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Meet the 2023 Greater Philadelphia honorees

Congratulations to our region’s Entrepreneur Of The Year® winners, who were selected by an independent panel of judges based on their demonstration of long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact, among other core contributions and attributes. Finalists were recognized and winners were announced during the regional celebration.

Regional winners went on to compete for National recognition. National finalists and winners were announced during the National awards gala. 

Watch the celebration highlights video

2023 Greater Philadelphia winners

Dea-Belazi
Dea Belazi
AscellaHealth, LLC
2023 National finalist

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    AscellaHealth, LLC is a global Healthcare & Specialty Pharmacy solutions organization serving patients, payers, life sciences manufacturers and providers, offering a comprehensive portfolio of customized, tech-enabled specialty pharmaceutical and personalized medical management services., AscellaHealth’s unique, patient-centric approach is built upon proprietary technology processes for innovative programs and services optimizing health outcomes and quality of life for patients with complex chronic conditions or rare diseases that require specialty medications and/or cell and gene therapies.  

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Daniel Berger
Berger Communities
 

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    Berger Communities, founded in 1972, is one of the top five largest property management companies in Pennsylvania, with a portfolio that extends into Maryland and Delaware. Berger Communities is motivated by the philosophy that renters deserve outstanding customer service and that “renting shouldn’t be hard®.” In addition to providing a best-in-class customer experience, they offer a suite of lease flexibilities and conveniences that are centered around renters and their housing journey. 

Jeffrey-Meiler
Jeffrey Meiler 
Best Egg
 

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    Best Egg is a leading financial technology company that operates a platform providing simple solutions to help customers with limited savings confidently navigate their everyday financial lives. Best Egg’s growing suite of tools helps customers make smart financial decisions and stay on track, so they feel confident no matter what life throws at them. Leveraging data and real-time customer insights, Best Egg gives people easy access to the resources and tools they need to make financial decisions with confidence.

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Patrick Cozzi
Cesium
 

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    Cesium is the open 3D geospatial platform for the metaverse. Cesium created 3D Tiles, the open standard for streaming massive 3D geospatial data. With offerings like the open-source Cesium for Unreal and Cesium for Unity plugins, they are empowering creators to build digitized worlds with real-world data at scale. Their business model reflects the Company’s commitment to open-source software, promoting interoperability and collaboration to further stimulate innovation within the 3D data space.

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Patti Brennan
Key Financial, Inc.

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    Key Financial, Inc. is a leader in the financial planning, wealth management and portfolio management industry. The Company’s growth is grounded in Patti’s insistence on a different model than her competitors. The result is a commitment to their clients and providing advice in areas such as income tax planning, asset allocation and diversification, cash flow management, and creating a sustainable cash flow during retirement. Key Financial has also developed and built its own technology to assist in their journey. 

ira-greenberg
Ira Greenberg
Keystone Technologies, LLC

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    Keystone Technologies, LLC designs, engineers, assembles, and distributes a comprehensive suite of lighting components and fixtures, including power management devices, light sources (lamps/bulbs/LED engines), indoor and outdoor fixtures, and controls. All products are sold under the Keystone brand through four market channels: OEM Fixture Manufacturers, Electrical Distributors, Sign Distributors, and Energy Services Companies (ESCO's). Keystone employs about 215 team members, operates 3 distribution centers (12M cubic feet), and sells to thousands of customers across the USA.

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Steven Lagos
LAGOS

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    LAGOS was founded in 1977 by master jeweler Steven Lagos, a recognized pioneer in designer fine jewelry. Lagos developed the brand's signature, trademarked Caviar® design in 1984. Since then, Caviar® design elements have been consistently used in each style created, resulting in a recognizable, coveted brand of jewelry. Each Caviar® collection offers bold, feminine pieces that encourage personal expression through individual styling, and by enabling pieces to be seamlessly layered, season after season.

michael schreiber
Michael Schreiber
Playfly Sports

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    Playfly Sports is the emerging leader in sports marketing, media, and technology. By connecting more than 2,000 brand partners with approximately 83% of all U.S. sports fans, Playfly Sports delivers scalable, data-oriented marketing and media solutions. Playfly Sports operates at local, regional, and national levels with a growing portfolio of multi-faceted, fan-focused divisions. Capabilities include exclusive MMR management, media and sponsorship activation, valuation, consultation, development, custom advertising, creative and digital content production, all along with new revenue-driving platforms and technologies.

