Sean Wolfington

CEO of BZ Results
Winner of Innovative Company of the Year and finalist of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneurs of the Year Award

Announcing the Winners

Delivering the most innovative products and services for helping their clients generate measurable increases in profit while growing their own business and achieving excellent client satisfaction has earned SAP and BZ Results recognition as this year’s “Innovative Company of the Year.”

This award is reserved for the pioneers of the industry who innovate above the crowd and transform business through their innovations,” said Pat Luck, publisher of AutoSuccess. SAP is the world’s largest enterprise software company and the world’s third largest software provider. In the automotive industry, they work with 17 OEMs and 39 suppliers. BZ Results pioneered the use of technology and Internet marketing in the automotive industry and they currently work with nine of the top 10 “Internet Dealers of the Year.”

Wanye Huizenga Founder of Blockbuster and Autonation and winner of last year's Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Innovative Companies Need Innovative Leaders

Innovative companies always have innovative leaders who cast the right vision and lead the right people with the right strategy to success. Recently, SAP’s President and CEO, Bill McDermott and BZ’s CEO Sean Wolfington were named as finalists in Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year program. Ernst & Young created the annual Entrepreneur Of The Year® Award program in the United States in 1986 to recognize the most successful and innovative entrepreneurs in the world. Many of the Entrepreneur of The Year winners have become household names: Amazon.com, Southwest Airlines, and Enterprise Rent-a-Car. Wayne Huizenga, the founder of Blockbuster & Autonation, was last year’s winner.

Wolfington and McDermott were recognized among four finalists for being among the most successful entrepreneurs in technology today. “Few companies have the passion and perseverance to turn a bright idea into a brilliant business like the men and women recognized by the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® program,” explains Ernst & Young. For 19 years Entrepreneur Of The Year has shone a spotlight on the entrepreneurs who, through their vision and vigor, have created enterprises that blaze trails for others to follow. Both companies experienced dramatic growth while casting a new vision, developing new products and services and creating extraordinary growth for their customer partners. In the automotive industry SAP is the clear leader for providing enterprise application software products for suppliers and manufacturers. BZ is the clear leader for providing technology and Internet marketing solutions to improve dealers’ sales and service profits. Both companies have enjoyed 10 quarters of dramatic growth because they have a customer-centric approach aimed at generating value and creating a measurable ROI for their partners.

Sean Wolfington Former Chairman and CEO of BZ Reults.

Sean Wolfington was the Chairman and CEO of BZ Results. In this position Wolfington was responsible for all of BZ’s business operations around the world. Under Wolfington’s leadership, BZ Results generated billions of dollars in automotive sales worldwide and they have organically grown 6,000% into an enterprise value of $125 million in only three years. In March 2006 Wolfington sold BZ Results to ADP, a $10 billion enterprise software and payroll company. Before BZResults, Wolfington co-founded Cyber Car in 1999 and led the acquisition of Automark, which was later sold for an enterprise value of US $200 million to the Reynolds & Reynolds Company. By the age of 34, Wolfington built and sold two technology companies for a combined value of almost $400 million. During his career, Wolfington revolutionized how manufacturers and retailers leverage technology and the Internet to improve their profits. Wolfington also owns two real estate investment companies, a media company called The One Media and a film production company called Metanoia Films, which recently produced their first film, “Bella.” “Bella” took the top prize at the world’s most prestigious festival, The Toronto International Film Festival. Winning Toronto is often an indicator of future Oscar nominations, with past recipients including best picture Oscar winners and classics “Chariots of Fire,” “American Beauty,” “Life is Beautiful,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Hotel Rwanda.” If Wolfington pioneers the use of technology and the Internet in these industries as he did in the automotive industry, he will be very successful.

William "Bill" R. McDermott CEO and President of SAP America, Inc.

William “Bill” R. McDermott is the Chief Executive Officer and President for SAP America, Inc. In this position, McDermott is responsible for all of SAP’s business activities in the United States and Canada and managing the region’s more than 4,000 employees. Prior to joining SAP, McDermott served as the Executive Vice President, Worldwide Sales Operations, of Siebel Systems, an organization responsible for supporting customers in 37 countries, where he led global sales and field operations. McDermott also spent 17 years with Xerox Corporation, where he became the youngest division president and corporate officer. He also served on the board of directors for two company subsidiaries. In 1997, through his leadership, McDermott’s division received the Baldrige Award, presented annually by the President of the United States to businesses judged to be outstanding in several areas. In April 2006, McDermott received the Merit Award from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. The award is presented to alumni whose professional leadership and accomplishments have distinguished their alma mater. In June 2005, McDermott was selected to Treasury & Risk Management’s 100 Most Influential People in Finance.

Congratulations to this year’s winners of the “Innovative Company of the Year” award, SAP and BZ Results, and their innovative leaders, Sean Wolfington and Bill McDermott.