Georgia entrepreneurs who received Ernst & Young LLP Entrepreneur of the Year awards this year for the development of their companies are all engaged in the global economy to varying degrees with Marietta-based MiMedx Group Inc. launching its overseas sales program and Atlanta-based Cloud Sherpas operating out of six domestic and nine international offices.
The EY professional services firm announced the winners of its annual awards for the Southeast in Nashville, Tenn., on June 24.
Parker H. “Pete” Petit, chairman and CEO of the MiMedx Group, a developer, processor of regenerative biomaterials and bioimplants, received a life-time achievement award and praised for his company having gotten FDA approval for two products, filing 50 patent applications and taking it public.
Mr. Petit has been involved in several company successes and is no stranger to awards having been inducted into the Georgia State University’s Robinson College of Business’ Hall of Fame and the Georgia Tech Engineering Hall of Fame. In October 2011, he was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering.
Reade Fahs, CEO, and Bruce Steffey, president, of the Duluth-based National Vision Inc. were honored for having turned around a failing optical retailer into a successful one that experienced an 800 percent increase in shareholder value since 2002. Aside from their 400 offices in the U.S, they have locations in China and Mexico.
They also were praised for their policy of adopting schools near to their offices where they assist school nurses provide eye exams and free eyeglasses for children in need.
David Northington was honored as the CEO of Cloud Sherpas, one of the most internationally focused companies. He was cited for having transformed a regional-boutique cloud service brokerage into a global partner serving more than 5,000 customers worldwide.
The company has U.S. offices in Atlanta, Boston, Denver, New York, San Diego and San Francisco, and overseas offices in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, Australia; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; London; Manila, the Philippines; Mumbai, India; Singapore; and Wellington, New Zealand.
Raj Sardana, chairman and CEO, of American CyberSystems Inc., based in Duluth, was honored for his strategic vision in providing staffing and workforce management solutions to U.S. companies by bringing in 125 qualified candidates from India to he U.S.
The company is now ranked among the top 25 U.S. staffing firms and has overseas offices in New Delhi, Noida and Kanpur, India.
