Raining Rose Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, today announced that Chuck Hammond, president and CEO, received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2011 Central Midwest Award in the Manufacturing category. According to Ernst & Young LLP, 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. Hammond was selected by an independent panel of judges, and the award was presented at a gala event at the Sheraton in Overland Park, Kansas on June 7.
“While presented as an individual award, I believe this recognition really speaks to our company as a whole,” Hammond said. “We have a phenomenal group of people at Raining Rose that continue to accomplish incredible things.”
The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards Program celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Past award winners have included Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee Company; Arthur M. Blank of AMB Group LLC (Home Depot, Atlanta Falcons); Pierre Omidyar of eBay Inc.; Ruth Fertel of Ruth’s Chris Steak House Inc.; Maxine Clark of Build-a-Bear Workshop; Tom Adams of Rosetta Stone Inc.; Matt Szulik of Red Hat Inc.; and last year’s national winner, Howard Lutnick, chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Capital Partners Inc.
As a Central Midwest award winner, Hammond is now eligible for consideration for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2011 National Award. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the overall Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year National Award winner, will be announced at the annual awards gala in Palm Springs, California, on November 12, 2011. The awards are the culminating event of the Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum, the nation’s most prestigious gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies, which will be held November 9-13, 2011.
For more information, visit www.lipbalmcompany.com.
