EY Announces Enviva’s John Keppler as an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2021 Mid-Atlantic Award Finalist

Celebrating the 35th class of unstoppable entrepreneurs who transform Mid-Atlantic and beyond

 BETHESDA, MD – June 10, 2021 – Enviva, a leading global renewable energy company specializing in sustainable wood bioenergy, today announced that its Chairman and CEO, John Keppler, was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year^® 2021 Mid-Atlantic Award finalist. Now in its 35th year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year program honors unstoppable business leaders whose ambition, ingenuity and courage in the face of adversity help catapult us from the now to next and beyond.

“It’s an incredible honor to be included in such a distinguished list of accomplished forward-thinking leaders and industry disruptors. I speak for all of my colleagues in saying that we are proud of the contributions we are making in the fight against climate change, providing sustainable wood bioenergy – sourced and manufactured in the U.S. – and making significant strides in the global path to net-zero, while incentivizing private landowners to grow more trees and limiting dependence on fossil fuels,” said John Keppler, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Enviva. “Our operations provide rural America and local landowners an access point to the international economy by offering a reliable and dispatchable solution to answer the difficult equation between energy and the environment.”

Enviva has built a large portfolio of production plants and marine export terminals across the U.S. Southeast which produce sustainably sourced wood pellets that are exported to customers in the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia to generate electricity and heat, enabling them to reduce their lifetime carbon footprint by more than 85 percent. Global demand for renewable sources of energy is growing, and scientific experts in energy systems the world, including the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, recognize wood bioenergy as one of the pillars of a sustainable climate future.

Keppler was selected by a panel of independent judges. Award winners will be announced during a special virtual celebration on August 3rd and will become lifetime members of an esteemed community of Entrepreneur Of The Year alumni from around the world. Regional award winners are eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards, to be announced in November at the Strategic Growth Forum^®, one of the nation’s most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies. 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 2022.

About Entrepreneur Of The Year^®

Entrepreneur Of The Year^® is the world’s most prestigious business awards program for unstoppable entrepreneurs. These visionary leaders deliver innovation, growth and prosperity that transform our world. The program engages entrepreneurs with insights and experiences that foster growth. It connects them with their peers to strengthen entrepreneurship around the world. Entrepreneur Of The Year is the first and only truly global awards program of its kind. It celebrates entrepreneurs through regional and national awards programs in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries. National Overall winners go on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ title. ey.com/us/eoy

About EY Private

As Advisors to the ambitious™, EY Private professionals possess the experience and passion to support private businesses and their owners in unlocking the full potential of their ambitions. EY Private teams offer distinct insights born from the long EY history of working with business owners and entrepreneurs. These teams support the full spectrum of private enterprises including private capital managers and investors and the portfolio businesses they fund, business owners, family businesses, family offices and entrepreneurs. Visit ey.com/us/private

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Sponsors

Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are nationally sponsored by SAP America and the Kauffman Foundation.

In Mid-Atlantic, sponsors also include
PNC, DLA Piper LLP, the Washington Business Journal, the Baltimore Business Journal and Cooley LLP.