Print edition: 
WICHITA — A former Wichitan was named Kansas Pipeline’s Innovator of the Year on Thursday night in Overland Park.
Kyle Johnson of Lawrence-based Audio Anywhere, who grew up in Wichita, received the award at an event of the same name.
He competed for the award against members of the Pipeline 2011 class that included Brian Williamson of JCB Labs and Gerry Ruse of Electronic Sensors, both Wichita-based companies. Innovators were judged on a refined business plan, a pitch to an expert panel and a score carried over from performance during the fellowship year.
Pipeline also announced its 2012 class at the event. In addition to Wichitans Mark Allen of Enertech and Brandon Shuey of FlipHound.com, which the Eagle earlier reported, members of the new class are: Pierre Barbeau of Moblico in Kansas City; Nathan Benjamin of InvenQuery/Planet Reuse in Kansas City; John Carpenter of BastLab in Omaha; Miranda Coggins of the Lano Co. in Kansas City; Justin Graves of Infegy in Kansas City; Blake Lawrence of Hurrdat Social Media in Lincoln, Neb.; Matthew MacEwan of NanoMed/Retectix in St. Louis; Ben Pankonin of Social Assurance in Lincoln; Xandra Sifuentes of Metactive Medical in Olathe; and Ben Vu of SkyVu Entertainment in Omaha.
The 2012 class marks the first class that is part of Pipeline’s regional expansion, half of which is funded by a Kauffman Foundation grant.
