Ohio Northern University has recognized our President and Co-Founder, Bruce Hollinger, with the 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award. This award was created in 1956 by the Alumni Association to recognize alumni with exemplary professional careers that illustrate the value of an Ohio Northern University education and to recognize those alumni with continued relationships with the University.
Bruce graduated from Ohio Northern in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. He then earned a Masters in Structural Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.
In 1980, Bruce founded Macola Software to provide PC business management solutions. By the early 2000s, the company had over 16,000 global customers and over 800 business partners in their reseller channel. During this time, Bruce helped develop over eight generations of product releases, including Macola ES and Progression. The Macola Progression product line won four unprecedented PC Magazine / Price Waterhouse Editors’ Choice awards.
In 2001, Macola was acquired by Exact Software. Bruce became a Senior Managing Partner at Inspired Solutions, a Macola reseller. He helped grow the company from a customer base of 60 to over 260 and become virtually the sole business partner for Exact Software in the Southeast. In 2005, Inspired Solutions was recognized by Accounting Technology Magazine as a Killer VAR. That same year Inspired Solutions was acquired by Exact Software.
Bruce’s time at Inspired Solutions allowed him to work directly with customers and better understand their needs. He used this knowledge to co-found WiSys in 2004 and build tools that addressed these needs. Along with his son, Michael Hollinger, Bruce began to develop real-time ERP solutions for Macola, starting with Warehouse Management.
Bruce is a member of the Ohio Northern University Engineering Advisory Board and is a recipient of the Central Ohio Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Business Leadership in America.