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Ellie Stang, MD
ProgenyHealth, LLC
 

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    ProgenyHealth, LLC is the only national, tech-enabled women’s healthcare company dedicated to Maternity and NICU Care Management. Serving women, infants, caregivers, and families through the milestones of maternal health — from conception and pregnancy to postpartum and parenting, with special expertise in managing premature and complex births and resulting NICU admissions. The industry-leading platform, Baby Trax™, integrates utilization management and case management, while also driving payment validation & assurance activities based on clinical data.

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Clement Pappas 
Stateside Vodka
 

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    Stateside Vodka was the dream of two brothers, who were driven to make the highest quality craft vodka in America.  Stateside’s product line offers handcrafted vodka, ready-to-drink cans of vodka-soda and vodka-tea (named Surfside), as well as limited batches of bourbon. Quickly rising to the top of the list as Philadelphia’s favorite hometown vodka and Pennsylvania’s top selling craft spirit, Stateside is distributing their products throughout the Mid-Atlantic region and rapidly expanding.  

Vaughan-Buckley
Vaughan Buckley
Volumetric Building Companies
 

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    Volumetric Building Companies is a vertically integrated design, manufacturing and construction company specializing in business to business (“B2B”) modular buildings in the US, Europe and EMEA markets. Their entrepreneurial mindset and commitment to efficiency has been the main driver to their success since 2009. Today, Volumetric Building Companies seeks to close on its first ever capital raise to diversify in global expansion and improve on supply chain capabilities. 

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B.J. Werzyn
West Shore Home
2023 National finalist

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    West Shore Home®, headquartered in Mechanicsburg, PA., is a leading technology-enabled home remodeling services provider with an expanding national footprint. Founded in 2006, West Shore Home's national brand promise is Bringing Happiness to Every Home® by delivering a fast, easy, and convenient home remodeling experience. From the first phone call to the final installation, customers have a streamlined experience and associate the West Shore Home brand with consistent high quality, transparency, and trust.

2023 Greater Philadelphia finalists

  • Anthony DaRe | BSI Corporate Benefits

    Anthony DaRe is the CEO of BSI Corporate Benefits

    BSI Corporate Benefits was founded in 2003 by Agency Principal and CEO, Anthony (Tony) DaRe. Prior to starting BSI Corporate Benefits, Tony served clients on the insurance carrier side when he realized his true passion was to advocate for clients rather than insurance carriers. He started BSI with the mission to serve as an advocate for clients on both a human and financial level. Today, BSI is an independent, privately owned national employee benefits consulting firm representing over 23,000 members throughout the U.S. and Canada.

  • Joshua C. Benson, Frank Burrell, and Paul Brown | Deerfield Agency

    Joshua Benson, Frank Burrell, and Paul Brown are Partners of Deerfield Agency

    Deerfield Agency, the one and only Agency of Brand®, is a full-service agency focused on Life Sciences. Deerfield was founded by seasoned experts whose unbiased collaboration set a new marketing standard – one that redefined the agency model and eliminated unnecessary inefficiencies. Specializing in multiple disease states and offering Strategy, Creative, Digital, Media, Analytics, Marketing Automation, Corporate Branding and Scientific Storytelling, Proprietary Sales Enablement Tools. 

