American Free Enterprise Day (AFE) is a Palm Beach Atlantic University tradition, dating back to 1984. It is highlighted by a medal ceremony that honors individuals whose hard work and achievement exemplify the best of the American free enterprise system. A medalist of the year is selected and companion medals are awarded to other business leaders as well.
Chairman and Founder
Interactive Brokers Group, Inc.
Thomas Peterffy is the Chairman and Founder of Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. a global electronic brokerage firm. He has been at the forefront of applying computer technology to automate trading and brokerage processes since soon after he emigrated from Hungary to the United States in 1965.
In 1977, Peterffy started his own business with $200,000 savings, writing programs and building systems to value and trade stocks and options, as a market-maker on the American Stock Exchange. He was the first to build mathematical models to calculate and disseminate continuous bid and offer quotations and to develop a tablet computer for use by his employees trading on exchange floors. By the late 80s, Peterffy developed a fully integrated, automated market-making system for stocks, options, and futures, that grew into a digital network encompassing most of the world’s exchanges. Starting in 1993, brokerage interfaces and customers were added to this network that continues to expand in products and customers all over the world.
Today, Interactive Brokers is one of the largest publicly traded electronic brokers with a market capitalization of over $100 billion. The firm provides direct access trade executions, clearing, and custodial services for a wide variety of products, including stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds, CFDs, and funds on over 160 markets and in up to 28 currencies around the world.
With his formal education incomplete, Peterffy is a great believer in learning by doing and IBKR’s growing educational initiatives reflect his sentiments.
interactivebrokers.com
Chairman and Founder
Moss & Associates
Bob L. Moss is the founder and chairman of Moss & Associates, a privately held construction firm he launched in 2004 with just two employees and two projects. Today, Moss has grown to a team of 4,751 employees and delivers innovative solutions that have resulted in award-winning projects across the United States. In 2024, ENR magazine named Moss the Contractor of the Year for the Southeastern United States and ranked the company first on its list of U.S. solar contractors. With more than 55 years of experience, Moss has built a successful career managing a diverse portfolio of construction projects across North America. His work includes transportation systems, healthcare facilities, military and space research centers, higher education institutions, correctional facilities, sports venues, solar and island construction, multifamily housing, senior living and convention centers. Signature projects include Marlins Park, the Miami Dolphins Training Center, the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix Track, and Nova Southeastern University’s Guy Harvey Oceanographic Center. He played a central role in building 10 Walt Disney World resorts, Atlantis Paradise Island and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Moss serves on the Governor’s Florida Council of 100 and World President Organization and has received numerous honors, including several Hall of Fame inductions and the ENR Legacy Award.
Owner and CEO
The Colony Palm Beach, The Hedges East Hampton
Sarah J. Wetenhall is the owner and CEO of The Colony Hotel in Palm Beach and The Hedges Inn in East Hampton—two of America’s most iconic resort destinations. Since purchasing The Colony in 2016 and The Hedges in 2025 with her husband, investment banker Andrew Wetenhall, she has transformed both properties into design- and community-centered landmarks. Wetenhall’s guest-first philosophy emphasizes immersive experiences, collaborations with local brands and a deep respect for each location’s heritage. She introduced Swifty’s, the celebrated New York dining institution, to both hotels and has filled their calendars with events including lectures, brand activations and art openings. A former fashion executive at Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabbana and Hugo Boss, she brings a sharp eye for luxury and brand identity. She serves on numerous boards, including the Historical Society of Palm Beach County and the Central Park Conservancy Women’s Committee. In 2025, she received the Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce Women in Leadership Award. A recognized force in the hospitality and brand worlds, Wetenhall was recently honored as one of HOTELS Magazine’s Top Ten Independent Hoteliers and named among the 25 Most Inspirational Women Leaders by Berns Communications Group and Dealmakehers. Under Wetenhall’s leadership, The Colony was named the #1 hotel in Florida by Conde Nast Traveler and the #2 hotel by Travel+Leisure readers.
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The United States of America is an exceptional nation. Founded under the providential hand of God, she has flourished because of the enduring grace of God and because of the pillars upon which she was built: religious liberty, traditional Judeo-Christian morality, constitutional government, the rule of law, personal and political accountability, and free enterprise.
Palm Beach Atlantic University affirms all of these American pillars, but devotes itself, particularly to spreading a thorough understanding of the free enterprise system.
As the Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
These words are the foundation upon which the American free enterprise system was built. It begins with the belief that all people are equal—not by accident nor by decree, but by God’s own purposeful design. Our system is therefore open to all. Simply put, God created each and every one of us. He loves us and wants us to prosper. He has given us the will to pursue the betterment of our lives and the lives of those around us. History has shown that free enterprise provides the economic freedom that best maximizes human flourishing.
The free enterprise system allows human beings freedom. It is the role of the government to guarantee that freedom. Property rights are assured. Contracts are safeguarded by the rule of law. All people are treated equally. Free enterprise is a system in which people are free to exchange their labor and their private property with others to create win-win improvements to their lives and for the population as a whole.
This system often raises a question among people of faith: Can businesspeople both flourish and be good Christians? Absolutely! God has given special talents and abilities to each of us. We are called to use these special talents and abilities to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Create a better product, render a better service, sell them for a lower price, or employ your neighbor and you have shown love to both God and your neighbor.
Our Faith, Roots, and Reason curriculum, which is required of all students at Palm Beach Atlantic University, allows students to enroll in one of two courses: Freedom in American Society or American Free Enterprise. The former examines the meaning and significance of freedom in the American experience. Students explore such topics as the historical roots of American liberty, with special emphasis on the close link between liberty and Christianity, and the nature of freedom as understood by the chief architects of the American political order. It also examines the interdependence between political and economic freedom.
The American Free Enterprise course explores the nature and development of free enterprise within the Western and Judeo-Christian traditions, contrasts free enterprise and collectivism, examines the role of rational decision-making in the economy, and evaluates arguments relating to the efficiency and fairness of the free enterprise system. When governments clearly define and enforce property rights and equally apply the rule of law to everyone, individuals, by pursuing their own enlightened self-interest, will naturally work for the good of society. As Adam Smith said:
“Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism, but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice; all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things.”
It is imperative that we pass down to the next generation an understanding of why the American free enterprise system exists, that it has brought human flourishing to past American generations, and that if we do not deviate from it, free enterprise will offer similar flourishing to future generations of Americans.
We invite you to partner with PBA to educate students about the American Free Enterprise system.
