For the 29th Year, EY Calls for Nominations for the Entrepreneur Of The Year™

NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- EY is calling for nominations for the 29th EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards. The honor puts a spotlight on innovative entrepreneurs who ultimately go on to make meaningful and dramatic contributions to business, the economy and our lives.

In 1989, Michael Dell was awarded for founding Dell Inc., long before it became a household name. Other winners include Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee Company, Jeffrey Bezos of Amazon.com, Inc., Mindy Grossman of HSN, Inc., and Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn Corporation, who have all had the honor bestowed upon them well before their businesses became transformational. In 2012, Hamdi Ulukaya, founder of Chobani, Inc., was named the US winner and went on to become the global winner in 2013. More recently, David Hung, MD, President and CEO of Medivation, was named as the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2014 National Overall Award winner.

"Given the historically high rates of unemployment and underemployment in the US, it's critically important that we continue to shine a light on entrepreneurs and small businesses – the risk takers, the job creators and the engines of economic opportunity everywhere," says past national winner Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn.

Each year, EY globally showcases successful entrepreneurs from more than 145 cities in 60 countries. A look at some of these companies from the US, the 663 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2014 finalists, reveals how they are surpassing benchmarks for entrepreneurship by a large margin. They particularly excel in the areas of revenue growth, with median sales growth of more than 30% per year in each of the last two years, and growth in average headcount of also more than 30% over the same period.

"For almost 30 years, we have had the privilege of getting to know many high-impact entrepreneurs through our Entrepreneur Of The Year Program," said Mike Kacsmar, Americas Director, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year. "The entrepreneurs we have honored lead highly disruptive companies in their industries and create a lion's share of new job creation in the economy."

Award winners are selected in a number of industry categories by a panel of independent regional judges, including previous winners of the award, CEOs and private capital investors and other regional business leaders. Entrepreneurs may nominate themselves or be nominated by peers and other business leaders.

The Entrepreneur Of The Year Program honors entrepreneurs regionally in June. All regional honorees are then invited to the Entrepreneur Of The Year National gala on November 14, 2015, in Palm Springs, California. The gala is the culminating event of the EY Strategic Growth Forum,^® the nation's most prestigious gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies. For more information on the EY Strategic Growth Forum, please visit www.ey.com/us/sgf.

The Entrepreneur Of The Year 2015 National Overall winner will go on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year^TM title in Monaco in June 2016.

Awards criteria
To qualify, entrepreneurs must be the founder or an executive who organizes, manages and assumes the risk of a business early in its life cycle or during its growth. Self-nominations are encouraged, and there is no fee. The firm deadline for 2015 nominations is March 6.

Entrepreneurs eligible for consideration include not only company founders, but also leaders of multi-generation family businesses and transformational public and private company CEOs. Additionally, the nominee's company must be at least two years old.

Information is available at www.ey.com/us/eoy. To nominate a candidate, please visit the secure application site. 

Sponsors
Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards is nationally sponsored by SAP Americas and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Contact information
To get more information, as well as nomination forms, contact Wendy Fox, [email protected].

About EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™
EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world's most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 145 cities in more than 60 countries.

About EY's Strategic Growth Markets practice
EY's Strategic Growth Markets (SGM) practices guide leading high-growth companies. Our multidisciplinary teams of elite professionals provide perspective and advice to help our clients accelerate market leadership. SGM delivers assurance, tax, transactions and advisory services to thousands of companies spanning all industries. EY is the undisputed leader in taking companies public, advising key government agencies on the issues impacting high-growth companies and convening the experts who shape the business climate. For more information, please visit us at ey.com/us/strategicgrowthmarkets, or follow news on Twitter @EY_Growth.

About EY
EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.

EY refers to the global organization and may refer to one or more of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

This news release has been issued by Ernst & Young LLP, an EY member firm serving clients in the US. For more information, please visit ey.com.

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