  • Betsy Hamm | Duck Donuts Holdings, LLC

    Betsy Hamm is the CEO of Duck Donuts Holdings, LLC

    Duck Donuts Holdings, LLC opened its first location in 2007 in the beach resort towns of Duck and Kitty Hawk, North Carolina with the intention to create an oasis for vacationers to enjoy warm, delicious, made-to-order donuts. Headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, the company began franchising in 2013, and prides itself on sprinkling happiness to its guests through its unique in-store experience, exceptional guest service and a duckzillion donut combinations. 

  • Christopher Gallagher | Gallagher Fluid Seals, Inc.

    Christopher Gallagher is the CEO of Gallagher Fluid Seals, Inc.

    Gallagher Fluid Seals, Inc. is a global distributor and manufacturer of fluid sealing products. GFS represents the strongest seal manufacturers in the world, in addition to its own fabrication and machining operations. Gallagher serves both original equipment & end-user markets, providing the tools and expertise to solve complex sealing applications. Gallagher leverages a global supply chain; utilizing an in-house design and specification team to ensure the best product for the customer application.

  • Joseph Truitt | iECURE

    Joseph Truitt is the CEO of iECURE

    iECURE is a gene editing company focused on developing therapies that utilize mutation-agnostic in vivo gene insertion, or knock-in, editing for the treatment of liver disorders with significant unmet need. Their approach has the potential to replace and restore the function of a dysfunctional gene by knocking-in a healthy copy, regardless of mutation, to offer durable gene expression and long-term, potentially curative, therapeutic benefit. iECURE’s research and development strategy is to identify the most suitable target and modality for product candidates to address liver diseases.

  • Michael Raphael | IndeVets

    Michael Raphael is the President & CEO of IndeVets

    IndeVets is a locum staffing company that has rejuvenated veterinarian’s passion for animal health. IndeVets began with the idea that veterinarians deserve to love their job and have a life outside of it. Having spent several years owning and managing animal hospitals, founder Michael Raphael had a front row seat to burnout, mental health challenges and overall frustrations veterinarians were suffering from. He realized the industry needed to change so along with a team of veterinarians created a new way to practice - a way that brings joy back to animal health. 

  • Frank Shultz | Infinite Blue Applications, LLC

    Frank Shultz is the CEO of Infinite Blue Applications, LLC

    Infinite Blue Applications, LLC provides its customers with business continuity, disaster recovery, and crisis management software solutions. Understanding that yesterday’s best practices may not be sufficient to handle today’s changing risks, Infinite Blue partners with its customers to strengthen total enterprise resilience. Its SaaS software solutions, which include its flagship BC in the Cloud and new Cenari product, are sold to a growing customer base of approximately 150 customers.

  • Brandon Singer and Justin Silverman | JustBrand Limited

    Brandon Singer and Justin Silverman are the Owners & Co-Founders of JustBrand Limited

    JustBrand Limited is a leader in the temperature-controlled apparel and accessories category, generating revenue through various channels. The largest brand, ActionHeat, provides stylish and durable options for anyone who needs to stay warm and comfortable during the winter months. Using carbon fiber, they create safe, lightweight, and comfortable heating panels for their Battery Heated Outerwear, Base Layers, Casual apparel, Gloves, Footwear, Headwear, Seating, Sleeping bags, and Blankets. 

  • John Dulczak | RetireeFirst

    John Dulczak is the Co-Founder & CEO of RetireeFirst

    RetireeFirst is the premier retiree benefit management solutions and advocacy service provider. The company’s people-centric approach is proven to enhance the experience and outcomes for group plan sponsors and their retirees. RetireeFirst partners with all major national health carriers and hundreds of labor unions, public sector entities, and private corporations nationwide. The company designs solutions that preserve and enhance benefit quality while driving material cost savings.

  • Andrew Turner | LoanStar Technologies

    Andrew Turner is the CEO of LoanStar Technologies

    LoanStar Technologies offers a locally branded lending solution and toolkit, called MerchantLinQ, that banks can offer through merchants to consumers to instantly apply for financing for their larger purchases at lower rates than those offered by larger lenders. In addition to powering the local financial institutions to create new customers, LoanStar enables the lenders to connect with customers who are traditionally underbanked or unbanked - raising awareness of financial wellbeing.

