EY US announces Linzie and Jesse Venegas of Ideal Group
as an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2025 Michigan and Northwest Ohio Award winner
Celebrating the bold leaders shaping the future through the world’s most ground-breaking companies
DETROIT, MI, 6/26/2025 – Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced that Linzie and Jesse Venegas of Ideal Group was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2025 Michigan and Northwest Ohio Award winner. Entrepreneur Of The Year is the preeminent competitive awards program for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies. For 40 years, EY US has celebrated ambitious entrepreneurs who are transforming industries, impacting communities and creating long-term value.
Linzie and Jesse were chosen by an independent panel of past winners, top CEOs and business leaders. Judges assessed candidates on long-term value creation, entrepreneurial spirit, purpose-driven commitment and significant growth and impact.
“We are incredibly honored to be named as one of the recipients of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Award for Michigan and Northwest Ohio,” said Linzie Venegas, President of Ideal Group. “This recognition is a proud milestone for Jesse and me, but it’s truly a reflection of our entire team at The Ideal Group, Ideal Contracting, Ideal Shield and Ideal Setech Companies. Success is never a solo journey. It’s about the people, the culture, and the shared values that carry us forward each day.
A heartfelt thank you to Ideal’s founder and our dad, Frank Venegas, who built a legacy of integrity and purpose that continues to shape who we are.
We’re deeply grateful to Cresa Detroit for the nomination and to EY for highlighting the impact entrepreneurs are making around the world through this phenomenal program. And to all the finalists and winners, your stories and work is inspiring.”
As a Michigan and Northwest Ohio award winner, both Linzie and Jesse are now eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2025 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 EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Award in June 2026.
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 strengthen it for the future.
The Entrepreneur Of The Year program has recognized the leadership of entrepreneurs such as:
· Greg Williams of Acrisure · Raj Vattikuti of Altimetrik · Sheila Mikhail of AskBio · Dr. Anthony Chang of BAMF Health · Caryn Seidman Becker and Ken Cornick of CLEAR · Bruce Smith of Detroit Manufacturing Systems · James Park of Fitbit · Arthur Blank of The Home Depot · Kendra Scott of Kendra Scott LLC | · Reed Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn · Saiju Jeong of Noom · Andra Rush of The Rush Group · Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee Company · Jodi Berg of Vitamix · Carla Walker-Miller of Walker-Miller Energy Services · Michael Happe of Winnebago Industries · Eric Yuan of Zoom |
Sponsors
Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards include presenting sponsors PNC Bank, Cresa, LLC, Marsh USA and SAP. In Michigan and Northwest Ohio, sponsors also include regional Gold sponsor, Full View Productions, and regional Silver sponsors, KLA Laboratories Inc., P.I.E. Management, L.L.C. and Tanner Friedman Strategic Communications.
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 60 countries 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 EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ competition. Visit ey.com/us/eoy.
About EY
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