Michael Peterman, founder and CEO of VeraData, has been named an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2026 Florida Award winner — recognized among 11 winners across the state and selected from 592 finalists across 17 regions nationwide. Peterman is the first founder in the nonprofit data and fundraising services sector to receive this honor, capping more than two decades of building data science infrastructure purpose-built for nonprofits. As a regional winner, he now advances to the Entrepreneur Of The Year® National Awards at the Strategic Growth Forum® in Palm Springs, California, November 16–19, 2026.
MIAMI, June 16, 2026 /PRNewswire-³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø/ -- Michael Peterman of VeraData Holdings was named an EY US Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2026 Florida Award winner. He was selected among nearly 35 program participants that included 592 finalists across 17 regions competing for the title.
Peterman has spent more than two decades applying rigorous data science to the art of fundraising — building VeraData on the premise that the right data, analyzed the right way, could fundamentally change how nonprofits find and keep donors. Today, VeraData Holdings is a full-spectrum fundraising intelligence enterprise serving nonprofits of every size, collectively raising more than $1 billion annually for clients across the country. What started as a conviction is now a company of more than 240 employees, a team of 25+ PhD mathematicians, and a mission to increase charitable giving as a percentage of U.S. GDP.
"This is a humbling experience," said Michael Peterman, founder and CEO of VeraData. "Entrepreneurship is a team sport … nobody accomplishes anything meaningful alone. I have been blessed with an incredible team that bought into this vision, believes in it every single day, and works tirelessly to support our clients' missions. I am also profoundly grateful to the nonprofits who trust us to diverge from the traditional and leverage data, analytics and technology to guide decisioning. This honor belongs to all of them."
Now in its 41st year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year program honors business leaders for their ingenuity, courage and entrepreneurial spirit. It celebrates original founders who bootstrapped their business from inception or 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.
Regional winners 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.
"I have watched Michael work for years, and what he has built is extraordinary," said Michael Kulpinsky, Chief Operating Officer of VeraData Holdings. "It was his passion, his drive, and his unwavering belief in what this company could become that made me want to be part of it. I couldn't be more honored to watch him receive this recognition. He has earned every bit of it."
As a Florida award winner, Peterman will now be considered by the national judges for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2026 National Awards, which will be presented in November at the annual , where high-growth CEOs, Fortune 1000 executives and investors converge to shape the future of business. The National Overall Award winner will move on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Yearâ„¢ Award in May 2027.
The Entrepreneur Of The Year program has recognized the leadership of entrepreneurs such as:
- Jason McGowan, Crumbl Cookies
- Reid Hoffman | Jeff Weiner, LinkedIn Corp.
- Saeju Jeong, Noom
- Allison Ellsworth | Stephen Ellsworth, Poppi
- Jitendra Mohan | Sanjay Gajendra | Casey Morrison, Astera Labs
- Shelly Ibach, Sleep Number
- Howard Schultz, Starbucks Coffee Company
- Holly Thaggard | Amanda Baldwin, Supergoop!
- Jodi L. Berg, Vita-Mix Corporation
- Michael Happe, Winnebago Industries
- Arthur Blank, Atlanta Falcons, The Home Depot, Georgia Force
Sponsors
Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards include presenting sponsors PNC Bank, Cresa, LLC, Marsh Risk, SAP and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. In Florida, sponsors also include regional Gold sponsor, Selective Insight and regional Silver sponsor, ADP.
About VeraData
VeraData is the originator of Donor Scienceâ„¢, pioneering the use of AI, machine learning, and behavioral data to help nonprofits acquire more donors and generate more revenue. VeraData blends Donor Science, Creative Science, and Media Science through its partner agencies Teal Media (creative and digital storytelling) and Faircom New York (integrated fundraising strategy and donor communications). With capabilities spanning predictive analytics, creative strategy, direct mail production, and data-driven optimization, VeraData equips mission-driven organizations to turn insights into impact and achieve stronger fundraising results. For more information, visit .
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 and territories 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 in November where national finalists and award winners are announced. The national overall winner represents the US at the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Yearâ„¢ competition. Visit .
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EY refers to the global organization and may refer to one or more of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation are available via . EY member firms do not practice law, where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit .
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Media Contact
Joey Mechelle Farqué, VeraData, 1 918-373-9144, [email protected],
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