EY US unveils Ray Waddell of CEC Facilities Group as an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2025 Southwest Award finalist
Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates ambitious entrepreneurs who are shaping the future
DALLAS, May 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) announced the finalists for the prestigious Entrepreneur Of The Year 2025 Southwest Award. Now in its 40th year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year program celebrates the bold leaders who disrupt markets through the world's most ground-breaking companies, revolutionizing industries and making a profound impact on communities. The program honors bold entrepreneurs whose innovations shape the future and pave the way for a thriving economy and a hopeful tomorrow.
EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Finalist
An independent panel of judges selected Ray Waddell among the CEOs and founders representing 42 companies for their entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and lasting impact in building long-term value.
"CEC was born from a desire to build something bigger than myself, a 100-year company that would continue to serve others long after I'm gone. Leadership has always been part of who I am, first on the court as a point guard, then in business," said Waddell. "Being named a finalist is a tremendous honor. We've created a company grounded in integrity and I hope CEC continues building a legacy that supports families, develops leaders, and endures for generations to come."
CEC Facilities Group is one of the fastest-growing industrial services companies in the region, built on grit, innovation, and a drive to do things differently. From powering mission critical data centers to shaping the future of healthcare and commercial infrastructure, CEC tackles complex work across electrical, mechanical, prefabrication, and design-build services with quality and scale that speak for themselves. In response to the growing skilled labor shortage across the trades, CEC launched CEC University—a hands-on training and development program designed to grow talent from within. It's more than workforce development, it's a long-term investment in people, careers, and the future of the industry. By building its own talent pipeline, CEC is taking control of its growth trajectory while creating opportunity for the next generation of skilled professionals.
Entrepreneur Of The Year honors 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 strengthen it for the future.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
Hong Kong Airlines Celebrates Inaugural Flight to Sydney
Offering Travellers More Direct Flight Options to Australia HONG KONG, June 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Hong Kong Airlines' inaugural flight between Hong Kong and Sydney, Australia, departed yesterday, making it the second local airline to operate this route and providing greater travel options for business, leisure, and transit passengers. To mark this new milestone in its network expansion, Hong Kong Airlines held celebratory events at both Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) and Sydney Airport (SYD). Prior to departure, a launch ceremony was held at the boarding gate of the HKIA. The event was attended by distinguished guests, including Mr Jeff Sun, President of Hong Kong Airlines; Mr Ian McGraw from the Australian Consulate-General in Hong Kong; Ms Carmen Tam and Ms Vivien Yuen from Tourism Australia; Ms Jennifer Tung from Destination New South Wales; and Mr Ricky Chong from Airport Authority Hong Kong. The guests interacted with passengers and presented them with bespoke souvenirs to commemorate the historic occasion. During the event, Hong Kong Airlines President Mr Jeff Sun stated: "As a full-service local carrier, the launch of our Sydney service marks a significant step in our transformation to an international airline. Sydney is not only a popular destination for leisure and business travel but also one of Australia's most vital economic hubs. The expansion of the bilateral traffic rights agreement allows us to offer more choice to travellers in both cities, strengthening the connection between them." He added, "While Hong Kong Airlines may be a younger brand in the mature Australian market, we are endeavouring in our commitment to providing quality service. We operate this route with our Airbus A330 aircraft, featuring comfortable business and economy class cabins, and strive to deliver a passenger-centric in-flight experience through attentive service and fine dining for our long-haul customers." Sydney Airport CEO Mr Scott Charlton said: "We're proud to welcome Hong Kong Airlines to Sydney as our 52nd airline partner with its strong reputation for service excellence, efficiency and value. This inaugural service comes on the back of the first expansion in bilateral air traffic rights between Australia and Hong Kong in 19 years and we thank the Albanese Federal Government for its role in enabling this important agreement, which reflects the strength of our longstanding cultural and economic ties." NSW Minister for Jobs and Tourism Steve Kamper, said: "Hong Kong is a priority international market for NSW, with incoming travellers contributing substantially to the NSW visitor economy. The Minns Labor Government has made it very clear; we want to grow our visitor economy and the best way to do this is by increasing airline capacity and unlocking new international markets for NSW. We've set our sights on increasing the state's aviation capacity by 8.5 million seats, and this new Hong Kong route will complement other new routes we're securing as we work towards landing this goal." Mr Wang Yu, Consul General of People's Republic of China (Sydney), said: "As the second Hong Kong-based airline to operate the Hong Kong–Sydney route, Hong Kong Airlines not only provides a convenient new option for traveling between China and Australia, but also contributes to enhanced exchanges among students, tourists, business professionals and friends from all walks of life. This new service will strengthen Hong Kong and Sydney's role as vital gateways for the flow of people and goods, injecting fresh momentum into the economic and cultural ties between China and Australia. Its launch will also attract more international travelers to transit through Hong Kong or Sydney, further strengthening both cities' positions as global aviation hubs and creating new opportunities for trade and investment. Looking ahead, the Consulate-General of China in Sydney will continue to encourage and support airlines from both China and Australia in restoring or launching new routes based on the principle of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. We believe that Hong Kong Airlines will continuously enhance its service quality and