Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur Hall of Fame Disappoints

In honor of the twentieth anniversary of their Entrepreneur of the Year® Awards, Ernst & Young has announced the opening of the Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame. The physical Hall of Fame is located on the 23rd floor of the Ernst & Young U.S. headquarters office at 5 Times Square, New York. They have also created a searchable database of the members.

On the one hand, I'm a big fan of the Entrepreneur of the Year awards, and I'm all for anything that celebrates entrepreneurial excellence. On the other hand, the Hall of Fame only includes past Ernst & Young winners, overlooking such obvious notable contemporary entrepreneurs as Oprah Winfrey, Ingvar Kamprad, or Michael Dell, as well as historical entrepreneurs. Call it "Hall of Excellence" or something, but calling it "Hall of Fame" is a bit of a stretch.

The other thing I found disappointing is that the profiles in the virtual Hall of Fame are extremely shallow. Most consist of a single sentence and a link to their company Web site. That's mildly interesting, but with Ernst & Young's budget, it could/should have been so much more.

Come on, E&Y, if you're going to do something like this, how about making it something that's actually educational, not just an excuse for a press release?