SafeHarbor founders make finals for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award
Bill Miller, Brian Sterling, and Bo Wandell recognized for entrepreneurial excellence
SATSOP, Wash. (May 30, 2001) — SafeHarbor Technology Corporation's founders, Bill Miller, Brian Sterling and Bo Wandell are finalists for the Pacific Northwest's 2001 Ernst & Young annual Entrepreneur of the Year award. SafeHarbor, which provides Web-based customer support to organizations worldwide, is in the running with two local technology companies for the award in the Emerging Technology category.
"It's gratifying to be recognized for the hard work that goes into building a company," said Bo Wandell, SafeHarbor's president. "SafeHarbor is interesting because we proved the industry pundits wrong by establishing a thriving technology company in a rural community. Our employees, many of whom have never worked for a technology company before SafeHarbor, are the foundation of our success."
Twenty-one regional companies are among this year's finalists. One company from each of the seven categories will be chosen at the awards reception on June 14 at the Seattle Sheraton.
The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award was developed to recognize outstanding entrepreneurs whose achievements place them among the leaders in business.
Finalists and award recipients are determined by the judging panel based on several factors, some of which include financial growth, growth in number of employees, the story behind the success of the entrepreneur and the unique characteristic that set the entrepreneur apart from his or her competitors.
The Pacific Northwest's 2001 Ernst & Young finalists include:
- Dale Bathum, Bite LLC
- David Espey, SP Precision International Ltd.
- Kenneth Hey, Sunstream Corporation
- Allen Alley, Pixelworks, Inc.
- Jeff Hussey, F5 Networks, Inc.
- Roger H. Moore, Illuminet Holdings, Inc.
- Stephen Friend, MD, Ph.D, Rosetta Impharmatics, Inc.
- Kevin M. Goodwin, Sonosite, Inc.
- H. Stewart Parker, Targeted Genetics Corporation
- Terry Collins, Papa Murphy's International
- Mark Vadon, Blue Nile, Inc.
- Frank L. VanderSloot, Melaleuca, Inc. & Affiliates
- Lisa Hjorten, Pacific Edge Software
- Bill Miller, Brian Sterling, Bo Wandell, SafeHarbor Technology Corporation
- Inez Sandberg, Habitude, Inc.
- Evan Kaplan, Aventail Corporation
- John G. Rivenburgh III, Jeri S. Wait, edge2.net
- F. Joseph Verschueren, ImageX.com
- Charles K. Barbo, Shurgard Storage Center, Inc.
- Randal G. Conrads, Classmates Online, Inc.
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Jay Deutsch, Bensussen Deutsch & Associates, Inc.
Winners are inducted into the Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame at the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year International Conference in November. All regional Entrepreneur of the Year award winners become eligible for the National awards.
SafeHarbor provides graphical, interactive self-help solutions and a staff that gives 24-hour, one-to-one support through e-mail, chat and telephone. SafeHarbor has an experienced management team in place and a scalable business mode. The cost-effective, Web-based support completes the connection between companies and their customers.
About the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Award
The Entrepreneur of the Year award was created in the U.S. in 1986 by Ernst & Young LLP to honor entrepreneurs whose ingenuity and perseverance have created and sustained successful, growing business ventures. The program has grown from one award region in the U.S. in 1986 to 44 U.S. regions and 19 countries around the world in 2001. Programs are now hosted in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, the Caribbean, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Inaugural programs will be held in Japan and Australia this year.
About SafeHarbor
SafeHarbor Technology Corporation helps companies become more efficient with a smarter alternative to traditional one-to-one customer support. SafeHarbor's Semaphore Service™ provides integrated Web self-help and interactive customer and technical support. SafeHarbor's outsourced Web self-help solution is successful because it is graphical in nature. SafeHarbor's Knowledge Engineers construct and continuously update our clients' Knowledge Bases to answer their customers' commonly asked questions with easy-to-understand graphics and animation.
On average, 70 percent of our clients' end-users have their questions answered with Web self-help. The remaining 30 percent are answered by one-to-one contact--including Web case, chat, e-mail and phone. This success rate, together with SafeHarbor's monthly subscription-based pricing, helps clients control costs.
SafeHarbor's corporate headquarters are in Satsop, WA--90 miles southwest of Seattle. The company also has offices in Seattle, San Francisco, New York and London. To learn more, please visit www.safeharbor.com.
Press Contacts:
Kevin Keating
The Silver Company for SafeHarbor
(206) 624-0388
kevin@thesilvercompany.com
Sue Cummings
SafeHarbor Technology Corporation
(206) 922-5000
sue@safeharbor.com
For more information about how SafeHarbor can help your company increase productivity, customer retention, satisfaction and loyalty—while reducing support costs—please contact us at:
