Ernst & Young announces Semifinalists for the Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2012 Award in Northern California

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San Francisco, 13 April 2012 — Ernst & Young LLP today announced the 53 Semifinalists for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2012 Award in Northern California. The awards program recognizes entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. These business leaders were selected from nearly 135 nominations by a panel of independent judges. Award winners will be announced at a special gala on June 2, 2012 at The Fairmont, San Francisco.

The Semifinalists are:

  • Lee Chen, Founder & CEO, A10 Networks

  • Marcus Meadows-Smith, CEO, AgraQuest, Inc.

  • Tom Bedecarre, CEO, AKQA

  • Amar Panchal, CEO, Akraya, Inc.

  • Lawrence Blatt, CEO and Founder, Alios BioPharma

  • John Foraker, Chief Executive Officer, Annie's, Inc.

  • Chris Barbin, CEO, Appirio

  • Matt Mullenweg, Founder, Automattic

  • Aaron Levie, CEO and Co-Founder, Box

  • John Woolard, President and CEO, BrightSource Energy, Inc.

  • Tom Kemp, President and CEO, Centrify Corporation

  • Justin Gagnon, CEO, Choicelunch

  • Marcus Benedetti, President and CEO, Clover Stornetta Farms

  • Dr. Clifford Reid, Co-Founder, Chairman, President and CEO, Complete Genomics

  • Kevin Brown, CEO, Coraid

  • Ronni Zehavi, CEO and Founder, Cotendo Inc

  • Anthony Bettencourt, Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Board, Coverity

  • John Boncher, President & CEO, Cupertino Electric, Inc.

  • Hubert Thieblot, CEO and Founder, Curse, Inc.

  • Fabio Rosati, President & CEO, Elance, Inc.

  • Guo-Liang Yu, President & CEO, Epitomics Inc.

  • David Chun, CEO and Founder, Equilar, Inc.

  • Mike Burkland, President and CEO, Five9, Inc.

  • Matthew Monahan, CEO & Co-Founder, and Brian Monahan, Chief Idea Guy & Co-Founder, Inflection

  • Kevin Chou, CEO and Co-Founder, Kabam, Inc.

  • Mark Fischer-Colbrie, President, CEO, and Richard Ellson, VP R&D, CTO, Labcyte Inc.

  • Tasso Roumeliotis, Founder and CEO, Location Labs

  • Eric Ryan, Co-Founder, and Adam Lowry, Co-Founder, method products Inc.

  • Prem Chand, CEO, President and Founder, Milestone Technologies, Inc.

  • Neil Grimmer, CEO and Co-founder, Nest Collective

  • Neil Koehler, Chief Executive Officer, Pacific Ethanol, Inc.

  • Lisa Im, CEO, Performant Financial Corporation

  • Robert Duggan, CEO & Chairman of the Board, Pharmacyclics, Inc.

  • Mike Sechrist, Chief Executive Officer, and Elena Whorton, President, ProTransport-1

  • Arno Harris, CEO, Recurrent Energy

  • Payam Zamani, Founder & CEO, Reply Inc

  • Anthony Wood, Founder and CEO, Roku

  • Geoffrey T. Barker, Co-Founder & COO, RPX Corporation

  • Christian Lawrence, CEO, and Ciaran Power, President, SFL Data

  • Dale Carlsen, Founder & CEO, Sleep Train

  • Paul Pluschkell, CEO, Founder, Spigit

  • Larry Augustin, CEO, SugarCRM

  • David Goldberg, CEO, SurveyMonkey

  • Dan Castles, CEO, Telestream, Inc.

  • Burton M. Goldfield, President and CEO, TriNet

  • Lars Buttler, Founder & CEO, Trion Worlds, Inc.

  • Bill Demas, President and CEO, Turn

  • Nicholas Woodman, Founder & CEO, GoPro

  • Tarkan Maner, President and CEO, Wyse Technology

  • David Sacks, Founder and CEO, Yammer

  • Ivan Koon, CEO, YouSendIt

  • Tien Tzuo, Founder and CEO, Zuora

  • Mark Pincus, Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Product Officer, Zynga Inc.

Now in its 26th year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Program has expanded to recognize business leaders in more than 140 cities in more than 50 countries throughout the world.

Regional award winners are eligible for consideration for the Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur Of The Year Program. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur Of The Year Overall Award winner, will be announced at the annual awards gala in Palm Springs, California, on November 17, 2012. The awards are the culminating event of the Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum®, the nation’s most prestigious gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies.

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

In Northern California, sponsors include ManpowerGroup, The Big Picture, Smart Business Network, Inc., ADP, RoseRyan, Scherzer International, Orrick and Barney & Barney.

About Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year
Ernst & Young 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 140 cities in more than 50 countries.

About Ernst & Young 
Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 152,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve their potential.

Ernst & Young refers to the global organization of 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 www.ey.com

This news release has been issued by Ernst & Young LLP, a US client-serving member firm of Ernst & Young Global Limited.

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