NEWS RELEASE

EY announces Denise Pollard, CEO and Founder of Center for Learning and Autism Support Services, Inc., as an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2017 Award finalist in Northern California

SAN FRANCISCO, May 16, 2017 – EY today announced that Denise Pollard, CEO and Founder of Center for Learning and Autism Support Services, Inc. is a finalist for the Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2017 Award in Northern California.  The awards program, which is celebrating its 31st year, recognizes entrepreneurs who are excelling in areas such as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.  Denise Pollard was selected as a finalist by a panel of independent judges.  Award winners will be announced at a special gala event on June 23rd at The Fairmont in San Jose, California.

Center for Learning and Autism Support Services, also known as CLASS, is a nationally recognized Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) provider delivering state-of-the-art ABA services, which are performed within the home, school, and/or clinic setting. We eagerly collaborate with professionals from other disciplines and disseminate data and research in order to ensure best practices and optimal outcomes for each client. We are dedicated to cultivating partnerships with other community providers to ensure continuity of services for their clients.

“As an undergraduate I took a lab that truly changed my life. Groundbreaking research in autism and Applied Behavior Analysis had been conducted by Dr. Ivar Lovaas. I saw how desperate families were to try to find ‘something’ that would help them understand their child. They were searching for answers. For many families, Applied Behavior Analysis was an answer for their child. This is where I got started and it was life changing. I knew that I wanted to make a difference.” – Denise Pollard, CEO and Founder of CLASS

The finalists are:

1. 8×8 Inc. | Bryan Martin, Chairman and Chief Technology Officer and Vikram Verma, CEO | San Jose, California
2. Ambarella | Fermi Wang, CEO | Santa Clara, California
3. App Annie | Bertrand Schmitt, CEO & co-founder | San Francisco, California
4. Big Switch Networks | Douglas Murray, Chief Executive Officer and Kyle Forster, Founder | Santa Clara, California
5. com | René Lacerte, CEO and founder | Palo Alto, California
6. C3 IoT | Thomas Siebel, CEO, Chairman, and Founder | Redwood City, California
7. Center for Learning and Autism Support Services, Inc. (CLASS) | Denise Pollard, President / Chief Executive Officer | San Mateo, California
8. CoverHound Inc. | Keith Moore, CEO & Executive Board Director | San Francisco, California
9. CrowdStrike | George Kurtz, President and CEO | Sunnyvale, California
10. Doximity | Jeff Tangney, CEO and Founder and Shari Buck, Co-Founder and Vice President of Product Management | San Francisco, California
11. Financial Technology Partners | Steven McLaughlin, Founder / CEO / Managing Partner | San Francisco, California
12. Five9 | Mike Burkland, President & CEO | San Ramon, California
13. hint Inc. | Kara Goldin, CEO | San Francisco, California
14. HotelTonight | Sam Shank, CEO | San Francisco, California
15. IronPlanet | Gregory Owens, Chairman and CEO | Pleasanton, California
16. Kateeva, Inc. | Conor Madigan, Chief Operating Officer, President & Co-Founder | Newark, California
17. Liftoff Mobile, Inc. | Mark Ellis, CEO | Palo Alto, California
18. Nevro Corp. | Rami Elghandour, President and CEO | Redwood City, California
19. Opendoor | Eric Wu, Founder and CEO | San Francisco, California
20. com | Ruzwana Bashir, CEO | San Francisco, California
21. SST, Inc./ShotSpotter | Ralph Clark, Chief Executive Officer | Newark, California
22. Tanium | David Hindawi, Executive Chairman & co-founder and Orion Hindawi, Chief Executive Officer & co-founder | Emeryville, California
23. Tradeshift, inc. | Christian Lanng, CEO, chairman, and co-founder | San Francisco, California
24. TRX FITNESS ANYWHERE LLC | Randal Hetrick, CEO/Founder | San Francisco, California

Now in its 31st year, the program has expanded to recognize business leaders in over 145 cities and more than 60 countries throughout the world.

Regional award winners are eligible for consideration in the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner, will be announced at the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards gala in Palm Springs, California, November 18, 2017. The awards are the culminating event of the Strategic Growth Forum, the nation’s most prestigious gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner moves on to compete for the World Entrepreneur Of The Year Award in Monaco in June 2018.

Sponsors

Founded and produced by EY, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are nationally sponsored in the US by SAP America, Merrill Corporation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. In Northern California, regional Gold sponsors include SolomonEdwards; Silver sponsors include Big Picture Inc. and Chatham Financial.

About Entrepreneur Of The Year®
EY’s Entrepreneur Of The Year® is one of the world’s most prestigious business awards programs for entrepreneurs, chosen from an independent panel of judges including entrepreneurs and prominent leaders from business, finance, and the local community. The program makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 145 cities in more than 60 countries. ey.com/eoy

About EY’s Growth Markets Network
EY’s worldwide Growth Markets Network is dedicated to serving the changing needs of high-growth companies. For more than 30 years, we’ve helped many of the world’s most dynamic and ambitious companies grow into market leaders. Whether working with international mid-cap companies or early stage, venture-backed businesses, our professionals draw upon their extensive experience, insight and global resources to help your business succeed. For more information, please visit us at ey.com/sgm or follow news on Twitter @EY_Growth.

About EY
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This news release has been issued by Ernst & Young LLP, a member of the global EY organization that provides services to clients in the US. For more information, please visit ey.com