EY Announces Tapad CEO and Norway Native Are Traasdahl is an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2014 Award Winner

-- Award recognizes entrepreneurial excellence in advertising technology category 

NEW YORK, June 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- EY today announced that CEO Are Traasdahl of Tapad, the leader in unified, cross-device marketing technology, received the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2014 Award in the advertising technology category in New York. The award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance, and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Traasdahl, a native of Trondheim, Norway, was selected by an independent panel of judges, and the award was presented at a special gala event at the Marriott Marquis on Tuesday, June 17^th.

Tapad facilitates unified marketing to consumers across all of their related devices — including smartphones, tablets, computers and connected TVs.  The company also leads the industry in consumer privacy protocols, including fully integrated transparency and opt-out tools while remaining blind to all Personally Identifiable Information (PII).  Today, Tapad's technology is employed by more than 200 of Fortune 500 brands.

"The EY Entrepreneur of the Year program has built an incredible track record supporting growing businesses over the last three decades," said Traasdahl.  "I'm extremely honored to be named the New York region winner and congratulate the other winners and nominees on their achievements."

Now in its 28th year, the program has honored the inspirational leadership of such entrepreneurs as Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee Company, Pierre Omidyar of eBay, Inc., and Mindy Grossman of HSN. Recent US national winners include Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn; Hamdi Ulukaya, founder of Chobani; and 2013 winner Hamid Moghadam, CEO and Chairman of Prologis.

As a New York award winner, Traasdahl is now eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2014 national program. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner, will be announced at the annual awards gala in Palm Springs, California, on November 15, 2014. The awards are the culminating event of the EY Strategic Growth Forum®, the nation's most prestigious gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies.

Sponsors
Founded and produced by EY, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are sponsored in the United States by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and SAP America.

In New York, sponsors include Marsh Inc., Merrill Corporation, Empire Valuation Consultants, HSBC, Scherzer International, SolomonEdwardsGroup, DLA Piper, Marks Paneth, Murray Devine, Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe, and SmartCEO.

About Tapad
Tapad Inc. is a marketing technology firm renowned for its breakthrough, unified, cross-device solutions. The company offers the largest in-market opportunity for marketers to address the new and ever-evolving reality of media consumption on smartphones, tablets, home computers and smart TVs. Deployed by agency trading desks, publishers, marketing technology companies and numerous Fortune 500 brands, Tapad provides an accurate, unified approach to connecting with consumers across screens. Backed by major venture firms, Tapad is based in New York and has offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco. TechCrunch called the powerhouse Tapad team "a hell of a list of entrepreneurs who created some of the most valuable online advertising companies of the last decade."  For more information, visit www.tapad.com.

About EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™
EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world's most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award 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. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, 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.

About EY's Strategic Growth Markets practice
EY's Strategic Growth Markets (SGM) practices guide leading high-growth companies. Our multidisciplinary teams of elite professionals provide perspective and advice to help our clients accelerate market leadership. SGM delivers assurance, tax, transactions and advisory services to thousands of companies spanning all industries. EY is the undisputed leader in taking companies public, advising key government agencies on the issues impacting high-growth companies and convening the experts who shape the business climate. For more information, please visit us at ey.com/us/strategicgrowthmarkets, or follow news on Twitter @EY_Growth.

About EY
EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.

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