Layne Sapp named finalist in 2005 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year awardsMortgagePress.comErnst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year
The 19th Annual Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award
celebration in Palm Springs, Calif. was held from Nov. 17-20, 2005.
Attended by the nation's top entrepreneurs, the event culminated in
Saturday's ceremony, emceed by Jay Leno, where the finalists and
winners were announced. Out of the 400-plus national nominees
invited to Palm Springs, 35 were named as finalists in one of the
11 national categories, including financial services; services;
supporter of entrepreneurship; International Lifetime Achievement
Award for Activism, entrepreneurship and leadership;
media/entertainment/communications; health sciences; technology;
realizing business potential; distribution/manufacturing/security
and real estate/hospitality/construction.
Layne Sapp, founder and CEO of Mountlake Terrace, Wash-based
MILA Inc., was the only Pacific Northwest entrepreneur from the
region that includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska
to be named as a finalist. In fact, he is the first regional
entrepreneur to make the nationals in five years. Sapp shares the
financial services winners circle with fellow finalist Robert L.
Riter, chairman of American Chartered Bank, a Chicago-area
full-service commercial and retail bank. James E. Stowers Jr.,
founder of American Century Investments, was named the category
winner.
"It is a thrill to be named with such powerhouses of the
industry," said Layne. "I know everyone says, 'It's an honor just
to be nominated,' but to carry that nomination to the national
stage and then share the spotlight with the likes of Robert Riter
and James Stowers truly is an honor. I share the spotlight gladly
with every MILA associate who has helped realize our vision over
our 21-year history."
Sapp attributes the Ernst & Young honor to MILA's
proprietary loan management system AccessPoint, which has
spearheaded the company's 803 percent growth since its introduction
in 2002. The only online loan management tool to provide instant
loan commitments, the technology is putting MILA in a category by
itself within the wholesale lending industry. With Sapp at the
helm, the company aims to solve the business problems of brokers
across the country by providing them a uniquely robust online loan
management tool that allows them to be both broker and banker right
from their desktop.
Having been recognized by other leading business watchdogs such
as Inc 500, Mortgage Technology News, Deloitte & Touche, Puget
Sound Business Journal and the Better Business Bureau, MILA and its
founder are poised to make industry history in the coming years
with plans to expand to 22 new states by the close of 2006.
For more information, visit www.mila.com.
