Ernst & Young Announces AppNexus CEO Brian O'Kelley and CTO Mike Nolet Both Named Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2012 Award Winners in New York

NEW YORK, June 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Ernst & Young LLP announced that CEO Brian O'Kelley and CTO Mike Nolet, co-founders of AppNexus, the world leader in advertising technology, received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2012 Award in the Emerging category in New York. The award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Brian O'Kelley and Mike Nolet were selected by an independent panel of judges, and the awards were presented at a special gala on June 19, 2012 at the Marriott Marquis.

AppNexus CEO Brian O'Kelley said, "It's a great honor for Mike and I to be recognized as leading entrepreneurs. That said, building a great company is truly a team effort, and it's a testament to the passion and commitment of the AppNexus team that we've achieved so much in such a short time."

Now in its 26th year, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Program has honored the inspirational leadership of such entrepreneurs as Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, Michael Dell of Dell Inc., Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines, Fred Smith of FedEx, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Richard Schulze of Best Buy, Andrew Mason of Groupon, Mindy Grossman of HSN, Inc., Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn, and many more.

As a New York award winner, both CEO Brian O'Kelley and CTO Mike Nolet are now eligible for consideration for the National Entrepreneur Of The Year 2012 Award. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the 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 New York sponsors include Marsh, HSBC, Scherzer International, Merrill Corporation, SolomonEdwardsGroup, Empire Valuation Consultants, WithumSmith +Brown, Murray Devine, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, Morgan Lewis, DLA Piper and Cooley.

About AppNexus
AppNexus is the world leader in real-time advertising technology, serving the largest and most innovative buyers and sellers of online advertising, including Microsoft Advertising Exchange, Collective and Technorati Media.  Led by the pioneers of the Web's original ad exchanges at Yahoo!'s Right Media and Google's DoubleClick, AppNexus offers the industry's most advanced technology platform that empowers companies to build, manage and optimize their entire online advertising businesses.  Based in New York City, AppNexus is backed by an outstanding group of investors including Microsoft, Venrock, Kodiak Venture Partners, First Round Capital, Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz and Ron Conway.  For more information, visit www.appnexus.com.  

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.

SOURCE AppNexus