Matt Mullenweg, founder, Automattic
MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT, FINALIST Matt Mullenweg summarizes his philosophy of business with a quote from Walt Disney: “We don’t make movies to make money; we make money to make more movies.” Mullenweg, founder of WordPress and Automattic, has applied this to his way of thinking and makes money to provide great open-source software for the […]
Ron Seide: The priority formula
How to drink from a fire hose
Tasso Roumeliotis, founder and CEO, Location Labs
TECHNOLOGY, FINALIST Tasso Roumeliotis was doing just fine helping his parents run their retail shop in Montreal when fate intervened. His father had become blind and now it was up to this 15-year-old boy to support his mother and siblings by taking over the operation of the store. Fortunately for his family, Roumeliotis took this […]
Bill Demas, president and CEO, Turn Inc.
MARKETING SERVICES, FINALIST Bill Demas has a keen eye for identifying new industries and trends and isn’t afraid to take entrepreneurial risks. He joined Turn Inc., his third start-up company, in 2007 and after a year, applied these skills as president and CEO of the Redwood City, Calif.-based company. Demas led Turn’s shift from what […]
Janna Ronert, founder and CEO & Dr. Marc Ronert, president and medical director, Image Skincare
DISTRIBUTION AND MANUFACTURING, AWARD RECIPIENT Janna Ronert is a Nebraska-raised farm girl who started her business before she had a passport in a one-bedroom apartment in Houston in 2003. Now, Image Skincare sells cosmoceuticals (cosmetic products with pharmaceutical-grade ingredients) in the United States and more than 30 countries. It has 150 employees and representatives. Ronert’s […]
Hannes Hunschofsky, president, HOERBIGER Corp. of America Inc.
CORPORATE INNOVATOR, FINALIST The HOERBIGER Group is active throughout the world as a leading player in the fields of compression technology, automation technology and drive technology. Hannes Hunschofsky first came to Florida in 1999 to develop the U.S. subsidiary, HOERBIGER Corp. of America Inc. Through his tenure as president, he has led by example, demonstrating […]
Lee Chen, founder and CEO, A10 Networks
TECHNOLOGY, FINALIST Lee Chen is a born leader and entrepreneur, which he has demonstrated throughout his career. He has had a hand in forming three very successful companies — Foundry Networks, Centillion Networks and, most recently, A10 Networks. As the founder and CEO of A10 Networks, Chen is a hard worker who values his team […]
Tarkan Maner, president and CEO, Wyse Technology
TECHNOLOGY, AWARD RECIPIENT At age 15, Tarkan Maner created one of Istanbul’s first commercial maps to advertise local businesses. As founder of one of Istanbul’s “first Yelps,” Maner proved early that he had the entrepreneurial vision to recognize a need and find a winning strategy to solve it. And as president and CEO of Wyse […]
Jordan Zimmerman, founder and chairman, Zimmerman Advertising
CORPORATE INNOVATOR, AWARD RECIPIENT Jordan Zimmerman has been an entrepreneur from an early age. He started a door-to-door greeting card business at 8 years old, and later a successful newspaper route where he managed his first employees, his friends. These ventures taught him leadership and to overcome fear of failure and rejection. He’s continued to […]
Timothy L. Main, CEO, Jabil
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT, AWARD RECIPIENT Timothy L. Main left a comfortable, secure job as a lending officer with an established bank to join the ranks of a small, untested electronic manufacturing services company in 1987 — much to the concern of his family. However 25 years later, he’s climbed his way to the top as CEO […]