John Noel, a Stevens Point businessman and philanthropist, was recently recognized as a distinguished laureate at the Wisconsin Business Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony held in Milwaukee. This honor is reserved for the best-of-the-best business savvy, entrepreneurial visionaries and those who show exemplary community spirit.

The first Wisconsin Business Hall of Fame was held in 1990 and has grown to be a well-known honor bestowed only upon the most excellent leaders in the business world. Many of the laureates are inventors, entrepreneurs, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and small business owners who share a commitment to excellence, a drive and a passion to achieve.

Distinguished laureates earn the award for having created better, more productive lives for their employees over the years. They fashion new and innovative ways of doing business; they set astonishing goals and exceed them. They create cultures and values that are incomparable.

The Portage and Wood Counties District of Junior Achievement Board of Directors said it was no surprise the Statewide Laureate Committee identified Noel as a worthy candidate for the honor.

Noel opened a small travel insurance company in the basement of his home in 1985. Travel Guard International quickly expanded through acquisitions and soon grew to become the most respected name in travel insurance and emergency-assistance in the industry.

Throughout many successful business decisions, Noel often said he thought of the employees he had come to call family.

He and his businesses have created and maintained thousands of positions in the central Wisconsin area. Noel recently retired at Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection and continues as chairman of Compass Properties.

Noel is also involved in Operation Bootstrap, the Portage County Cultural Festival, the Noel Compass Scholar Program at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and the Boys & Girls Club of Portage County. He also established the Make a Mark Foundation, which focuses on orphans in sub-Saharan Africa.