Trinity University has awarded the Daryl Waldron Business Leadership Award to Michael Kiolbassa, president of Kiolbassa Provision Company, Inc., a family-owned business in San Antonio that makes handcrafted smoked meats, including 25 kinds of sausage and several varieties of bacon. This award, established by the Department of Business Administration to recognize outstanding business leadership in our community, aims to connect Trinity University with pivotal business figures in San Antonio.

The award is named in honor of the late professor Darryl Waldron, who taught at Trinity for 37 years and was sought out as an expert given his blend of industry and academic experiences. Waldron founded this award in 2014. He died on Dec. 19, 2017. 

Kiolbassa Smoked Meats was founded in 1949 by Kiolbassa’s grandparents, Rufus and Juanita Kiolbassa, as the Kiolbassa Provision Company. When Rufus died, his son Robert, Michael’s father, took over the business. Michael joined the company in 1987. Kiolbassa’s products are sold in Costco, Walmart, and Publix in 48 states and employs approximately 275 employees, mostly in San Antonio. 

The Waldron Award is supported through a donation from the Ancira Auto Group and Trinity alumna and Board member April Ancira ’02.

Previous award recipients include Bill West of Taylor-West Advertising (2014), Michael Beldon of the Beldon Group of Companies (2015), Sam and Gene Dawson Jr. of Pape-Dawson Engineers (2016), Laura Ehrenberg-Chesler, founding partner of Crossvault Capital Management (2017), and the Denim Group, a secure software development firm (2018).

Source: Trinity University