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EY US unveils David Erickson of Forward Networks as an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2025 Bay Area Award finalist

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Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates ambitious entrepreneurs who are shaping the future

SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) announced the finalists for the prestigious Entrepreneur Of The Year 2025 Bay Area Award. Now in its 40th year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year program celebrates the bold leaders who disrupt markets through the world’s most ground-breaking companies, revolutionizing industries and making a profound impact on communities. The program honors bold entrepreneurs whose innovations shape the future and pave the way for a thriving economy and a hopeful tomorrow.

An independent panel of judges selected David Erickson among 33 finalists for their entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and lasting impact in building long-term value.

In reflecting on this recognition, Erickson said: “Bringing Forward Networks from a concept to a company trusted by some of the world’s largest enterprises and government agencies—where data security is critical—has been a journey more than a decade in the making. Being named an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® Finalist is a true honor. For decades, this award has recognized business leaders whose companies have disrupted industries and created entirely new product categories. Being part of that legacy is a meaningful validation of the work my co-founders, our employees, and I have done to drive real, positive change.'”

Entrepreneur Of The Year honors business leaders for their ingenuity, courage and entrepreneurial spirit. The program celebrates original founders who bootstrapped their business from inception or who 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 award winners will be announced on Friday, June 13 during a special celebration in San Francisco and will become lifetime members of an esteemed community of Entrepreneur Of The Year alumni from around the world. The winners will then be considered by the National judges for the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards, which will be presented in November at the annual Strategic Growth Forum®, one of the nation’s most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies.

Sponsors
Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards include presenting sponsors PNC Bank, Cresa, LLC, Marsh USA and SAP. In the Bay Area, sponsors include platinum sponsor: DLA Piper, gold sponsor: ADP and silver sponsor: Big Picture.

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 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 Strategic Growth Forum® in November where National finalists and award winners are announced. The overall National winner represents the US at the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ competition. Visit ey.com/us/eoy.

About EY
EY is building a better working world by creating new value for clients, people, society and the planet, while building trust in capital markets.

Enabled by data, AI and advanced technology, EY teams help clients shape the future with confidence and develop answers for the most pressing issues of today and tomorrow.

EY teams work across a full spectrum of services in assurance, consulting, tax, strategy and transactions. Fueled by sector insights, a globally connected, multi-disciplinary network and diverse ecosystem partners, EY teams can provide services in more than 150 countries and territories.

All in to shape the future with confidence.

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.com/privacy. EY member firms do not practice law where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

About Forward Networks 
Forward Networks is revolutionizing the way large networks are managed. Forward’s advanced software delivers a digital twin of the network, enabling network operators to ensure the network is secure, reliable, and agile. The platform supports devices from all major networking vendors and cloud operators, including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. Forward Networks was founded in 2013 by four Stanford Ph.D. graduates and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Investors include MSD Partners, Goldman Sachs, Andreessen Horowitz, Threshold Ventures, Section 32, Omega Venture Partners, and A. Capital. For more information, visit www.forwardnetworks.com.

Dawn Slusher
Forward Networks
dawnslusher@forwardnetworks.com

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SOURCE Forward Networks, Inc.

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Foresite Named 2026 Google Cloud Security Partner of the Year for North America

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Recognition highlights leadership in practitioner-governed, AI-enhanced security operations

OVERLAND PARK, Kan., Apr. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Foresite Cybersecurity today announced it has been named the 2026 Google Cloud Security Partner of the Year in the North America category, presented at Google Cloud Next ’26 in Las Vegas.

Foresite named 2026 Google Cloud Security Partner of the Year

Organizations looking to operationalize AI-driven security on Google Cloud can learn more at next.foresite.com.

Foresite delivers fully managed security operations on Google Security Operations (SecOps), enabling customers to detect and respond to threats in seconds, reduce investigation fatigue, and maintain continuous audit readiness without expanding internal teams.

Operating as the human control layer for AI-driven security, Foresite combines Google’s agentic investigation capabilities with practitioner-validated accountability. Every autonomous investigation is reviewed and authorized by a named analyst before response actions are executed, giving customers clear visibility into how decisions are made and risk is managed.

