Seven Southland executives win entrepreneur of the year awards

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Seven chief executives from Southern California companies have won entrepreneur-of-the-year honors from accounting and consulting firm Ernst & Young and will be sized up with other regional winners nationwide for top awards this fall.

An independent panel that included previous winners and regional business leaders selected winners in seven different categories. The awards program, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, covers top executives at companies in more than 140 cities and more than 50 countries. The Los Angeles program began in 1987, a year after Ernst & Young started it in Wisconsin.

The latest regional crop of winners accepted their awards Monday night at an event at the Beverly Hilton hotel.

“They give us hope for what the next 25 years of entrepreneurs will bring,” said Brian Ring, the local program’s director.

The winners and their categories were:

-- Frank Addante, chief executive and founder of the Rubicon Project Inc. in Los Angeles, for emerging companies.

-- Lyndon Faulkner, president and chief executive of Pelican Products Inc. in Torrance, for manufacturing and distribution companies.

-- Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill, co-founders of Riot Games in Santa Monica, for retail and consumer products companies.

-- Neal Schore, president and chief executive of Triton Media Group in Sherman Oaks, for media, advertising and leisure companies.

-- Steve Rechnitz, co-founder and chief executive of Twin Med in Santa Fe Springs, for healthcare companies.

-- Ajay Handa, chief executive of Columbus Technologies & Services Inc. in Pasadena, for services companies.

-- Adam Miller, president and chief executive of Cornerstone OnDemand in Santa Monica, for technology companies.

Monday night’s honorees will go the the national awards event hosted by Jay Leno on Nov. 12.

-- Andrew Khouri