Global Personals CEO Ross Williams Crowned Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Winner

WINDSOR and LONDON, July 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Ross Williams, CEO and Co-founder of Global Personals Ltd, was crowned a winner in the London & South East category of the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards.

After receiving a record number of entries from a diverse cross-section of companies, the Entrepreneur of the Year awards recognised Williams as one of Britain's elite entrepreneurial talents. Launching Global Personals Ltd in 2003 alongside co-founder Steve Pammenter, Williams has grown the company to become one of the largest privately owned online dating and social discovery businesses globally, achieving fast growth revenues now approaching £50 million.*

Ross beat a number of high profile contenders for the award, including former Match.com European Managing Director Kevin Cornils, Alicia Navarro from Skimlinks and the trio of entrepreneurs behind Secret Escapes. Of the win, Ross commented:

"It's a great honour to have been selected as a winner in the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year awards, but the reality is that this award is a reflection of the great team that Steve and I have behind us at Global Personals. This amazing team have built one of the most successful privately-owned web businesses in the UK and our tremendous achievements are down to them."

Stuart Watson, EY's Entrepreneur of The Year UK Leader, said:

"In the face of a flat economy, the clear theme from the finalists is that the UK's leading entrepreneurs are searching out opportunities for growth and using innovative thinking to get ahead of their competition wherever they can. Entrepreneurs aren't waiting for traditional markets to recover and they are agile enough to ramp up activities and capitalise on pockets of potential."

The awards ceremony was held in London on Thursday. For more information about the Entrepreneur of the Year awards, please visit the Ernst & Young website.

* Annualised revenues, June 2013

About Global Personals

Launched in 2003, Global Personals Ltd is one of the largest privately owned online dating companies worldwide. With annualised revenues in excess of £46 million, the company currently employs over 140 full time staff and owns and operates an online dating and bingo portfolio including Singles365.com, DatingAgency.com and SmoochBingo.co.uk, whilst its B2B service, WhiteLabelDating.com, offers a platform for brands and individuals to power their own dating sites that currently includes The Independent and Dennis Publishing as partners. WhiteLabelDating.com provides the dating software, membership database, payment processing, customer support, hosting infrastructure and much more. You provide your brand, website design and marketing and we do the rest.

The company has received a collection of accolades including fastest growing company in the South East, UK, in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and  Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA (2010-2012), highly ranked in The Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 (2010-2012) and the European Media Momentum Top 50 (2011- 2013). WhiteLabelDating.com has also won 'Best Dating Software Provider' for three consecutive years (2010-2012) at the industry awards, iDate.

Contact: Hannah Flaherty: press@globalpersonals.co.uk, +44-(0)1753 271-280