Opower CEO & Founder Dan Yates Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® 2011 Greater Washington, DC Award Winner
Award Recognizes Entrepreneurial Excellence in Emerging Category
ARLINGTON, VA – June 22, 2011 – Opower, the home energy management software company, today announced that founder and CEO, Dan Yates, has received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2011 Greater Washington Award in the Emerging category. The award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who have demonstrated excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance, and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Dan was selected by an independent judging panel made up of previous winners, leading CEOs, private capital investors and other regional business leaders.
Dan founded Opower in 2007 with longtime friend Alex Laskey. Together, they’ve pioneered an industrial innovation—information-based energy efficiency. Opower works with close to 60 utilities across the US to provide consumers with contextual information about how they’re using energy in their homes. Since its founding, Opower has driven more than 300 gigawatt hours in energy savings and has cumulatively saved consumers in the US more than $30 Million on their energy bills. By the end of 2012, the company predicts that it will save 1 terawatt hour of electricity, enough to power 100,000 average US homes for a year.
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.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be included with such a remarkable group of entrepreneurs, and to be recognized by Ernst and Young for the success that Opower has achieved,” said Yates. “We’re fortunate to have assembled an intelligent, innovative and highly-motivated team that genuinely believes in the work we’re doing. Opower’s success has truly been a collective effort.”
About Opower: Opower is a leader in home energy management software, providing the industry’s only multi-channel customer engagement platform proven to deliver of energy efficiency gains and other strategic benefits to its utility partners on a sustainable basis. Using cutting-edge behavioral science and patent-pending data analytics, the Opower platform enables utilities to connect with customers in a highly targeted manner, motivating reductions in energy use, increasing energy efficiency program participation, and improving overall customer satisfaction. More than 50 utilities—including 8 of the US’s 10 largest—have partnered with Opower to improve the effectiveness of their energy-efficiency portfolios significantly while providing an enriched customer experience that leads to higher customer satisfaction rates. For utilities with Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), the Opower platform represents a cost-effective way to convert hourly data into measurable energy savings, delivering the value of the Smart Grid directly to customers. Founded in 2007 and privately held, Opower is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, as well as a second office in San Francisco, California. For more information, please visit www.opower.com.
About Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year®: Ernst & Young 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 140 cities in more than 50 countries.
About Ernst & Young: Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 141,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve their potential.
Ernst & Young refers to the global organization of member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young LLP is a client-serving member firm of Ernst & Young Global Limited operating in the US. For more information about our organization, please visit www.ey.com.
fama PR
Phone: (617) 986-5008
Email: opower@famapr.com
Dan founded Opower in 2007 with longtime friend Alex Laskey. Together, they’ve pioneered an industrial innovation—information-based energy efficiency. Opower works with close to 60 utilities across the US to provide consumers with contextual information about how they’re using energy in their homes. Since its founding, Opower has driven more than 300 gigawatt hours in energy savings and has cumulatively saved consumers in the US more than $30 Million on their energy bills. By the end of 2012, the company predicts that it will save 1 terawatt hour of electricity, enough to power 100,000 average US homes for a year.
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.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be included with such a remarkable group of entrepreneurs, and to be recognized by Ernst and Young for the success that Opower has achieved,” said Yates. “We’re fortunate to have assembled an intelligent, innovative and highly-motivated team that genuinely believes in the work we’re doing. Opower’s success has truly been a collective effort.”
About Opower: Opower is a leader in home energy management software, providing the industry’s only multi-channel customer engagement platform proven to deliver of energy efficiency gains and other strategic benefits to its utility partners on a sustainable basis. Using cutting-edge behavioral science and patent-pending data analytics, the Opower platform enables utilities to connect with customers in a highly targeted manner, motivating reductions in energy use, increasing energy efficiency program participation, and improving overall customer satisfaction. More than 50 utilities—including 8 of the US’s 10 largest—have partnered with Opower to improve the effectiveness of their energy-efficiency portfolios significantly while providing an enriched customer experience that leads to higher customer satisfaction rates. For utilities with Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), the Opower platform represents a cost-effective way to convert hourly data into measurable energy savings, delivering the value of the Smart Grid directly to customers. Founded in 2007 and privately held, Opower is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, as well as a second office in San Francisco, California. For more information, please visit www.opower.com.
About Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year®: Ernst & Young 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 140 cities in more than 50 countries.
About Ernst & Young: Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 141,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve their potential.
Ernst & Young refers to the global organization of member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young LLP is a client-serving member firm of Ernst & Young Global Limited operating in the US. For more information about our organization, please visit www.ey.com.
Media Contacts
Mike Reillyfama PR
Phone: (617) 986-5008
Email: opower@famapr.com