Ernst & Young announces Vistage member Tom Gildred is the Entrepreneur of the Year® 2012 Award Winner


Award recognizes entrepreneurial excellence and extraordinary success

For Immediate Release

San Diego, California, June 20, 2012, – Ernst & Young LLP just announced that Vistage member Tom Gildred, CEO of Emerald Textiles, a leading provider of commercial healthcare linen services in San Diego, received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2012 Award. The award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Gildred was selected by an independent panel of judges, and the award was presented at a special gala on June 13, 2012 at The Hyatt Regency Aventine, La Jolla, CA.

"It is an honor to be selected as Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young. I’m very pleased to be part of this group of highly regarded CEOs who are focused on the success of their businesses and giving back to our community" said Tom Gildred. "I would like to congratulate all the winners and thank them for their contributions to the city of San Diego and our economy."

Operational for less than two years, Emerald Textiles has quickly become a leading provider of healthcare linen to Southern California. The company serves more than 70% of the hospital beds in San Diego, delivers over 1 million pieces of laundry each week and processes almost 35 million pounds a year. Emerald operates the most innovative and environmentally responsible commercial healthcare laundry facility in the United States and saves the county of San Diego more than 700,000 therms of natural gas and approximately 40,000,000 gallons of water each year.

Emerald received the SDG&E Showcase Award and the Savings by Design Award in recognition for its advanced design and extreme energy efficiency. Savings by Design is an award created by the California Public Utilities Commission and San Diego Gas & Electric.

Now in its 26th year, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Program has honored the inspirational leadership of such entrepreneurs as Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, Michael Dell of Dell Inc., Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines, Fred Smith of FedEx, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Richard Schulze of Best Buy, Andrew Mason of Groupon, Mindy Grossman of HSN, Inc., Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn, and many more.

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 Emerald Textiles

Emerald Textiles provides the most environmentally responsible, high quality, linen rental and management solution for the Southern California healthcare industry. Emerald’s new, state-of-the-art service center is located in San Diego, California and serves customers including Scripps Health, Sharp HealthCare, UC San Diego Health System, Eisenhower Medical Center, Kaiser San Diego and Kaiser Orange County. Emerald Textiles utilizes the most advanced technology and provides a higher standard of cleanliness, industry compliance and customer satisfaction.

About Vistage 

Founded in 1957, Vistage International, headquartered in San Diego, California, is the world’s leading peer advisory membership organization, serving more than 15,000 CEOs and senior executives in 15 countries. Vistage members participate in Chair-led advisory board peer groups, receive one-to-one coaching, learn from expert speakers, and interact among a global network of CEOs representing a broad range of industries. Its renowned Vistage CEO Confidence Index has been tracking CEO confidence and main street business issues since 2003.

media contact

Leo Bottary Vistage International
858.509.5854   leo.bottary@vistage.com