Catching the spark: EY Entrepreneur of the Year[R] 2016 Utah region.

• Position: Catching the Spark

Utah is defined and shaped by its entrepreneurial culture. It's what fuels the state's legendary sales force, underlies our vibrant network marketing industry and launches a multitude of new ambitious ventures each year. The annual EY Entrepreneur Of The Year[R] program celebrates and ignites this entrepreneurial culture by honoring the people taking risks, making tough decisions and pinpointing opportunities in order to launch and grow their businesses. The following pages are filled with the inspiring stories of these entrepreneurs who are igniting Utah's future.

AWARD WINNER

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR

JOSEPH CARBONE

Founder & CEO, Eye Care 4 Kids

With 40 years of experience as a board-certified optician in private practice, Joseph Carbone was all too familiar with the huge need for eye care for underserved children. And he decided to do something about it, leaving his private practice behind to launch Eye Care 4 Kids, a nonprofit organization that brings eye care services to children whose families can't afford it.

About one in four children need some kind of corrective eyewear, he says. But the need skyrockets for economically challenged communities, where 30 - 50 percent of children go without necessary professional eye care services. The implications of that are tremendous, says Carbone. "If a child can't see, he can't read, if he can't read, he can't learn, and if he can't learn, he's going to get in trouble"

Fifteen years after the launch of Eye Care 4 Kids, the organization has provided more than 100,000 kids with professional eye exams, vision screenings and, if needed, "new, really cool eye glasses."

The nonprofit now has a presence in five states including a family clinic, laboratory, school-based clinics, other community-based clinics and even mobile clinics. "Not only do the kids need the services, but we need to take the services to the kids," explains Carbone.

"I would like to see an Eye Care 4 Kids in every major city across the United States. This is America. There is no reason a child should go years without an eye examination, without professional eye care, without a silly pair of glasses."

AWARD WINNER

CONSTRUCTION

GLENN HILEMAN

CEO, Highmark School Development

Glenn Hileman knows what it means to be in a tight spot.

Highmark School Development had lost its funding from lenders and was threatening to go under. Instead of accepting defeat, Hileman dug in.

"I knew the resources were out there, and if I could just get the capital resources aligned, that this would be something that was viable and had great promise. The vision of delivering on a much bigger scale is still what drives me," he says. "We are making a difference in the lives of families and the kids who are attending our schools."

At any given time, around 30,000 students are attending Highmark-developed charter schools. Hileman says the company's focus is on helping provide educators with a facility where they can do their most effective teaching and keep on a budget the school can afford. The company can also develop specialty schools, such as STEM- or performing arts-centered facilities. Hileman says being able to help schools do their job better makes his job fulfilling.

"I've worked in a lot of different areas in my life and my career, but it's rare that you get an opportunity to walk in and see children being educated and see the excitement that occurs when it's done right. Knowing the things that we do--whether it's finance or construction or design--has an impact on those kids really is meaningful," he says.

"The clearer the vision, the more likely the outcome. If I get discouraged, which I do, I stay focused on the outcome and I don't let the issues slow me down. I work on solutions and continue to remind myself why it is that I'm beating my head against a wall until we come up with the solution that's necessary to address the problem."

RICK HOGGAN

President & CEO, Millcreek Engineering Company

Millcreek Engineering is a heavy industry engineering and design firm. "We develop the plants that build the raw materials that build all the things you use in your daily lives," says founder Rick Hoggan. The company helps design plants that process and generate precious metals, fertilizers, rare-earth elements and more.

For example, one current project involves lithium. "We take geothermal brine and generate power from the heat, and then we strip out pure lithium. This is a huge driver for the battery of the future, for electric cars," says Hoggan.

The challenge for Millcreek Engineering is to develop these plants to include innovative processes that are environmentally sensitive and energy efficient. "No project's the same. It's not cookie cutter," he says. "It's custom design, it's unique challenges, it's chemistry, it's engineering, and we have the best team in the world to do that."

In fact, the company, which was founded in 1997, has recently broadened its scope with projects in Central and South America, Europe and Asia. "My biggest challenge is to see where Millcreek needs to be positioned, so we look at the industries that are on the rise and then we position ourselves to be in those industries," says Hoggan.

KEVIN FLANNERY

President & CEO, Shamrock Plumbing

Kevin Flannery created Shamrock Plumbing after working for $10 an hour and realizing it wasn't enough. "[I had] no benefits at home, no insurance, no holidays, no vacation. You can't raise six kids on $10 an hour," says Flannery. "So I had to do something different, and necessity is the mother of invention, so I started Shamrock. And lo and behold, here we are."

Flannery has never forgotten the circumstances from which he started Shamrock. He and his cofounders believe in "doing things right, doing the right thing and for the right reasons," says Flannery, and he still carries a sense of responsibility for his now nearly 130 employees.

"I'm always concerned about job security for my employees. I really do love the people that work for me. I think they feel the same way," he says. "We hang out with them. We go hunting. Everything I do is based around this company--the company is my life, and I can't put a dollar value on my life. It's the people. That's the whole thing."

Flannery is also the president and co-founder of the Mayan Miracle Foundation and has traveled to the Yucatan Peninsula over 125 times to give aid to families in remote villages.

AWARD WINNER

CONSUMABLE PRODUCTS

STEVEN RICHARDS

President, CEO and founder, BetterBody Foods and Nutrition, LLC

In Steven Richards' past career as a lawyer, he noticed that offices would often adopt the personality of the person at the top. That insight into office culture helped him create a productive one of his own when he founded Lindon-based BetterBody Foods and Nutrition.

"I would like to think our culture [is] hardworking, where there's a sense of honesty and trust, where we enjoy one another's company, where we're...