For several decades now receiving an Ernst & Young (now known simply as EY) Entrepreneur of the Year Award has been among the most prestigious honors in the business world. The annual competition begins with the selection of Regional winners who then advance to National competition, the winner of which moves on to the World level. 

Names of the 2016 finalists in the Pacific Northwest have just been announced and the elite list included a name that will be familiar to just about everyone in the domain business, the Co-Founder and CEO of Bellevue, Washington based Donuts Inc., Paul Stahura (who was profiled in our July 2015 Cover Story). 

In reporting the news, GeekWire noted, "The Pacific Northwest entrepreneurs were selected by a panel of independent judges, based on what EY describes as “excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.” Winners in several categories will be revealed June 17 at a gala event to be staged at the Seattle Sheraton. 

Donuts is the world's largest operator of new gTLD registries with over 150 new domain extensions in their still growing portfolio. While the company has already made a big splash Stahura is confident the best is yet to come, telling us last summer, "We’re still at the very beginning. There will be no other globally unique naming system – the DNS is too embedded into our Internet, our laws, our communications, and our world. The Internet will be around for more than 100 years (like the phone system has been), and these names will be too."

Paul Stahura
Co-Founder & CEO, Donuts Inc.,
2016 EY Pacific Northwest 
Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist