Originally Posted by Austin Business Journal
Nine Austin business leaders were crowned June 15 as regional winners in Ernst & Young LLP’s Entrepreneur Of The Year awards.
A total of 19 were named winners of the Entrepreneur Of The Year Gulf South Award. The awards cover Central and South Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, although all the winners were from Austin or Houston. Forty-five executives were nominated as finalists.
The award program, often referred to as EOY, is a prestigious competition won in the by the likes of Tim League and Karrie League of Alamo Drafthouse, jewelry maven Kendra Scott and Clayton Christopher of Waterloo Sparkling Water, and other companies.
For the 2023 awards, a judging panel of previous winners as well as independent CEO’s. investors and business leaders evaluated candidates “based on their demonstration of building long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth, and impact, among other core contributions and attributes,” EY said.
2023 Entrepreneur Of The Year Gulf South Award winners
- Peter Wang, CEO and co-founder, Anaconda (Austin)
- Omair Tariq, CEO and co-founder, Cart.com (Austin)
- Armir Harris, CEO and founder, CharterUp (Austin)
- Keith Smith, president and co-founder, and Mark D. Walker, CEO, co-founder and chairman, Direct Digital Holdings (Houston)
- Mohammad A. Millwala, CEO, DM Clinical Research (Houston)
- Bret Biggart, CEO, Freedom Solar Power (Austin)
- Joyce Durst, CEO, Growth Acceleration Partners (Austin)
- Steve Altemus, president and CEO, Intuitive Machines Inc. (Houston)
- Ludmila Golovine, president and CEO, MasterWord Services Inc. (Houston)
- Roger W. Jenkins, president and CEO, Murphy Oil Corp. (Houston)
- Allison Ellsworth, co-founder and chief brand officer, and Stephen Ellsworth, founder and chief product officer, Poppi (Austin)
- Gaurab Chakrabarti, CEO and co-founder, and Sean Hunt, cofounder and chief technology officer, Solugen (Houston)
- Daryl Dudum, founder and co-CEO, and Matthew Haddad, founder and co-CEO, Specialty1 Partners (Houston)
- Mike Rypka, CEO and founder, Torchy’s Tacos (Austin)
- Ross Buhrdorf, CEO and founder, ZenBusiness (Austin)
The regional winners will be considered for the Entrepreneur of the Year National Awards, which will be presented in November. The overall winner f the national awards will then move on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year Award in June 2024.
Last year, the Gulf South Region was called the Central South Region. Prior to that, Central Texas was separate from what was then known as the Gulf Coast Area.