Nominees for entrepreneur awards announced

TAMPA — Ernst & Young announced the finalists for its 2013 Florida Entrepreneur of the Year Awards today.

Award winners will be announced at a June 13 gala in Miami Beach, according to a release. The awards recognize high-growth entrepreneurs statewide, the accounting and professional services firm says. “These finalists were selected from nearly 80 nominations by a panel of independent judges,” Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Florida program partner Greg Rosica says in the statement. “Collectively, these finalists grew their employment by 18% and their revenues by nearly 36% between 2010 and 2012.”

The finalists with businesses on the Gulf Coast include:
• Distribution and manufacturing category: Crystal Morris, president, Gator Cases Inc., Lutz; and R. Charles Murray, CEO, PPi Technologies Group/Redi-2-DrinQ Group, Sarasota;
• Emerging category: Michael Kosloske, president and CEO, Health Insurance Innovations, Tampa;
• Financial services category: Trevor Burgess, CEO, C1 Bank, St. Petersburg;
• Hospitality category: Enrique Silva, president and CEO, Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Inc., Tampa;
• Retail and consumer products category: Norbert Donelly, chairman, Tervis, Venice;
• Technology category: Crystal Culbertson, CEO, Crystal Clear Technologies, St. Petersburg; Dan Doyle Jr., president and CEO, DEX Imaging, Tampa; and Paul Demirdjian, CEO, Jagged Peak, Tampa