Manoj Bhargava, Founder and CEO, Innovation Ventures LLC and Living Essentials LLC
Winner, Master Manoj Bhargava’s experience didn’t come from a college degree. It came from life. Moving from India to the U.S. at 14, he worked various odd jobs — from demolition to taxicab driver — before returning to India in his 20s to pursue spiritual education. After 12 years, he brought his vast life experience […]
Ronald Seide, president and CEO, Summit Data Communications
Ronald Seide, president and CEO, Summit Data Communications FINALIST: Technology Summit Data Communications President and CEO Ronald Seide launched the company in 2006 with four other former employees of Cisco Systems, including Andy Winson, CFO, Chris Bolinger, director of marketing, and Jim O’Riordan, vice president of technical services. The company has since grown to become […]
Jonathan Ord, CEO, DealerSocket Inc.
FINALIST – Technology Jonathan Ord CEO DealerSocket Inc. Jonathan Ord succeeds by always looking for the next step to help his customers. Rather than being stuck in a mode where he’s always trying to close or wrap up deals, Ord wants to take the partnership his clients have with DealerSocket Inc. and make it even […]
Dianne Marsh and Bill Wagner, SRT Solutions Inc.
Semifinalist, Staffing and Support Services In the last five years, Ann Arbor, Mich.-based software developer SRT Solutions Inc. weathered the recession and the bankruptcy of its biggest client, General Motors. And SRT didn’t merely endure these adverse conditions, it thrived under them. Led by co-founders Dianne Marsh and Bill Wagner, SRT Solutions more than tripled […]
Alan Smith, CEO, QR Energy LP
FINALIST / EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION After building two companies from 2003 to 2008, Alan L. Smith went to work for the private equity firm that originally backed him, Quantum Energy Partners. In 2009, after two years as a private equity investor, Smith was asked to take over Quantum Resources, a direct investment oil and gas […]
Dan Merkle, chairman and CEO, Lexipol LLC
FINALIST – Life Sciences & Public Service Dan Merkle chairman and CEO Lexipol LLC In the late 1990s, Dan Merkle began to realize that California’s 600 law enforcement agencies each had different ways of doing business. There were a mind-boggling number of differences in these agencies’ policies regarding vehicle pursuit, use of force, harassment, dealing […]
Jane E. McNamara, President and CEO, GreenPath Debt Solutions
Semifinalist, Services Jane E. McNamara looked at Credit Counseling Center Inc. and she saw a good business that could be even better with a little work. It needed standardized service delivery methods and processes to bring order and take out confusion from the work the company did to help those in dire financial straits. She […]
Claudine George, Managing Member, ICONMA Inc.
Winner, Staffing & Support Services Claudine George had worked at companies where employees were not treated with the level of respect she felt they deserved. She wanted to change that and create a business where they would be valued and made to feel as if they were her No. 1 asset. The company began as […]
How to develop an effective communication strategy
If everyone in your organization was as invested in and knowledgeable about your company’s strategies as you are, your team would be unstoppable, right? But how do you get everyone from the vice president of sales to the front-line worker to embrace that concept? I would argue that a targeted communication strategy can help get […]
Vince Pace, James Cameron, co-chairmen; Cameron Pace Group
Finalists – Media Vince Pace and James Cameron are used to being industry pioneers. As co-chairmen of Cameron Pace Group, they collaborate as filmmakers but also as inventors. Known for their respective careers — Cameron as a blockbuster filmmaker and Pace as a video and camera production innovator — both men share a passion for […]