EY Announces Balsam Brands CEO Thomas Harman Named EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2015 Award Semifinalist in Northern California
Redwood City, CA (PRWEB) April 22, 2015 -- EY today announced that Thomas Harman, Founder and CEO of Balsam Brands headquartered in Redwood City, CA, is a semi-finalist for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2015 Award in the Northern California region. The awards program recognizes entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Harman was selected as a semifinalist from 100 nominations by a panel of independent judges. Award winners will be announced on June 11th at the Fairmont San Francisco.
“Once again, I’m very honored by this special recognition,” said Harman. “Balsam Brands strives not only to serve our customers who seek high quality home décor, but to attract and mentor the best and the brightest talent we can find. The Balsam Brands team has grown our retail business by 50 percent for five years in the Silicon Valley,” Harman added.
Balsam Hill, Harman’s flagship brand, is built on three innovations: breakthrough products, internet marketing savvy, and the ability to scale up and down 100x each year. It starts with product; prior to Harman designing lifelike artificial Christmas trees in 2006, there were none. Although the breakthrough technology of molded polyethylene needles had existed for years, Harman was the first to use this technology to craft trees that actually mimicked trees in nature. His background in environmental studies trained him to replicate the subtlety of branch structure, color variation, cultivated tree shape, and needle type to create truly lifelike trees. His trees were an instant success in 2006 and Harman continues to personally design each Balsam Hill Christmas tree today. Harman is passionate about his products and is a named inventor on several Christmas tree patents, regularly involves his entire team in improving the products through ideation and competitive benchmarking, and travels the globe to find new inspiration and tree specimens to help him perfect replicating nature.
Harman, recognize as a Silicon Valley Business Journal, 40 under 40 in 2013, is not only market innovator, but also a mentor and angel investor in a number of startups.
Now in its 29th year, the EY program has expanded to recognize business leaders in more than 145 cities in more than 60 countries throughout the world.
Regional award winners are eligible for consideration for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year national program. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner, will be announced at the annual awards gala in Palm Springs, California, on November 14, 2015. The awards are the culminating event of the EY Strategic Growth Forum®, the nation’s most prestigious gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies.
About Balsam Brands
Balsam Brands is an Internet Retailer Top 500 e-retailer, appeared on the San Francisco Business Times’ 2012, 2013 and 2014 Top 100 Fastest Growing Bay Area Companies list, the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s 25 fastest growing private companies in Silicon Valley for 2012, 2013 and 2014 and for the past three years on Inc. magazine’s annual Inc. 500|5000, a list of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. Headquartered in Redwood City with teams in Idaho, Philippines and Ireland.
The companies flagship brand, Balsam Hill, was launched in Redwood City in 2006 to introduce a premium-level of realistic artificial Christmas trees using an exclusive True Needle® design that molds individual needles that are colored to mimic the patterns of live trees. The trees and a new line of holiday home decor are available at http://www.BalsamHill.com and the trees can be found internationally via Web sites in countries including the United States, Canada, Germany, England, Australia and France.
About EY Entrepreneur Of The Year®
EY 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 145 cities in more than 60 countries.
Jennifer Faulkner, Balsam Brands, http://www.balsambrands.com, +1 (916) 761-7699, [email protected]
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