Earlier tonight, the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2017 Central Texas awards gala occurred at the JW Marriott in downtown Austin where the regional awards winners were chosen by a distinguished panel of judges including entrepreneurs and prominent leaders from business, finance, and the local community. This award recognizes the accomplishments of exceptional men and women who create the products and services that keep our global economy moving forward. Now in its 31st year, the program has expanded to recognize business leaders in more than 145 cities and over 60 countries worldwide.

One of the most esteemed business awards programs for entrepreneurs, WP Engine is thrilled to announce that both Heather J. Brunner and Jason Cohen were selected as an Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 award winners in Central Texas!

As Chairwoman and CEO for WP Engine, Heather is building a purpose-led, high-performance, a global organization delivering the leading digital experience platform for websites and applications built on WordPress. As a 26-year technology veteran, Heather has lead organizations through all stages of early growth, rapid global scale up, through to IPO and acquisitions. Heather gives back by serving as a Capital Factory Partner and as a Board Director of the Entrepreneurs Foundation.

“I’m honored to be recognized as an EY Entrepreneur of The Year award winner, especially from among so many inspiring and talented leaders,” said Heather J. Brunner, Chairwoman and CEO of WP Engine. “We’re building a special company here at WP Engine that is customer inspired and devoted to building the leading digital experience platform for WordPress. As WordPress expands to power more and more of the web, we see an enormous potential to make it enterprise-grade for some the largest and most creative brands in the world.”

Jason Cohen is the Founder and CTO of WP Engine, the leading digital experience platform for WordPress. In addition to WP Engine, Jason founded three prior companies which all surpassed $1 million per year in revenue: Smart Bear, ITWatchDogs, and Sheer Genius Software. He is also the Co-Founder of Capital Factory, a community for entrepreneurs and tech startups in Austin.

“I’m thrilled to be honored along with my colleague, Heather, as an EY Entrepreneur of The Year award winner,” said Jason Cohen, Founder and CTO of WP Engine. “Being an entrepreneur is about bringing change to the world and with WP Engine we’re helping to empower a whole new generation of entrepreneurs who can build their online business and website on WordPress.”

The winners of the Central Texas region are eligible to advance to the Entrepreneur Of The Year National competition. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall award winner will be announced November 18, 2017, in Palm Springs, CA. The awards are the culminating event of the Strategic Growth Forum TM, the nation’s most prestigious gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies.