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EY Announces Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2024 Southwest Award Finalists
17 Apr 2024
Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates ambitious entrepreneurs who are shaping the future
Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced the finalists for the Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2024 Southwest Award. Now in its 38th year, Entrepreneur Of The Year is the preeminent competitive business award for audacious leaders who disrupt markets, revolutionize industries and have a transformational impact on lives. Over the past four decades, the program has recognized the daring entrepreneurs with big ideas and bold actions that reshape our world.
These 47 entrepreneurs were selected as finalists by an independent panel of judges. The candidates were evaluated based on their demonstration of building long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact, among other core contributions and attributes.
“This year’s finalists are innovating, disrupting and delivering results for their stakeholders, and the economy at large. They are a powerful representation of the entrepreneurial spirit that has made the region one of the nation's economic leaders.,” said Rex Alexander, partner and Southwest program director at EY. “Selected by an independent panel of judges, these CEOs and founders demonstrate unwavering dedication to their companies, customers and communities. We are honored to recognize their successes and help share their stories.”
Entrepreneur Of The Year honors many different types of business leaders for their ingenuity, courage and entrepreneurial spirit. The program celebrates original founders who bootstrapped their business from inception or who raised outside capital to grow their company; transformational CEOs who infused innovation into an existing organization to catapult its trajectory; and multigenerational family business leaders who reimagined a legacy business model to fortify it for the future.
The 2024 Southwest finalists are:
Steve Burke | Agora Data | Arlington, Texas
Jodi Parker and Tom Parker | All American Tire Recyclers | Fort Worth, Texas
Jason Signor | Big Sky Asset Management, LLC | Dallas, Texas
Chintan Shah | Brainvire Infotech Inc | Irving, Texas
Romy Cheema | CanTex Capital | Dallas, Texas
Sam Scoten | Checksammy | Dallas, Texas
Srikanth Chakkilam | Cigniti Technologies | Irving, Texas
Edison Chen | Clapper Media Group Inc. | Carrollton, Texas
John Zutter | Employer Direct Healthcare | Dallas, Texas
J. Brooks | Glassview | Fort Worth, Texas
Robin Alex, Shaun Clark and Varun Vairavan | HighLevel | Dallas, Texas
Chris Gronkowski | Ice Shaker Inc | Southlake, Texas
Eric Fortenberry | JobTread Software | Dallas, Texas
Ken Luce | LDWW | Dallas, Texas
Cole Gahagan | Learfield | Plano, Texas
Pedro Lerma | LERMA/ Advertising | Dallas, Texas
Flip Howard | Lucid Private Offices | Dallas, Texas
Dave Marcinkowski | Madera Residential | Lubbock, Texas
Dr. Chris Villanueva | MB2 Dental Solutions | Carrollton, Texas
Jean Baik and Kenneth Baik | Miss A Stores, Inc. | Dallas, Texas
Ryan Kent | Mizzen and Main, LLC | Dallas, Texas
Veena Somareddy | Neuro Rehab VR | Fort Worth, Texas
Alexander Kunz | OP2 Labs | Fort Worth, Texas
Thomas John | Plutus Health Inc | Dallas, Texas
Brandon Schwertner | Priority Power Management LLC | Arlington, Texas
Sanjay Jupudi | Qentelli LLC | Dallas, Texas
Kendall Koff | Railpros, Inc. | Irving, Texas
Mickey Leech | Schumacher Electric Corporation | Fort Worth, Texas
Alfonso Montiel | SilverStone Health | Dallas, Texas
Mike Beckham | Simple Modern | Moore, Oklahoma
Joshua Curlett | Sound Productions LLC | Irving, Texas
Daniel Powell | Spark Biomedical | Dallas, Texas
Ashli Blumenfeld and Ben Rosenthal | Standard Meat Company | Fort Worth, Texas
Jaryd Stein and Ben Weinstein | Stride Healthcare Management LLC | Dallas, Texas
Rob Holmes | Texas Capital Bank | Dallas, Texas
Luke Hejl | TimelyCare | Fort Worth, Texas
Mark Caputo | U.S. Renal Care | Plano, Texas
Karthik Koduru | USMLE Galaxy, LLC (Doing Business as Archer Review) | Dallas, Texas
Jeff Jones | VIRA Insight, LLC | Lewisville, Texas
John Steinmetz | Vista Bank | Dallas, Texas
Lorie Welch | Woodwright | Dallas, Texas
Learn more about the finalists at ey.com/us/eoysouthwest.
Regional award winners will be announced on June 15 during a special celebration. The winners will then be considered by the National independent panel of judges for the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards, which will be presented in November at the annual Strategic Growth Forum®, one of the nation’s most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies.
In addition to Entrepreneur Of The Year, EY US supports other entrepreneurs through the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women™ program and the EY Entrepreneurs Access Network to help connect women founders and Black and Hispanic/Latino entrepreneurs, respectively, with the resources, network and access needed to unlock their full potential.
Sponsors
Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards include presenting sponsors PNC Bank, Cresa, SAP and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. In the Southwest program, sponsors also include Platinum sponsors DFIN and Haynes and Boone LLP, Gold sponsors BGSF, Marsh and Roach Howard Smith & Barton and Silver sponsors Big Picture Inc., Pierpont Communications and The Slate.
About Entrepreneur Of The Year®
Founded in 1986, Entrepreneur Of The Year® has celebrated more than 11,000 ambitious visionaries who are leading successful, dynamic businesses in the US, and it has since expanded to nearly 80 countries and territories globally.
The US program consists of 17 regional programs whose panels of independent judges select the regional award winners every June. Those winners compete for national recognition at the Strategic Growth Forum® in November where National finalists and award winners are announced. The overall National winner represents the US at the World Entrepreneur Of The Year® competition. Visit ey.com/us/eoy.
About EY
EY exists to build a better working world, helping to 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.