“The Google Cloud Partner Awards honor the strategic innovation and measurable value our partners bring to customers,” said Kevin Ichhpurani, President, Global Partner Ecosystem and Channels, Google Cloud. “We are proud to name Foresite a 2026 Google Cloud Partner Award winner, celebrating their role in driving customer success over the last year.”

As a Google Cloud Premier Partner with Security and MSSP specializations, Foresite delivers managed services through its Catalyst platform — extending Google SecOps with operational governance, automation, and continuous compliance capabilities. Over the past year, the company expanded its SecOps delivery practice while sustaining 96% customer retention, reflecting growing demand for managed, AI-enhanced security operations.

Across its managed services portfolio, Foresite delivers a 90% reduction in mean investigation time and sub-15-second automated threat response for its customers — enabling security teams to focus on strategic risk decisions rather than alert triage.

Foresite’s approach to managed security operations on Google Cloud was the subject of an independent Technical Validation by Enterprise Strategy Group (now part of Omdia), commissioned by Google in August 2025. The report examined how Foresite’s Catalyst platform extends Google Security Operations to deliver threat detection, investigation, and response for organizations at varying levels of security maturity.

“Our Technical Validation of Foresite’s Catalyst platform examined how practitioner-led governance can extend Google Security Operations to deliver measurable detection and response outcomes. Google Cloud’s Partner of the Year recognition independently confirms what our analysis identified — that platform-native expertise, rather than tool access, is what differentiates managed security outcomes for mid-market and enterprise organizations.”— Tony Palmer, Practice Director, Omdia (formerly Enterprise Strategy Group).

“We’re entering an era where AI can investigate threats at machine speed,” said Jeremy Hehl, Chief Evangelist at Foresite. “Enterprise organizations need confidence that those decisions are governed and aligned to real business risk. This recognition from Google Cloud reinforces our focus in helping customers operationalize AI security at scale.”

Foresite is showcasing its Agentic SOC capabilities at Google Cloud Next ’26, demonstrating how security teams can move beyond alert monitoring to govern autonomous response using Google SecOps, Google Threat Intelligence, and AI security controls.

Foresite is purpose-built for organizations that need enterprise-grade security operations without enterprise-scale friction. The company delivers the operational rigor and platform expertise these organizations require to run Google SecOps effectively — without the overhead of building and staffing a full internal SOC.

About Foresite Cybersecurity
Foresite Cybersecurity is a Google Cloud Premier Partner providing managed security operations, compliance automation, and threat intelligence services. Through its Catalyst platform, Foresite helps organizations operationalize AI-driven security with practitioner-led governance and measurable risk reduction. Learn more at foresite.com.

Media Contacts 
Claire Simpson Director of Global Brand & Strategic Marketing
Tim Suwandhaputra VP, Go-to-Market
press@foresite.com

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SOURCE Foresite

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Tredence Awarded 2026 Google Cloud Global Industry Solutions Partner of the Year Award for Retail

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Trusted for driving the data & AI strategy for 8 of the top 10 retailers, powering $2 trillion in retail revenue

LAS VEGAS and BENGALURU, India, April 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Tredence, a global AI and data science solutions company, today announced it has been named the 2026 Google Cloud Services & Industry Solutions Partner of the Year for Retail. This award reflects Tredence’s demonstrated ability to deliver measurable customer impact at scale. Notably, this is Tredence’s third such distinction, having previously been recognized in CPG and Gaming, a testament to Tredence’s unmatched depth, breadth, and impact across the industries it serves.

For the world’s leading retailers, Tredence has consistently delivered the full AI transformation journey — migrating, modernizing, and deploying scalable AI applications and agents on Google Cloud, powered by Vertex AI and Gemini Enterprise. In FY25, Tredence drove transformative impact across 25+ strategic retail accounts spanning four continents, delivering measurable business outcomes and accelerating Google Cloud adoption at unprecedented scale. Tredence’s impact has been defined by three core motions:

Modernization at scale, building agentic foundations – Tredence executed some of the world’s most complex retail cloud migrations, including the largest-ever cloud migration in retail history, migrating 12 petabytes of data for 40,000+ analytics users with 100% operational continuity, and a landmark platform overhaul delivered ahead of schedule, reducing total cost of ownership by 20–40% and building the unified data foundations that power agentic AI at scale.Accelerating agentic AI adoption – Tredence deployed 100+ AI/ML accelerators, including 10+ retail-specific multi-agent systems built on Vertex AI and Gemini Enterprise, eliminating up to 70% of manual effort, automating up to 98% of manual ticketing processes, and cutting temporary labor costs by 20%, compressing months of deployment into weeks across some of the most complex retail environments in the world.Delivering global impact at measurable scale – Tredence drove transformative outcomes across every retail format and across geographies unifying supply chain data across 20,000+ stores to automate retail media insights, deploying a full agentic platform in just 6 months for a major wholesale retailer, and delivering greenfield Google Cloud wins, proving that the Tredence and Google Cloud partnership delivers measurable impact across every retail segment and scale of ambition.

