Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® Northern California Award Semifinalists Announced

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Ernst & Young LLP is pleased to announce the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® Northern California Award semifinalists. This group of outstanding entrepreneurs was selected by an independent judging panel made up of previous winners of the award, leading CEOs and private capital investors and other regional business leaders. Finalists will be announced in May, with the winners revealed at a gala event on June 25, 2011 at The Fairmont San Jose.

"For the past 25 years, Ernst & Young has honored the best entrepreneurs through our Entrepreneur Of The Year Program," said Ernie Cortes, Ernst & Young LLP Entrepreneur Of The Year Northern California Program Director. "These entrepreneurs have a tremendous impact in Northern California. We are extraordinarily proud to honor innovative, market-leading entrepreneurs like these semifinalists."

The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2011 Northern California Award semifinalists are:

• Murthy Nukala, CEO & Founder, Adchemy
• Tom Bedecarre, CEO, AKQA
• Zohar Levkovitz, CEO, Amobee
• John Melo, CEO, Amyris, Inc.
• Chris Barbin, CEO, Appirio
• Robert Calderoni, Chairman & CEO, Ariba
• Eileen Gittins, Founder, President & CEO, Blurb
• Aaron Levie, CEO & Co-Founder, Box.net
• Tod Sacerdoti, CEO & Co-Founder, BrightRoll
• John Woolard, President & CEO, BrightSource Energy, Inc.
• Matthew & Zachary Hyman, Managing Partners, Central Payment
• John Bishop, Chief Executive Officer, Cepheid
• Clifford Reid, Co-Founder, President, CEO & Chairman, Complete Genomics
• Mark Allen, CEO & Founder, Corticon
• Steven Boal, CEO, Coupons.com Incorporated
• Charles Sweat, President & CEO, Earthbound Farm
• Fabio Rosati, President & CEO, Elance
• Kevin Hartz, CEO & Co-Founder, Eventbrite
• Bryce Williams, CEO & Founder, Extend Health
• Jeffrey Maggioncalda, President & CEO, Financial Engines, Inc.
• Mike Thompson, President & CEO, Groupware Technology
• Amit Chatterjee, Founder & CEO, Hara
• West Shell, Chairman & CEO, Healthline Networks, Inc.
• Steve McDermott, President & CEO, Hill Physicians Medical Group
• Phaneesh Murthy, President & CEO, iGATE Corporation
• Cary Rosenzweig, CEO, IMVU, Inc.
• Sohaib Abbasi, CEO & Chairman, Informatica Corporation
• David Lazovsky, Founder, CEO & President, Intermolecular
• Jeff Weiner, CEO, & Reid Hoffman, Co-Founder, LinkedIn Corporation
• Jim Marggraff, Founder & CEO, Livescribe Inc.
• Tasso Roumeliotis, Founder & CEO, Location Labs
• Matt Glickman, CEO, Merced Systems
• Adam Lowry & Eric Ryan, Co-Founders, method products
• Juvenal Chavez, CEO & Founder, Mi Pueblo Food Center
• Neil Grimmer & Sheryl OLoughlin, Co-Founders, Nest Collective
• A.K. Pradeep, CEO, NeuroFocus, Inc
• Tony. Coles, President, CEO & Member of the Board, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
• James Horn, CEO, Partnership HealthPlan of California
• Scott Thompson, President, PayPal
• Michael Levy, President, Pet Food Express
• Keith Belling, Co-Founder & CEO, Popchips, Inc.
• Dan Springer, CEO, Responsys
• Vlad Shmunis, CEO, RingCentral
• Anthony Wood, Founder & CEO, Roku, Inc
• John Amster, CEO, RPX Corporation
• Matt Sanchez, CEO, Say Media
• Kevin Surace, President & CEO, Serious Materials
• Ross Bott, President & CEO, SEVEN Networks
• Dave Habiger, President and CEO, Sonic Solutions
• Erik Swan, Co-Founder, CTO, Splunk
• Jessica Herrin, CEO & Founder, Stella & Dot
• Joshua Pickus, President & CEO, Support.com
• Robert Weiss, President & CEO, The Cooper Companies, Inc.
• William Demas, CEO & President, Turn, Inc.
• Peter Gassner, President & CEO, Veeva Systems
• Alexandros Moukas, CEO, Velti
• Bob Zollars, Chairman & CEO, Vocera, Inc.
• Peter Byck, President & CEO, Winery Exchange
• Christopher Cabrera, Founder, President, & CEO, Xactly Corporation
• Alex Mehr & Shayan Zadeh, Co-CEOs, Zoosk Inc.

The Entrepreneur Of The Year Program honors entrepreneurs regionally in June, leading up to the national awards in November. Additionally, venture-backed companies that win an Entrepreneur Of The Year Award regionally are also eligible for the Entrepreneur Of The Year Venture Capital Award of Excellence on a national level. The overall National US winner then moves on to compete for the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur Of The Year Award in June. Entrepreneurs are nominated and evaluated by those in each region, including local business and community leaders.

All regional honorees are invited to the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards gala, hosted by Jay Leno, on November 12, 2011, in Palm Springs, California. The gala is the culminating event of the Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum®, the nation's most prestigious gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies. For more information on the Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum, please visit www.ey.com/us/strategicgrowthforum.

This year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Program celebrates its 25th anniversary. The program has expanded to recognize business leaders in more than 140 cities and more than 50 countries throughout the world. Awards are given to entrepreneurs who have demonstrated excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.

Sponsors

Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are pleased to have the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation as a national sponsor.

In Northern California, sponsors include Manpower, SAP, The Big Picture Film and Video Arts Inc, Smart Business, ADP, RoseRyan, Scherzer International, and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

Contact information

To make reservations for the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards gala on June 25, 2011, contact Laura Gordon of Ernst & Young LLP at +1 408.947.5787 or [email protected] by June 3, 2011. Tickets are $225 per person or $2250 per table. For more information about the program, please visit www.ey.com/us/eoy.

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 141,000 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 LLP is a client-serving member firm of Ernst & Young Global Limited operating in the US. 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 Ernst & Young LLP

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