Meet the 2025 National judges

The success of the program relies on the efforts of our panel of independent judges. These past Entrepreneur Of The Year® Award recipients and civic and community leaders devote significant effort to review and deliberate the merits of each regional winner to select national finalists and winners. We deeply appreciate their dedication to the program.

Photographic portrait of Cheri Beranek

Cheri Beranek
CEO
Clearfield, Inc.
2023 National Award winner

Photographic portrait of Marshall Burke

Marshall Burke
Managing Director
Apollo

Photographic portrait of Cesar Cavallo

Cesar Carvalho
CEO
Wellhub
2022 Regional Award winner

Photographic portrait of Ralph Clark

Ralph Clark
President & CEO
SoundThinking
2019 Regional Award winner

Photographic portrait of Ben Cowart

Ben Cowart
CEO
EVH Corporate Development, LLC
2017 Regional Award winner

Photographic portrait of John DiCola

John DiCola
Managing Director
Advent International

Photographic portrait of Ankur Gopal

Ankur Gopal
Founder
Interapt LLC
2016 Regional Award winner

Photographic portrait of Jeff Grass

Jeff Grass
CEO
HUNGRY Marketplace, Inc.
2020 Regional Award winner

Photographic portrait of Henry Hernandez

Henry Hernandez
CEO
Inter-Con Security
2023 Regional Award winner

Photographic portrait of Jack Holby

Jack Holby
Director
Vista Credit Partners

 

Photographic portrait of JA Lacey

JA Lacy
CEO
LDI, Ltd.

Photographic portrait of Diana Lee

Diana Lee
CEO
Constellation
2021 Regional Award winner

Photographic portrait of Jeff Luse

Jeff Luse
Managing Director
Warburg Pincus

Photographic portrait of Duncan MacLean

Duncan MacLean
President and CEO
MacLean-Fogg

Photographic portrait of Crystal Maggelet

Crystal Maggelet
CEO
FJ Management Inc.
2018 National Award winner

 

Photographic portrait of Raj Malik

Raj Malik
Founder and President
Bioworld Merchandising
2016 Regional Award winner

 

Photographic portrait of Magda Marquet

Dr. Magda Marquet
CEO
Alma Life Sciences LLC
2005 Regional Award winner

Photographic portrait of Mike Massaro

Mike Massaro
CEO
Flywire
2019 National Award winner

Photographic portrait of Easter Maynard

Easter Maynard
Board Chair
IMC

Photographic portrait of Sheila Mikhail

Sheila Mikhail
CEO
Jurata Thin Film, Inc.
2021 National Overall Award winner

Photographic portrait of Das Nobel

Das Nobel
CEO
MTX Group
2021 National Award winner

Photographic portrait of Jim O'Leary

Jim O’Leary
CEO
Haskell
2021 Regional Award winner

Photographic portrait of Ryan Pape

Ryan Pape
Chairman, President, and CEO
XPEL
2021 Regional Award winner

Photographic portrait of Bryan Perkins

Bryan Perkins
CEO
Novaria Group
2020 Regional Award winner

Photographic portrait of Jimmy Placa

Jimmy Placa
CEO
Davion Inc.
2021 Regional Award winner

Photographic portrait of Michael Praeger

Michael Praeger
Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO
AvidXchange, Inc.
2018 Regional Award winner

Photographic portrait of David Regn

David Regn
CEO
Stream Companies
2022 Regional Award winner

Photographic portrait of Jody Richards

Jody Richards
CEO
Process Technology
2020 Regional Award winner

Photographic portrait of Kari Rihm

Kari Rihm
CEO
Rihm Family Companies
2017 Regional Award winner

Photographic portrait of Ali Satvat

Ali Satvat
Partner, Co-Head of Health Care & Global Head of Health Care Strategic Growth
KKR & Co. Inc.

Photographic portrait of Sarah Shadonix

Sarah Shadonix
CEO
Scout & Cellar
2020 Regional Award winner

Photographic portrait of Samir Shah

Samir Shah
CEO
CareScout

Photographic portrait of Sujah Shah

Sujal Shah
Former President & CEO
CymaBay Therapeutics

Photographic portrait of Ganash Shankar

Ganesh Shankar
CEO
Responsive
2020 Regional Award winner

Photographic portrait of Anthony Soohoo

Anthony Soohoo
CEO
MoneyGram

Photographic portrait of Arthur Souritzidis

Arthur Souritzidis
CEO
Momentum Solar
2019 Regional Award winner

 

Photographic portrait of Holly Thaggard

Holly Thaggard
Founder
Supergoop!
2022 National Overall Award winner

Photographic portrait of Jon Ziglar

Jon Ziglar
President
Summit Growth Advisors
2018 Regional Award winner