High-potential entrepreneurs receive resources and support to help accelerate the growth of their businesses.

 Ernst & Young LLP announced the 10 winners of its 2011 Entrepreneurial Winning Women program. The winners, who were selected by a distinguished panel of independent judges from a competitive pool of U.S. applicants, come from many different industry sectors and geographies.

This year's Winning Women award recipients own companies in a wide variety of industry sectors, including medical services, financial management, digital media, and international security services. Following are brief profiles of their companies:

• Lisa Stone | BlogHer (Belmont, CA) is the leading media company created by, for and with women in social media. Reaching more than 27 million women monthly and working with brands such as PepsiCo, P&G and HTC, BlogHer creates robust marketing and research opportunities to engage the female consumer and has been named one of Businessweek’s Most Promising American Start-Ups and one of AlwaysOn’s Global 250.

• Dr. Patricia Adams | Zeitgeist Expressions, Inc. (San Antonio, TX) is an innovative one-stop network for individual, family, corporate and military clients seeking overall health and wellness services. Zeitgeist provides counseling, coaching, fitness, massage, acupuncture, crisis intervention and nutritional guidance to its clients through specialists in all 50 states and U.S. territories.

• Amy Buckner | AnswerLab (San Francisco, CA) delivers trusted user experience insights that help the world’s leading brands build outstanding and engaging digital products. Leading global companies, including Facebook, Amazon.com, Walmart, Honda, ESPN and Genentech, select AnswerLab as their user experience research partner to learn what people see, do, think, and feel when using Web sites, mobile applications, and other digital products.

• Dr. Mary Jo Gorman | Advanced ICU Care^® (St. Louis, MO) provides innovative, high-quality, cost-effective telemedicine services to hospital intensive care units (ICU). Through Advanced ICU Care’s experienced teams and robust process improvement program, hospitals can meet the recommended around-the-clock standard of care for ICU patients, despite the serious shortage of professionals in the field. 

• Lani Hay | Lanmark Technology Inc. (Vienna, VA) provides cutting-edge, mission-support technology and consulting solutions aligned with national security interests. Through a range of specialized services, including intelligence, asymmetric warfare, and cyber defense, Lanmark Technology develops, programs and delivers realistic and relevant technology-enabled training and tools to government and commercial clients worldwide.

• Patty Klein | A-Plus Meetings & Incentives (Coral Gables, FL) provides value-added meeting planning and incentive travel services to Fortune 500 clients, such as Staples, Ryder and DHL. Driven by its leadership team’s business and consulting experience, A-Plus delivers unique strategic agenda and content design, flawless personalized service and superior cost management to generate a high return on investment.

• Stephanie Point | Point 2 Point Global Security, Inc. (Phoenix, MD) provides a wide array of specialized security services to Fortune 500 companies, private businesses and government agencies. Point 2 Point strategically protects people and assets, including executives and diplomats, through its expert military specialists, armed/unarmed guards and off-duty police nationwide. Point 2 Point is positioned for exponential revenue and job growth.

• Dr. Rebecca Thomley | Orion Associates (Golden Valley, MN) offers a full range of management infrastructure services to social service agencies in a growing number of states. Its innovative practices include providing financial services to elderly and disabled individuals receiving public assistance, enabling them to stay in their own homes, self-administer their funds and make informed choices about their care.

• Alexa von Tobel | LearnVest (New York, NY) is the leading personal finance and lifestyle website for women, providing trusted content, tools and support to help members tackle their finances at each stage of life. LearnVest tools include: financial Bootcamp Programs, the My Money Center and the Advice Center. LearnVest has raised $25 million in funding to date.

• Laura Zander | Jimmy Beans Wool (Reno, NV) is a market leader in the multibillion-dollar needle arts industry, selling yarn, fabric and knitting and crochet products. With its innovative and unequalled approach to marketing, Jimmy Beans has been named the Official Yarn Supplier to the U.S. Snowboard Team and created the Stitch Red campaign against heart disease in women.

The 2011 panel of independent judges for the Entrepreneurial Winning Women program included:

• Lisa B. Bair, CEO, Hobart Group Holdings
• Howard Brodsky, Co-founder, Chairman and CEO, CCA Global Partners
• Jeri Harman, Founder and Partner, Avante Mezzanine Partners
• Rob Scott, Vice President and Worldwide General Manager, Hewlett-Packard
• Mary Ellen Sheets, Founder, Two Men and a Truck

Initially a U.S. initiative, the Entrepreneurial Winning Women program has now launched in Indonesia and Australia, and programs are in development in Brazil, South Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, Ukraine and Hungary. Launched in 2008, the program is intended to help women entrepreneurs break through the barriers that keep thriving second-stage businesses from scaling to their full potential. The entrepreneurs, who are welcome to remain engaged in Entrepreneurial Winning Women for as long as it benefits them, participate in a customized program designed by Ernst & Young to catalyze their companies’ growth by building and fostering critical relationships, enhancing leadership skills, expanding business know-how and providing increased visibility.

They are coached on the five crucial leaps they need to scale up their business:

• Setting higher goals
• Building a public profile
• Working on the business, rather than in it
• Establishing key advisory networks
• Evaluating financing for expansion

The Entrepreneurial Winning Women program is conducted in collaboration with several organizations that encourage the development of women-owned businesses, including the Women Presidents’ Organization, Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, National Association of Women Business Owners, The Committee of 200, the Kauffman Foundation and Babson College’s Center for Women’s Leadership. For more information on the program, visit www.ey.com/us/entrepreneurialwinningwomen