Boca Raton, FL, Jun. 8--Lewis Gould finds himself a finalist once again for Florida entrepreneur of the year, according to the Palm Beach Post.
The chairman and chief executive of Q.E.P. Co. Inc. in Boca Raton also made the list in 1996 and 2001 for the annual Ernst & Young competition. This year, he is one of 24 finalists, including Charles Garcia, CEO of Sterling Financial Investment Group, and George F. Donovan, CEO of Bluegreen Corp. Both are also based in Boca Raton.
A panel of businesspeople look for executives "who have demonstrated excellence and extraordinary success," a news release said.
Q.E.P. has certainly been a success story. The carpet-tool outfit reached $3.5 million in profit and $143 million in sales in the fiscal year that ended Feb. 27. Its stock is trading at $15 a share.
Though Gould's 25-year-old company is more of an established firm than a startup, he still feels like an entrepreneur.
"Oh yes, we run the company top to bottom entrepreneurially. Otherwise you can't succeed," Gould said. "... We don't have five layers of decision-making. It gives people the ability to make decisions on the spot."