showcase a good corporate image." Also in attendance at the Sydney welcome ceremony were representatives from the Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in Sydney, Destination NSW and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Sydney). Exclusive Lounge Access for Connecting Passengers To celebrate the launch of the new service, passengers travelling on this route and transit at Hong Kong for selected Hong Kong Airlines flights* to Vancouver, Bali, Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Shanghai (Pudong), Haikou, or Sanya, between 20 June and 31 October 2025, will receive complimentary access to the airline's flagship lounge "Club Autus" at Hong Kong International Airport. *Please click here for the relevant terms and conditions. Expanding Route Network The launch of the Sydney service indicates Hong Kong Airlines' overarching strategy for its network expansion. Coupled with the various significant destinations that have been inaugurated or reinstated since the start of the year, including Gold Coast in Australia, Vancouver in Canada, and Hulunbuir in Inner Mongolia of mainland China, the airline has cultivated a more extensive and diversified route map. This further underscores Hong Kong Airlines' commitment and contribution to the aviation industry's recovery and long-term development. In addition to the new routes, the Company also increased the frequency of services on multiple routes to cater to the summer travel demand. This includes the resumption of seasonal flights to the Maldives and an increase in flights to Da Nang to two per day. Additionally, flights to Shanghai Pudong will be increased to four per day, while services to Hangzhou and Nanjing will become twice day. The variety of flight times available throughout the day provides business, leisure, and transit passengers with the flexibility to plan their itineraries. The Company will launch another new service in July, providing passengers with more travel options. Hong Kong Airlines flight schedule* between Hong Kong and Sydney is as follows (All times local): Route Flight Number Departure Arrival Frequency HKG – SYD HX017 22:25 09:50+1 Daily SYD – HKG HX018 11:30 19:10 * Flight number and schedule may change without prior notice Please download high-resolution photos through this link. About Hong Kong Airlines Established in 2006, Hong Kong Airlines is a full-service airline firmly rooted in Hong Kong. The airline flies to over 30 destinations across the Asia Pacific and North America, and currently maintains interline and codeshares with multiple airline partners and ferry service providers. Hong Kong Airlines operates an all-Airbus fleet. It has been awarded the internationally acclaimed four-star rating from Skytrax since 2011. For more information, please visit or our social media channels on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Hong Kong Airlines Inicia sesión para acceder a tu portafolio
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
China's Tai'an Mining Equipment Accelerates 'Going Global'
TAI'AN, China, June 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- This is a report from the Shandong 0ffice of Hong Kong Business Daily. Recently, the "Vietnam China Shandong (Tai'an) Mining and Processing Technology Exhibition" was held in Vietnam to assist mining equipment enterprises in Tai'an City in exploring the Southeast Asian market. This exhibition is the first overseas self held exhibition of Tai'an's "Mount Taishan Brand Global Travel" campaign. A total of 21 mining equipment enterprises went to Vietnam to participate in this event, achieving an intended turnover of more than 50 million dollars, reaching more than 50 agency cooperation intentions, and achieving good trade results. This exhibition adopts a three in one model of "exhibition+trade docking+promotion", which provides a new platform for Sino Vietnamese mining equipment industry cooperation for enterprises. During the event, 126 buyers including Vietnam Coal Group were attracted to negotiate and connect. Tai'an Chuangdong New Material Technology Co., Ltd. signed a 1.2 million head order at the exhibition site, with an annual procurement scale of over 10 million US dollars, and simultaneously reached a memorandum of cooperation on new product technology. Shandong Ruiyu Mining Materials Processing Co., Ltd. seized the opportunity of cooperation in the raw material supply chain, opened up new growth points for subsequent business, successfully entered the largest support material supply chain system in Vietnam, and is expected to export over 2000 tons of goods annually. Tai'an Mount Taishan Huakun Machinery Co., Ltd. signed a technical cooperation memorandum with Yuemei Group on intelligent upgrading; Yongtai Mining Technology Co., Ltd. in Daiyue District, Tai'an City has obtained 5 customer process improvement needs, and 2 Vietnamese buyers plan to visit Thailand in June to inspect production lines and carry out deeper cooperation. The Tai'an Municipal Bureau of Commerce held a meeting to discuss the supply and demand of mining and processing technology equipment in Vietnam (Tai'an), and visited leading units in the Vietnamese coal mining industry such as the Vietnam Coal Mining Industry Group and the Vietnam Machinery Association. Next, Tai'an will continue to implement the activity of "Mount Taishan Brand Global Travel", organize and carry out key exhibitions such as "Russian International Construction and Construction Machinery Exhibition", "Sri Lanka Colombo Building Materials and Construction Machinery Exhibition", "Oman Construction Machinery and International Building Materials Exhibition", and help foreign trade enterprises in Tai'an expand emerging markets in Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa, etc. View original content: SOURCE Shandong Office of Hong Kong Business Daily
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
123Invent Inventor Develops Flexible Accessory to Support Growing Plants (LBT-3519)
PITTSBURGH , June 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- "I thought there should be a way to support the height and width of a plant as it grows," said an inventor, from Rochester, N.Y., "so I invented MCKINNON FARMING. My design helps uplift the plant for strong and healthy growth." The invention provides an effective way to support the height and thickness of a growing plant. In doing so, it helps strengthen the plant. As a result, it prevents plants from hanging and looking sloppy. The invention features a flexible design that is easy to use so it is ideal for individuals who grow various types of plants, gardeners, farmers, etc. MCKINNON FARMING is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, visit Or contact Al Mc Kinnon at 585-622-2814 or email info@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE InventHelp
