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Nicholas Woodman, president and CEO, Woodman Labs Inc. dba GoPro

MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT, AWARD RECIPIENT Looking back to when he started his business, GoPro President and CEO Nicholas Woodman recalls years working 16-hour days, seven days a week, with long stretches of sleep deprivation. While he may be getting more sleep these days, he is still as committed to GoPro’s success. Today, the business that […]

David B. Goldberg, CEO, SurveyMonkey

MARKETING SERVICES, FINALIST With three successful media companies under his belt, David Goldberg had become an adventurous entrepreneur embracing challenges to innovate industries. But when he came across family start-up SurveyMonkey, founded in 1999 by Ryan Finley, he realized the company’s potential to become a leader in an entirely new market. Goldberg bought the company […]

Tom Bedecarre, CEO, AKQA

MARKETING SERVICES, AWARD RECIPIENT As the CEO of AKQA, Tom Bedecarre manages his company and his clientele in similar ways, through his focus on building genuine, long-lasting relationships. Noteworthy partners of AKQA include  Facebook and Twitter, all of which AKQA has been able to uphold long-term relationships — some lasting more than 10 years. Bedecarre’s […]

Robert W. Duggan, CEO and chairman of the board, Pharmacyclics Inc.

LIFE SCIENCES, FINALIST Robert W. Duggan is always thinking about his customers and how they will benefit from the products and services his company provides. When he seeks new employees to work at Pharmacyclics Inc., he looks for the same commitment and dedication. It’s those two factors that have helped Pharmacyclics make such a difference […]

Guo-Liang Yu, president and CEO, Epitomics Inc.

LIFE SCIENCES, FINALIST Guo-Liang Yu has come a long way from the young, shy boy who disliked talking to strangers. His ability to overcome this shy disposition isn’t the only obstacle he’s had to overcome to follow his passion for scientific discovery.  His drive to find answers to some of the world’s most pressing scientific […]

Lawrence Blatt, founder and CEO, Alios BioPharma

LIFE SCIENCES, AWARD RECIPIENT Lawrence Blatt considers himself a born and made entrepreneur — it’s in his DNA, but he also met wonderful mentors along the way who taught him the keys to becoming a successful entrepreneur. It’s that spirit, both innate and acquired, that drove Blatt to leave a prominent and secure job to […]

Hubert Thieblot, founder and CEO, Curse Inc.

EMERGING, FINALIST The evolution of Curse Inc. is the story of founder and CEO Hubert Thieblot’s coming of age. In 2003, he was a 17-year-old high school student in Paris. Rather than concentrating on his studies and attending class, he was engrossed in video games. Thieblot became enthralled with the massively multiplayer online game, “World […]

John Woolard, president and CEO, BrightSource Energy Inc.

EMERGING, FINALIST One of the most influential experiences for John Woolard was working as a whitewater rafting guide in Africa on the Zambezi River. While truly majestic and awe-inspiring, the Zambezi River ecosystem was imperiled, and he witnessed firsthand the devastating environmental issues. This experience made Woolard realize that he wanted to dedicate his life […]

Geoffrey Barker, co-founder and COO, RPX Corp.

EMERGING, AWARD RECIPIENT Geoffrey Barker had some solid experience as an entrepreneur when he noticed something in common with his previous two technology-related start-ups: Both companies had been tagged by patent trolls (those who purchase a patent just to sue another company claiming that a product infringes on the purchased patent). The legal issues escalated […]