sears and Paul McConnell. The Delaware Business Leaders Hall of Fame was first established in 1990 in concert with the opening of the Hagley Museum & Library.

Eppes pointed out that Junior Achievement's upcoming centennial will reflect on the proceedings.

“Attendees will see influences of Junior Achievement’s Global Centennial at this year’s Business Hall of Fame induction ceremonies," he said. "When an organization gets to be 100 years old, you take some time to be nostalgic, to revisit memorabilia, to celebrate the adversity overcome and the shared successes. At the same time, you have a keen focus and an informed eye to the future.”