Three Arizonans win Ernst & Young's 2022 Entrepreneur of the Year regional awards

Accounting and professional services company Ernst & Young LLP has named 14 entrepreneurs as winners of the Pacific Southwest Region’s 2022 EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards — and three of them are from Arizona.

Erez Pikar, CEO of Phoenix-based education technology company Bluum; Adelaida Serverson, president of Gilbert-based global satellite communications company Bushtex; and Sergio Radovcic, founder and CEO of Scottsdale-based compostable and biodegradable diaper subscription delivery service Dyper were the winners from the Grand Canyon State.

EY said awards seek to honor the leaders of high-growth companies who think big to succeed.

“These entrepreneurs have persevered to make their visions become a reality and we are honored to celebrate this outstanding group of leaders from Arizona, Nevada, Orange County and San Diego,” said Tim Holl, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Pacific Southwest program director, in a statement.

Bluum was formerly known as Trox. In 2021 it merged with fellow education technology company Tierney and earlier this year the combined firm rebranded itself as Bluum. The company has appeared on the Inc. 5000 list of the nation’s fastest-growing companies and ranked No. 1 on the Phoenix Business Journal’s 2021 ACE Awards for the fastest-growing companies in the Valley.

Bushtex is one of the Valley’s largest minority-owned firms and is also one of the Valley’s largest telecom contractors, according to Business Journal research.

Dyper’s Radovcic told the Business Journal last year that his company — which is already a leader in the green diaper industry — originated from an idea that formed in his mind while he wheeled garbage cans filled with his kids’ diapers week after week.

The Southwest Pacific Region consists of Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico and a southern portion of California that includes Orange County and San Diego. That’s a change from previous years, when Arizona was part of the Mountain Desert Region that included New Mexico and Colorado.

The winners were selected by a panel of judges made up of previous award winners and other regional business leaders and investors. Choices were based on, among other things, the entrepreneurs’ demonstration of long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact, EY said.

Regional EY winners move on to national competition

The regional winners now qualify for the national awards, which will be presented in November, and the national winner goes on to qualify for the global awards to be presented in June 2023.

Qualifiers for the awards must be entrepreneurs who are founders of their companies or those who organize, manage and assume the risk of the business early in its life cycle or during its growth.

The awards, now in their 36th year, are one of the country’s premier entrepreneurship recognitions.

Here is the full list of winners from the region: