Fort Worth duo celebrated among bold leaders who disrupt markets, revolutionize industries and transform lives

Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) has announced that Co-President and CEO Ben Rosenthal and Co-President Ashli Rosenthal Blumenfeld of Standard Meat Company have been named Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2024 Southwest Award winners. Entrepreneur Of The Year is the preeminent competitive awards program for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies.

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Co-President Ashli Rosenthal Blumenfeld and Co-President and CEO Ben Rosenthal of Standard Meat Company are Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2024 Southwest Award winners. (Photo: Business Wire)

Rosenthal and Blumenfeld, siblings in the family-owned and -operated company, were selected by an independent judging panel made up of previous award winners, leading CEOs and other business leaders. Candidates were evaluated based on their ability to create long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, commitment to their purpose and the demonstration of growth and substantial impact, among other key indicators.

“We are deeply humbled and honored to receive this award,” said Rosenthal. “Being recognized among so many outstanding companies who were nominated and advanced as finalists is a tremendous privilege. This award is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire team.”

“Our purpose, 'to inspire the connections and breakthroughs that ultimately feed our life,' guides us daily,” added Blumenfeld. “As a multi-generational, family-owned company, we view our team as extended family, fostering deep connections that also extend to our customers and suppliers. Ben and I are honored to celebrate this award with them.”

Founded in 1935 and headquartered at the iconic Stockyards in Fort Worth, Standard Meat Company (SMC) is a meat processing and packaging firm with plants in Dallas, Fort Worth, Saginaw, and Ponder, Texas. An industry leader in quality and innovation, the company is a global supplier of custom meat portioning and packaging solutions for the food service and retail industries.

“We appreciate that EY recognizes that while we are a 4th generation company, we are a ‘90-year-old startup’ at the same time,” said Rosenthal. “Ashli and I are doing things our own way, but we maintain the same entrepreneurial spirit that our dad had, as well as those who came before him.”

As Southwest award winners, Rosenthal and Blumenfeld are now eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 National Awards. The National Award winners, including the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner, will 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 World Entrepreneur Of The Year^® Award in June 2025.

Entrepreneur Of The Year recognizes many different types of business leaders for their ingenuity, courage and entrepreneurial spirit. The program celebrates original founders who bootstrapped their business from inception or who raised outside capital to grow their company; transformational CEOs who infused innovation into an existing organization to catapult its trajectory; and multigenerational family business leaders who reimagined a legacy business model to fortify it for the future.

The Entrepreneur Of The Year program has recognized the leadership of entrepreneurs such as:

• Barbara Smith of Commercial Metals Company
• Hamdi Ulukaya of Chobani, Inc.
• Holly Thaggard and Amanda Baldwin of Supergoop!
• Das and Nipa Nobel of MTX Group
• James Park of Fitbit
• Jodi Berg of Vitamix
• Kendra Scott of Kendra Scott LLC
• Michael Happe of Winnebago Industries
• Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn Corporation
• Tom Brennan of Sol-Ark

Entrepreneur Of The Year Award winners become lifetime members of a global, multi-industry community of entrepreneurs. They receive exclusive, ongoing access to the experience, insight and wisdom of program alumni and other ecosystem members in more than 60 countries — all supported by vast EY resources.

In addition to Entrepreneur Of The Year, EY US supports other entrepreneurs through the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women™(Winning Women) program and the EY Entrepreneurs Access Network (EAN) to help connect women founders and Black and Hispanic/Latino entrepreneurs, respectively, with the resources, network and access needed to unlock their full potential.

About Standard Meat

Standard Meat Company is a multi-generational protein packaging and portioning company headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. Founded in 1935, the innovative business serves a variety of foodservice needs from their four north Texas plants. Pioneers in steak cutting, Standard Meat Company is a recognized expert in meat science, food safety and quality assurance, culinary trends, purchasing, and packaging.

For more information, visit standardmeat.com.

Sponsors

Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards include presenting sponsors PNC Bank, Cresa, Marsh USA, SAP and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. In the Southwest program, sponsors also include Platinum sponsors DFIN and Haynes and Boone LLP, Gold sponsors BGSF, Marsh and Roach Howard Smith & Barton and Silver sponsors Big Picture Inc., Pierpont Communications and The Slate.

About Entrepreneur Of The Year^®

Founded in 1986, Entrepreneur Of The Year^® has celebrated more than 11,000 ambitious visionaries who are leading successful, dynamic businesses in the US, and it has since expanded to nearly 80 countries and territories globally.

The US program consists of 17 regional programs whose panels of independent judges select the regional award winners every June. Those winners compete for national recognition at the Strategic Growth Forum^® in November where National finalists and award winners are announced. The overall National winner represents the US at the World Entrepreneur Of The Year^® competition. Visit ey.com/us/eoy.

About EY

EY exists to build a better working world, helping to create long-term value for clients, people and society and build trust in the capital markets.

Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in over 150 countries provide trust through assurance and help clients grow, transform and operate.

Working across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax and transactions, EY teams ask better questions to find new answers for the complex issues facing our world today.

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