Press release

7 May 2021 Los Angeles, US

EY Announces Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2021 Greater Los Angeles Semifinalists

In its 35th year, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates the next class of semifinalists in a long line of unstoppable creators and disrupters

Press contact
EY Americas

Multidisciplinary professional services organization

Related topics Entrepreneur Unstoppables

Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced 39 semifinalists for the Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2021 Greater Los Angeles Award. Celebrating its 35th anniversary, the Entrepreneur Of The Year program honors audacious entrepreneurs who test the limits of the possible and find ways to catapult us from now to next and beyond. These business leaders were selected as semifinalists by a panel of independent judges. Greater Los Angeles finalists will be announced on June 7, 2021 and award winners will be announced during a special virtual celebration on July 29, 2021.

Entrepreneur Of The Year is one of the preeminent competitive business awards for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies. The nominees are evaluated based on six criteria: entrepreneurial leadership; talent management; degree of difficulty; financial performance; societal impact and building a values-based company; and originality, innovation and future plans. Since its launch, the program has expanded to recognize business leaders in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries around the world.

The 2021 Greater Los Angeles Region Semifinalists are:

  • John Boiler and Evin Shutt, 72andSunny | Playa Vista, CA
  • Young Chang, A-Sha Foods USA | Alhambra, CA
  • Sharon Hoffman, Better Nutritionals | Gardena, CA
  • Monica Ashauer and Grace Lee, Blue Jay Beach Inc. | Los Angeles, CA
  • Scott Cohen and Blake Johnson, Byte | Los Angeles, CA
  • Jamey Edwards, Cloudbreak Health | El Segundo, CA
  • Jasmin Larian Hekmat, Cult Gaia | West Hollywood, CA
  • Armen Adjemian, Drew Kutcharian and Armen Petrosian, DISQO | Glendale, CA
  • Jack Haldrup, Dr. Squatch | Venice, CA
  • Jordan Ramer, EV Connect, Inc. | El Segundo, CA
  • Sam Polk, Everytable | Los Angeles, CA
  • Punit Shah, EZ Texting | Santa Monica, CA
  • Henrik Fisker, Fisker Inc. | Manhattan Beach, CA
  • Rob Emrich, Gimbal | Los Angeles, CA
  • Erik Huberman, Hawke Media | Santa Monica, CA
  • Ramin Bastani, Healthvana Inc. | Los Angeles, CA
  • Jodi Guber Brufsky and Michelle Wahler, I Am Beyond, LLC/Beyond Yoga | Culver City, CA
  • Paul Hanges, JibJab | Los Angeles, CA
  • Brian Nickerson, MagicLinks | Venice, CA
  • Simon Anderson, Mission Cloud Services, Inc. | Los Angeles, CA
  • Steve Barnard, Mission Produce, Inc. | Oxnard, CA
  • Matt Pohlson, Omaze | Los Angeles, CA
  • Alex Canter, Ordermark | Los Angeles, CA
  • Ariel Kaye, Parachute | Culver City, CA
  • Jeff Abrams, Rails International, LLC | Vernon, CA
  • Tim Ellis, Relativity Space | Long Beach, CA
  • Katerina Schneider, Ritual | Culver City, CA
  • David Alpert, Skybound Entertainment | Los Angeles, CA
  • Benjamin Kruger, Sollis Health | Beverly Hills, CA
  • Amir Mansouri, SprintRay, Inc. | Los Angeles, CA
  • Josh Payne, StackCommerce | Venice, CA
  • Steve Arhancet, Team Liquid Enterprises, LLC | Santa Monica, CA
  • John Tabis, The Bouqs Company | Marina Del Rey, CA
  • Adam Zinker and Cory Zinker, The Perfect Part | North Hollywood, CA
  • Ben Nazarian and Dr. Jason Wersland, Therabody | Los Angeles, CA
  • Julian Buckner, Vesta Home | Vernon, CA
  • John Trautman, Visual Data Media Services | Burbank, CA
  • Wyatt Taubman, Vive Organic | El Segundo, CA
  • Kristel de Groot and Michael Kuech, Your Super | Venice, CA

Regional award winners are eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards, to be announced in November at the Strategic Growth Forum®, one of the nation’s most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies. 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 2022.

“The past year has demanded extraordinary agility and grit, and these unstoppable entrepreneurs have risen to the challenge,” said Andy Park, EY Partner and Entrepreneur Of The Year Greater Los Angeles Program Co-Director. “These semifinalists have shown that ambition, ingenuity and courage are critical to creating a better future for their people and communities.”

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 is nationally sponsored by SAP America. In Greater Los Angeles, sponsors also include Marsh, Tangram, Avitas, Cresa, DFIN and Olmstead Williams.

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. National Overall 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/us/private

About EY

EY exists to build a better working world, helping create long-term value for clients, people and society and build trust in the capital markets.

Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in over 150 countries provide trust through assurance and help clients grow, transform and operate.

Working across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax and transactions, EY teams ask better questions to find new answers for the complex issues facing our world today.

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. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation are available via ey.com/privacy. EY member firms do not practice law where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com