14 in NJ nab EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards

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Fourteen businesses were named New Jersey Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young LLP during a virtual ceremony held on July 26.

Awards went to:

• Randal Pinkett and Lawrence Hibbert of BCT Partners
• Jonathan Wilk of CompoSecure
• Jimmy Placa of Davion Inc.
• David Gockel of Langan Engineering & Environmental Services Inc.
• Michael Hennessy of MJH Life Sciences
• Denise Woodard of Partake Foods
• Gregory Lettieri of Recycle Track Systems Inc.
• Alex Hodara of Rocket Club
• Matthew Kaufman of StationMD PC
• Michael Martocci of SwagUp
• Donald Chu of Tronex International
• Arshad Masood of Visionet Systems Inc.

David Burke of DB Global and Andrew, George and Tom Gellert of Atalanta were awarded EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards. Burke also received the Community Impact Award and the Gellerts received the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Those selected were singled out by an independent judging panel of previous award winners, CEOs, investors and other regional business leaders.

“EY is proud to celebrate these unstoppable entrepreneurs and welcome them into our global Entrepreneur Of The Year alumni community,” said AJ Jordan, EY Americas Entrepreneur Of The Year program director, in a prepared statement. “Despite the unprecedented challenges of the past year, these heroic leaders have inspired us all with their unrivaled courage, ambition and unwavering commitment to their companies, clients and communities.”

Nominees were evaluated based on six criteria: entrepreneurial leadership; talent management; degree of difficulty; financial performance; societal impact and building a values-based company; and originality, innovation and future plans.

Regional award winners will be considered for the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards, which are announced in November. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year Award in June 2022.

In response to winning his two awards, Burke said his company DB Global is “leading by example and passion, hopefully that is contagious.”

“We are in the hospitality industry and we are hospitable. We rely on our community and if our community is healthy, our business is healthy. The EY Entrepreneur of the Year award and Community Impact Award are among the finest awards I have received in my 30-year career. I am so honored and humbled. My entire team at DB Global has worked very hard through incredibly challenging times,” he said.

Since its launch 35 years ago, the program has recognized over 10,000 business leaders in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries throughout the world.