EY Announces John Keppler, Chairman and CEO of Enviva as an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2021 Mid-Atlantic Award Winner
John Keppler and Enviva recognized for unstoppable leadership, bold vision, and unwavering commitment to mitigate the negative effects of climate change this decade
BETHESDA, Md., August 4, 2021 – Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) announced that John Keppler of Enviva was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2021 Mid-Atlantic Award winner. The Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards program is one of the preeminent competitive awards for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies. The award recognizes those who are unstoppable entrepreneurial leaders, excelling in talent management; degree of difficulty; financial performance; societal impact and building a values-based company; and originality, innovation, and future plans. John Keppler was selected by an independent panel of judges, and the award was announced during the program’s virtual awards gala on August 3, 2021.
“Being selected as an Entrepreneur of the Year by EY for the Mid-Atlantic is an honor and a true testament to the incredible work Enviva does every day to sustainably source, manufacture and utilize wood bioenergy to mitigate climate change,” said John Keppler, co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Enviva. “I sincerely thank the EY team for recognizing the dedicated and passionate work of displacing fossil fuels that Enviva has committed itself to achieving and I’m proud of the company that we’ve built that does right by our communities and is a leader in environmental stewardship and sustainability.”
Looking to fundamentally change the complex equation of energy and the environment, Keppler founded Enviva in 2004 as a way to repurpose low-value wood and produce a renewable fuel that could support global energy demand instead of being discarded or burned as scrap wood. Today, Enviva is a leading global renewable energy company specializing in sustainable wood bioenergy, a renewable fuel source that provides global power and heat generators with a drop-in alternative to fossil fuels. For power generation, woody biomass provides reliable and dispatchable energy that complements the intermittency of wind and solar and ensures a stable grid. On a mission to displace coal, grow more trees and fight climate change, Enviva is a values-driven company operating under the principles of: keeping promises, determination to make a difference, acting with integrity, and working with the qualities of openness, humility, and respect.
For 35 years, EY US has honored entrepreneurs whose ambition, courage and ingenuity have driven their companies’ success, transformed their industries and made a positive impact on their communities. Keppler will go on to become a lifetime member of the esteemed multi-industry community of award winners, with exclusive, ongoing access to the experience, insight and wisdom of fellow alumni and other ecosystem members in over 60 countries — all supported by vast EY resources.
As a Mid-Atlantic award winner, Keppler is now eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2021 National Awards. Award winners in several national categories, as well as 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.
To view the full list of 2021 Mid-Atlantic award winners, visit: https://www.ey.com/en_us/news/2021/08/ey-announces-winners-for-the-eoy-2021-mid-atlantic-award
About Entrepreneur Of The Year®
Entrepreneur Of The Year® is the world’s most prestigious business awards program for unstoppable entrepreneurs. These visionary leaders deliver innovation, growth and prosperity that transform our world. The program engages entrepreneurs with insights and experiences that foster growth. It connects them with their peers to strengthen entrepreneurship around the world. Entrepreneur Of The Year is the first and only truly global awards program of its kind. It celebrates entrepreneurs through regional and national awards programs in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries. National overall winners go on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ title. ey.com/us/eoy
About Enviva Holdings, LP
Enviva Holdings, LP is the world’s largest producer of wood pellets, a renewable and sustainable energy source used to generate electricity and heat. Through its subsidiaries, Enviva Holdings, LP owns and operates wood pellet processing plants and deep-water export terminals in the U.S. Southeast. We export our pellets to power plants in the United Kingdom, Europe, and Japan that previously were fueled by coal, enabling them to reduce their lifecycle carbon footprint by more than 85 percent. We make our pellets using sustainable practices that protect Southern forests and employ about 1,200 people and support many other businesses in the U.S. Southeast. Enviva Holdings, LP conducts its activities primarily through two entities: Enviva Partners, LP, a publicly traded master limited partnership (NYSE: EVA), and Enviva Development Holdings, LLC, a wholly owned private company. To learn more about Enviva Holdings, LP, please visit our website at www.envivabiomass.com.