  • Adit Gupta | Lula Convenience

    Adit Gupta is the Co-Founder & CEO of Lula Convenience

    Lula Convenience, which operates the Lula Store Platform, is the first all-in-one delivery solution built for convenience stores. Hundreds of companies are using Lula Convenience technology to deliver their store’s items on Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub, Postmates, and other marketplaces directly to customers. The Lula Store platform offers integrations with major POS technologies to enable real-time inventory updates and significantly reduce the time and money retailers need to invest to manage their business.

  • Dr. Rebecca Taub | Madrigal Pharmaceuticals

    Dr. Rebecca Taub is the Founder, Director, Chief Medical Officer, and President of Research & Development of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals

    Madrigal Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pursuing novel therapeutics for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a liver disease with high unmet medical need. Madrigal’s lead candidate, resmetirom, is a once daily, oral, thyroid hormone receptor (THR)-β selective agonist designed to target key underlying causes of NASH in the liver.  Based on the positive results reported to date, resmetirom has the potential to become the first medication approved for the treatment of patients with NASH.

  • James Freeman | PJ Fitzpatrick, LLC

    James Freeman is the CEO of PJ Fitzpatrick, LLC

    PJ Fitzpatrick, LLC is a home improvement company that has been providing quality service to homeowners since 1980. When it comes to home improvement, PJ Fitzpatrick knows that the changes are not minor, but a major investment. They will meet with homeowners to understand their needs and desires, perform a thorough evaluation before presenting a written estimate. Their goal is to leave customers 100% satisfied and provide the best in siding, roofing, doors, windows, baths, gutters, insulation, and more. 

  • Matt Pestronk | Post Brothers

    Matt Pestronk is the President of Post Brothers

    Post Brothers was founded in 2006 by Matthew and Michael Pestronk to exclusively focus on creating and operating infill, class-A, “best-in-class” apartment buildings at a superior cost basis. Post Brothers is a nationally recognized leader in development, innovation, and sustainability. Since the company’s founding, it has developed more than 30 properties and 4,000 apartments, which have all thrived due to a common theme: making upscale, state-of-the-art living accessible at a price point for those whom it was not previously available.

  • Michael Capone | Qlik

    Michael Capone is the CEO of Qlik

    Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights, and action. By transforming and activating data with Qlik, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik helps enterprises around the world move faster, work smarter, and lead the way forward with an end-to-end solution for getting value out of data.

  • Brendan Cawley | Righteous Felon

    Brendan Cawley is the Founder & CEO of Righteous Felon

    Righteous Felon Craft Jerky is a leader in the premium jerky space and specializes in direct-to-farm sourcing and creating one-of-a-kind flavor profiles across 3 separate sub-categories of meat snacks: jerky, sticks, and South African biltong. In addition to unique flavors and products, the company leverages a satirical storytelling approach to branding, creating a dark and mysterious "jerky underworld" with unique characters for each flavor that shape the storyline of "North America's most notorious jerky cartel" and drive engagement with fans. 

  • Guido Gallicchio | Thayer Distribution

    Guido Gallicchio is the President of Thayer Distribution

    Thayer Distribution is a Redistributor of convenience products, which includes a wide variety of candy, snack, paper, and cleaning items to wholesale distributors. In stock are over 10,000 fresh, manufacturer-direct items from over 200 suppliers. With a focus on technology and delivering great service to both suppliers and wholesale distributors, more products are getting into the hands of more consumers — one case at a time.

  • Perry Steiner | Xactus

    Perry Steiner is the Chairman & CEO of Xactus

    Xactus is the leading verification innovator for the mortgage industry. With 10 operation centers across the U.S., Xactus works closely with its clients to digitally integrate a 360-degree approach to verification across their workflows. As a result, lenders can easily access the technology necessary to meet consumer demands for a modern mortgage experience with industry-leading speed, reliability, and accuracy – while also closing more loans quickly with greater profitability.