BUFFALO, NY – The Richard J. Wehle School of Business at Canisius University will present the Business Executive of the Year Award to Nancy W. Ware ’78, MBA ’85, during its 53rd annual Business Awards Dinner on Tuesday, October 10. The event takes place at Salvatore’s Italian Gardens. Cocktails are at 5:30 p.m.; dinner is at 6:30 p.m. The Business Executive of the Year Award is presented to a Western New York executive who has earned distinction professionally and as a leader in a broad range of civic affairs.
Nancy Ware is president of WPS Management Company, a property management and development company based in West Seneca. She also founded and is past president of EduKids Early Childhood Centers. In this role, she oversaw the strategic planning, operations, facility development and management of the organization’s 16 nationally accredited childcare centers. Under her leadership, EduKids grew to become Western New York’s largest, privately owned group of childcare centers and the largest woman-owned business, with more than 400 employees serving an estimated 2,000 families.
Ware is a first-generation college graduate earning her bachelor's and master's degrees from Canisius. An active member of the community, she currently serves as vice chair of the Explore and More Children’s Museum Board of Directors, secretary of the Catholic Health System Board of Directors and is a member of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo Board of Directors. Ware was the first woman to sit on the Evans Bancorp Inc. Board of Directors and the first trustee emerita of the Canisius University Board of Trustees.
In addition to the Business Executive of the Year Award, the Wehle School of Business will present
David C. Wagner ’00 with the Dr. Richard A. Shick Award, presented to an alumna/us for commitment to the university and the School of Business.
David Wagner is executive vice president of Roosevelt and Cross Inc., a leading underwriter of municipal bonds co-founded by Archibald Roosevelt, the son of President Theodore Roosevelt. Wagner joined the company in 2000 upon earning his undergraduate degree in finance from Canisius. He oversees the Buffalo office of Roosevelt & Cross, and specializes in municipal sales with an institutional customer base of community banks, insurance companies, investment advisors and mutual funds around the Northeast. He was named to the Roosevelt & Cross Board of Directors in 2019, becoming the first member of the board from outside the headquarters in New York City.
Wagner is a past member of the Canisius Alumni Board and past chair of the Canisius Business Advisory Council for the Richard J. Wehle School of Business. Most recently, he completed two terms as a member of the institution’s Board of Regents. Outside of Canisius, Wagner is a member of the Independent Bankers of New York State, the New York State Insurance Association, the Knights of Columbus and past president of the Lancaster Country Club.
To learn more about the Business Awards Dinner or to reserve a table, contact the Wehle School of Business at 716-888-2160 or visit https://www.canisius.edu/53rd-annual-business-awards-dinner.
Canisius was founded in 1870 in Buffalo, NY, and is one of 27 Jesuit colleges and universities in the U.S. Consistently ranked among the top institutions in the Northeast, Canisius offers undergraduate, graduate and pre-professional programs distinguished by close student-faculty collaboration, mentoring and an emphasis on ethical, purpose-driven leadership.
