Entrepreneur Of The Year® East Central

Honoring the ambitious entrepreneurs building a more equitable, sustainable and prosperous world for all.


About Entrepreneur Of The Year

Founded in 1986, Entrepreneur Of The Year has celebrated more than 11,000 ambitious visionaries who are leading successful, dynamic businesses in the US, and it has since expanded to nearly 60 countries globally.

This program honors many different types of business leaders for their ingenuity, courage and entrepreneurial spirit. We celebrate original founders who bootstrapped their business from inception or who raised outside capital to grow their company; transformational CEOs who infused innovation into an existing organization to catapult its trajectory; and multigenerational family business leaders who reimagined a legacy business model to fortify it for the future.

The East Central program includes Kentucky, Northeast & South Central Ohio*, Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia (*excludes Northwest Ohio). Each year, a panel of independent judges selects regional finalists and winners who are recognized during an awards celebration in June. The regional winners compete for national recognition at the Strategic Growth Forum® in November, where National finalists and award winners are announced. The overall National winner represents the US at the World Entrepreneur Of The Year competition.

Visit the Entrepreneur Of The Year Hall of Fame to search our directory of past award winners.


2024 East Central winners

Program information

2024 regional finalists are building the economy of tomorrow

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*Over the most recent three-year period


Entrepreneur Of The Year East Central team

Mike Denove
Program Director

Shannon Crone
Program Director 

Cassy Hubka
Program Manager

JaMay Edwards
Program Coordinator


Founded and produced by
EY logo

Presented by

PNC logo
Cresa
Marsh
SAP logo
KAUFFMAN logo

Regionally sponsored by

Platinum sponsors

VRC logo
dfin-logo

Entrepreneurs Accelerated

Fast-forward growth through knowledge, connections and support. Hone your competitive edge at every stage of your company’s growth — so you can dream bigger, scale faster and achieve more.

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