Nominations have opened for its annual EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards for Orange County.
Now in its 31st year, EY Entrepreneur of the Year is one of the preeminent competitive awards programs in the world for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies.
Since its inception, the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Program has recognized more than 9,000 executives who were estimated to have created over 14 million jobs in 2015 alone, based on the recently released Harvard Business Review report The Entrepreneur’s Purpose.
Last year, Newport Beach resident Darin Anderson, the Chairman and CEO of Salas O’Brien, won the prestigious Entrepreneur Of The Year award from EY (Ernst & Young) for the Orange County and Inland Empire region. He has grown the specialty engineering/construction company from $5M in revenue to over $60M in less than 10 years.
The 2016 class of Entrepreneur of the Year winners collectively employed over 482,000 people and boasted significant job growth of more than 21 percent. They also generated revenue of over $354 billion, with revenue growth exceeding 57 percent.
“This is an exciting time in Orange County as we continue to witness entrepreneurship flourish across the region,” said Jon Smith, EY Entrepreneur of the Year Program Director for Orange County. “The Entrepreneur of the Year Program is part of EY’s work in identifying and supporting business leaders who demonstrate extraordinary success in areas such as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment. We are honored to celebrate the achievement of these individuals with one of the most prestigious business award programs in the US and are looking forward to learning more about their inspirational stories.”
Awards criteria and judging process: Entrepreneurs eligible for consideration include not only company founders, but also leaders of multigeneration family businesses and CEOs of transformational public and private companies. Additionally, the nominee’s company must be at least two years old. Self-nominations are encouraged, and there is no fee. The firm deadline for 2017 nominations is March 10, 2017.
Award winners are selected in a number of industry categories by a panel of independent regional judges, including previous winners of the award, leading CEOs and private capital investors, and other regional business leaders. Entrepreneurs may nominate themselves or be nominated by peers and other business leaders.
For information on the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in Orange County, please visit ey.com/us/eoy/OC.
