EY Announces J. Kelly Ganjei of Cognate BioServices, Inc. as an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2020 Southeast Award Finalist

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Aug. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced that J. Kelly Ganjei, CEO of Cognate BioServices, Inc. was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year^® 2020 Southeast Award finalist. Now in its 34th year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year program honors entrepreneurial business leaders whose ambitions deliver innovation, growth and prosperity as they build and sustain successful businesses that transform our world. Mr. Ganjei was selected as one of 30 finalists from a competitive pool of nominations by a panel of independent judges.

Award winners will be announced through a special virtual event in early October and will join a lifelong community of esteemed Entrepreneur Of The Year alumni from around the world. This year, unstoppable entrepreneurs who have provided extraordinary support for their communities, employees and others during the COVID-19 crisis will also be recognized for their courage, resilience and ingenuity.

Entrepreneur Of The Year is one of the preeminent competitive award programs for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies. The nominees are evaluated based on six criteria, including overcoming adversity; financial performance; societal impact and commitment to building a values-based company; innovation; and talent management. Since its launch, the program has expanded to recognize business leaders in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries around the world.

"I am extremely honored to be selected as a finalist for this prestigious award," said J. Kelly Ganjei. "I absolutely share this recognition with my entire team of more than 500 talented and dedicated individuals who come together each and every day at Cognate BioServices and our subsidiary, Cobra Biologics to deliver life-saving products to patients in critical need around the globe. It is a testament to the tenacity of our team that we've been able to significantly grow the business through such a challenging global environment in new and uncharted territory."

Regional award winners are eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards, to be announced in November during a virtual awards gala. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Award in June 2021.

Entrepreneur Of The Year Award winners become lifetime members of a global, multi-industry community of entrepreneurs, with exclusive, ongoing access to the experience, insight and wisdom of program alumni and other ecosystem members in over 60 countries — all supported by vast EY resources.

Sponsors
Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are nationally sponsored by SAP America and the Kauffman Foundation.

In the Southeast, regional sponsors include Platinum sponsor King & Spalding LLP and Silver sponsors Chatham Financial and Cresa.

About Entrepreneur Of The Year^® 
Entrepreneur Of The Year^® is the world's most prestigious business awards program for unstoppable entrepreneurs. These visionary leaders deliver innovation, growth and prosperity that transform our world. The program engages entrepreneurs with insights and experiences that foster growth. It connects them with their peers to strengthen entrepreneurship around the world. Entrepreneur Of The Year is the first and only truly global awards program of its kind. It celebrates entrepreneurs through regional and national awards programs in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries. Winners go on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ title. ey.com/us/eoy

About EY Private
As Advisors to the ambitious™, EY Private professionals possess the experience and passion to support private businesses and their owners in unlocking the full potential of their ambitions. EY Private teams offer distinct insights born from the long EY history of working with business owners and entrepreneurs. These teams support the full spectrum of private enterprises including private capital managers and investors and the portfolio businesses they fund, business owners, family businesses, family offices and entrepreneurs. Visit ey.com/private

About EY
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About Cognate BioServices, Inc.
Cognate is a dynamic, results-driven, organization focused on providing the broadest range of commercialization services to regenerative medicine, cellular immunotherapy and advance cell therapy companies. Cognate provides a unique combination of custom services to companies across all points of clinical and commercial development specializing in mid to late stage clinical trials and supporting our clients through product scale-up into commercial manufacturing. Cognate applies the knowledge and expertise of its business, scientific and technical teams to successfully develop autologous and allogeneic products across multiple cell-based technology platforms from start to finish. For more information, visit: http://www.cognatebioservices.com

For Media Inquiries, please contact James Wilkerson at [email protected]

SOURCE Cognate BioServices, Inc.