Kodiak Building Partners CEO Wins Prestigious Entrepreneur Award
Originally Published by: LBM Journal — July 5, 2022
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Kodiak Building Partners CEO Steve Swinney.
Ernst & Young recently announced that CEO Steve Swinney of Kodiak Building Partners was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022 Mountain West Award winner. Entrepreneur Of The Year is one of the preeminent competitive business awards for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies who think big to succeed. An independent panel of judges selected Swinney based on his entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth, and impact, among other core contributions and attributes.
“When we started Kodiak 11 years ago, we wanted to embrace local entrepreneurialism, so we strive to enjoy and celebrate the success of these local operating cultures as opposed to changing them,” says Swinney. “Our whole vision for Kodiak is celebrating building businesses, investing in people, and creating an environment where not only we can succeed, but where our people can also succeed in their communities.”
Kodiak Building Partners was founded in July 2011 with the intent of focusing on acquiring family-run businesses in the building material sales and distribution industries. After spending several years in the building materials industry, Swinney found his inspiration for Kodiak with the vision of honoring the industry’s history of local family business. Since its founding, Kodiak has acquired over 103 locations in 22 states with over 6,000 employees and has become a well-known industry leader across the nation.
As a Mountain West award winner, Swinney will now be considered by the National independent panel of judges for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022 National Awards. National finalists and winners, as well as the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner, will be announced in November at the annual Strategic Growth Forum®. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Award in June 2023.
The Entrepreneur Of The Year program has honored the inspirational leadership of entrepreneurs such as:
- Sheila Mikhail of AskBio
- Andreas Bechtolsheim and Jayshree Ullal of Arista Networks
- Joe DeSimone of Carbon, Inc.
- Hamdi Ulukaya of Chobani, Inc.
- James Park of Fitbit
- Daymond John of FUBU
- Kendra Scott of Kendra Scott LLC
- Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn Corporation
- Saeju Jeong of Noom
- Cherie Kloss of SnapNurse
- Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee Company
- Jodi Berg of Vitamix
Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are presented by PNC Bank. In the Mountain West, sponsors also include sponsors also include Colliers International, Cresa, Diversified Insurance, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, Silicon Slopes, Strong & Hanni Law Firm, Truss and Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.