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Among the 18 winners of EY\u2019s 2025 Entrepreneur Of The Year Southwest Award is Dani Austin (pictured), founder of Dallas-based Divi, and her husband Jordan Ramirez, who served as CEO and now chairs the company. Together, they\u2019ve grown Divi into a national brand focused on scalp and hair health, backed by Norwest and sold through Ulta Beauty, Target, and Amazon.
\n[Photo: Divi]<\/p>\n
Ernst & Young has named 18 standout founders and executives from across Texas and the region as winners of its Entrepreneur Of The Year 2025 Southwest Award, announced June 20. The annual program honors leaders of high-growth companies who are building innovative businesses and shaping the future.<\/strong><\/p>\n This year\u2019s 18 honorees represent 15 companies spanning industries from energy and electronics to fast-casual dining, consumer products, healthcare, and beyond.<\/p>\n The Entrepreneur Of The Year program recognizes a wide range of leadership, from bootstrapped founders and venture-backed startup entrepreneurs to innovative CEOs and multigenerational family business leaders.\u00a0<\/p>\n Winners were picked by an independent panel of judges made up of past award recipients, CEOs, and business leaders. EY said the evaluation focused on entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth, and long-term value creation.<\/p>\n According to Rex Alexander, EY Partner and Southwest Program Director, the winners \u201credefine excellence and set new benchmarks in their industries.\u201d He added, \u201cThey set the standard for scaling businesses while prioritizing their employees, customers, and communities.\u201d<\/p>\n The 2025 Southwest winners are:<\/p>\n Gordon Huddleston<\/b><\/a>\u00a0| Aethon Energy Management LLC | Dallas<\/p>\n Ray Waddell<\/strong> | CEC Facilities Group | Irving<\/p>\n Kyle Gordon and Maggie Gordon<\/strong> | Dillas Quesadillas | Dallas<\/p>\n Dani Austin <\/b>and\u00a0<\/a>Jordan Ramirez<\/a>\u00a0<\/b>| Divi | Dallas<\/p>\n David Iliff<\/strong> | DuraServ | Carrollton<\/p>\n James Showalter<\/strong> | EG4 Electronics | Sulphur Springs<\/p>\n Drake Gordon<\/strong> | Executive Exteriors | Dallas<\/p>\n Kyle Noonan and Josh Sepkowitz<\/strong> | FreeRange Concepts | Dallas<\/p>\n Curtis Hite\u00a0<\/b><\/a>| Improving | Plano<\/p>\n Dan Amiga\u00a0<\/b>and\u00a0<\/a>Michael Fey<\/a>\u00a0<\/b>| Island.io | Coppell<\/p>\n Tom Currier<\/a>\u00a0<\/b>| Maverick Power | McKinney<\/p>\n Brett Davis<\/strong> | National Indoor RV Centers | Lewisville<\/p>\n Prasad Reddy\u00a0<\/b><\/a>| Twisted X Global Brands | Decatur<\/p>\n Rick Hall<\/a>\u00a0<\/b>| US Oral Surgery Management | Irving<\/p>\n The regional winners now advance to the national stage, according to EY. They\u2019ll be considered for the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards, set for November at EY\u2019s Strategic Growth Forum\u00ae, a major gathering of market-leading companies. One U.S. winner will go on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year\u2122 Award in June 2026.<\/p>\n All regional winners join a global network of EY program alumni across more than 60 countries, gaining lifetime access to resources and relationships designed to support growing companies.<\/p>\n See all the 2025 Southwest finalists here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Don\u2019t miss what\u2019s next. Subscribe\u00a0to\u00a0Dallas\u00a0Innovates.<\/p>\n Track Dallas-Fort Worth\u2019s business and innovation landscape with our curated news in your inbox Tuesday-Thursday.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \tR E A D\u00a0\u00a0 N E X T\t<\/p>\n The sibling leaders of Fort Worth’s 89-year-old Standard Meat Company are among 12 national winners of the 2024 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year award. In another local nod, the three co-founders of Dallas-based marketing platform HighLevel were recognized by EY as national “emerging finalists.”<\/p>\n<\/li>\n We’re searching for the entrepreneurs, executives, and trailblazers driving meaningful change in North Texas. Submit your nominations for D CEO and Dallas Innovates’ The Innovation Awards 2025 by Tuesday, September 24. Now in its sixth year, the awards recognize companies and individuals leading innovation across sectors like AI, cybersecurity, healthcare, consumer goods, real estate, and more.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Trevor Gicheru created Nurovant AI, an app that converts lectures into flashcards, quizzes, and summaries, helping students focus on key themes. With support from institutions like SMU, Harvard, and MIT, he\u2019s now scaling his venture and aiming for a $2-3 million seed round in 2025.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Now in its 40th year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year program honors bold leaders “whose innovations shape the future and pave the way for a thriving economy and a hopeful tomorrow,” EY said. Here’s who made this year’s Southwest finalists list.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \u201cEntrepreneur Elevator Pitch: On the Street\u201d launches on Entrepreneur\u2019s social media channels beginning March 18. The series promises to bring “unscripted moments, surprising outcomes, and the unrelenting spirit of entrepreneurship straight to your feed.”<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Among the 18 winners of EY\u2019s 2025 Entrepreneur Of The Year Southwest Award is Dani Austin (pictured), founder…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[64,14912,13441,14913,13370,14914,14915,14916,14917,14918,14919,607,14920,14921,14922,14923,14924,9732,13376,13363,14925,14926,10548,14927,14928,14929,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-14502","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-business-recognition","10":"tag-carrollton","11":"tag-consumer-brands","12":"tag-coppell","13":"tag-dallas-entrepreneurs","14":"tag-dani-austin","15":"tag-decatur","16":"tag-dfw-startups","17":"tag-divi","18":"tag-entrepreneur-of-the-year","19":"tag-entrepreneurship","20":"tag-ey","21":"tag-ey-awards","22":"tag-growth-stage-companies","23":"tag-healthcare-startups","24":"tag-high-growth-companies","25":"tag-irving","26":"tag-lewisville","27":"tag-mckinney","28":"tag-national-awards","29":"tag-north-texas-innovation","30":"tag-plano","31":"tag-southwest-entrepreneurship","32":"tag-startup-founders","33":"tag-texas-ceos","34":"tag-united-states","35":"tag-unitedstates","36":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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