Ernst & Young Names 2013 Entrepreneurs of the Year for San Diego

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Santarus (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SNTS]]) CEO Gerald Proehl has been named as the 2013 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for San Diego in the life sciences category, and EcoATM CEO Tom Tullie won as Entrepreneur of the Year in technology.

Both executives were selected from a list of regional finalists by an independent panel of judges, and will go on to compete at the national level at an annual Entrepreneur of the Year awards gala scheduled for Nov. 16 in Palm Springs, CA, according to Ernst & Young, which founded the program. The award is intended to recognize outstanding entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and high-growth success in various areas, including innovation, financial performance, and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.

EcoATM operates automated kiosks that enable consumers to recycle their mobile devices. The company has nearly 550 kiosks in 38 states since its first kiosk debuted in September, 2009. In a statement from the company, Tullie said the award really recognizes the hard work and dedication of the 160 employees “who work tirelessly to make EcoATM a great company.”

Santarus is a specialty biopharmaceutical company developing proprietary compounds for a variety of diseases and disorders. Proehl joined Santarus in 1999, and became CEO and director in 2002. In a statement from the company, Proehl says, “We have worked through some challenging times and have recently celebrated exciting successes,” including the commercial launch of budesonide (Uceris), an extended-release formulation of the steroid budesonide for treating ulcers.

The San Diego winners were selected in six categories by an independent panel of judges from a field of 16 finalists by an independent panel of judges and honored at a gala event last week in La Jolla. All of the regional winners will go on to compete at the national level at an annual awards gala in Palm Springs, CA, on Nov. 16.

There are 25 U.S. regional programs for Entrepreneur of the Year, which typically generate more than 2,000 applicants each year. About 250 regional winners are crowned in June and move forward to compete for the title of national Entrepreneur Of The Year in November. The winners in all six categories are:

—Business Services: Kim Reed Perell, CEO of Adconion Direct.

—Technology: Tom Tullie, CEO and board chairman, EcoATM.

—Consumer Products & Services: Gary Rayner, former CEO, LifeProof.

—Life Sciences: Gerald Proehl, CEO, Santarus.

—Medical Products & Services: Mary Fisher, Former CEO, SkinMedica of Carlsbad, CA.

—Family Business: Kelly Grismer, President, and Chad Grismer, CEO, The Wheat Group.

Author: Bruce V. Bigelow

In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here. Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.