Press Release
Contact: Robert Albright |
Phone: 919-549-7500 ext.123 |
Who Will Be the Next Entrepreneurial Success Story?
CED to present 17th annual Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards on Aug. 8
July 30, 2003, Research Triangle Park, NC — The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) has announced the award titles for its upcoming 17th annual Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards, which will continue the tradition of recognizing outstanding entrepreneurs and members of the CED community for their achievements throughout the year. Award winners will be announced Aug. 8 at Raleigh's RBC Center at 6 p.m.
Over the past 16 years, CED has recognized numerous companies and entrepreneurs that later went on to make regional and national headlines, including such companies as Quintiles Transnational Corp., Sphinx Pharmaceuticals, Red Hat, Magellan Laboratories, POZEN, Inspire Pharmaceuticals and Pinpoint Networks.
Quintiles, headquartered in Durham, received the 1996 Entrepreneurial Excellence Award from CED. Dennis Gillings, founder and CEO of Quintiles said he fondly remembers receiving the award on behalf of his company.
“Compared to other honors, CED's 1996 Entrepreneurial Excellence Award is especially memorable because it showed Quntiles's importance in North Carolina's high growth economy,” Gillings said. “The award further connected Quintiles to the area's entrepreneurial community.”
The 2003 awards represent the most innovative and entrepreneurial companies and individuals in the region. Award titles for this year include:
- 2003 Entrepreneurial Excellence Award
- 2003 Outstanding Service to Entrepreneurs
- 2003 Growth Company of the Year
- 2003 Product of the Year
- 2003 Technology of the Year
- 2003 Technology Services Company of the Year
- 2003 Life Science Services Company of the Year
- 2003 Exit of the Year
- 2003 Private Company Deal of the Year
- 2003 Spin-Off of the Year
- 2003 Entrepreneurial Inspiration Award
- 2003 Technology Horizons Award
- 2003 Chairman's Service Award
CED's Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards & Family Fun Festival will include hundreds of members of the Triangle's entrepreneurial community meeting for games, food and drinks to honor entrepreneurs and companies. The festival is open to all family. For more details, visit www.cednc.org/awards.
About CED: The Council for Entrepreneurial Development, located in Research Triangle Park, NC, is a private, non-profit organization formed in 1984 to stimulate the creation and growth of high-impact companies in the greater Research Triangle region. CED provides education, mentoring and capital formation resources to new and existing high-growth entrepreneurs through annual conferences, seminars, workshops and monthly programs on entrepreneurial management and finance. CED is the largest entrepreneurial support organization in the nation with more than 4,000 members representing 1,100 entrepreneurial companies, financiers and professional firms. www.cednc.org
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