“The Google Cloud Partner Awards honor the strategic innovation and measurable value our partners bring to customers,” said Kevin Ichhpurani, President, Global Partner Ecosystem and Channels, Google Cloud. “We are proud to name Tredence a 2026 Google Cloud Partner Award winner, celebrating their role in driving customer success over the last year.”

“Winning Google Cloud’s Retail Partner of the Year reflects one thing: the outcomes we deliver for the world’s most admired retailers, consistently and at scale,” said Amanpal Dhupar, Vice President, Head of Retail at Tredence. “We are the trusted Data and AI partner for 8 of the top 10 global retailers and have built a team of world-class retail practitioners, a proprietary accelerator ecosystem powering over $2 trillion in global retail sales, and a last-mile operationalization capability.”

Tredence recently launched its Transformative Agentic Commerce Solution Accelerators at NRF 2026. Built on Google Cloud services, these accelerators can be customized for each retailer to address unique needs and deliver faster time-to-value.

Tredence will showcase these capabilities at Google Next, Booth #2911, at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.

About Tredence:

Tredence is a global AI and data science solutions provider focused on solving the last-mile problem in AI, the gap between insight creation and value realization. Tredence leverages deep domain expertise, data platforms and accelerators, and strategic partnerships to provide tailored, cutting-edge solutions to its clients. The company has 4,200+ employees across the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Riyadh, London, Toronto, and Bengaluru, serving top brands in Retail, CPG, Hi-tech, Telecom, Healthcare, Travel, and Industrials. 

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1773052/Tredence_Logo.jpg

 

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dbt Labs Wins a 2026 Google Cloud Partner of the Year Award

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PHILADELPHIA, April 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — dbt Labs, the leader in standards for AI-ready structured data, announced today that it has received the 2026 Google Cloud Partner of the Year award for Data and Analytics: Data Pipelines and Governance. dbt Labs works together with Google Cloud to provide the foundation for an organization’s transition to AI leadership and innovation. The combination of rich data warehousing capabilities and the democratization of complex data transformation removes technical barriers, enabling analysts and business leaders to accelerate their time-to-value.

dbt Labs is being recognized for its achievements in the Google Cloud ecosystem, helping  joint customers manage data at scale on Google Cloud and turn it into trusted, actionable insights with speed and efficiency. Thousands of organizations run dbt on Google BigQuery globally, an integration designed to accelerate the delivery of trusted analytics and AI. By consolidating data transformation into a single, unified tool, joint customers quickly gain increased operational efficiency through advanced orchestration features. dbt Labs empowers customers to manage and trust results, ensuring high-quality data is ready to power analytics and AI initiatives both today and in the future.

“Every AI strategy needs to be underpinned by a standardized foundation and process to control, govern and document progress for high-quality, trusted results,” said Shawn Toldo, Vice President, Worldwide Partner Ecosystem at dbt Labs. “Together, dbt Labs and Google Cloud enable organizations to build that foundation for an AI-ready future. We are excited for the recognition and growing partnership with Google.”

dbt Labs is being recognized for its achievements in the Google Cloud ecosystem, helping  joint customers manage data at scale on Google Cloud and turn it into trusted, actionable insights with speed and efficiency. Thousands of organizations run dbt on Google BigQuery globally, an integration designed to accelerate the delivery of trusted analytics and AI. By consolidating data transformation into a single, unified tool, joint customers quickly gain increased operational efficiency through advanced orchestration features. dbt Labs empowers customers to manage and trust results, ensuring high-quality data is ready to power analytics and AI initiatives both today and in the future.

“The Google Cloud Partner Awards honor the strategic innovation and measurable value our partners bring to customers,” said Kevin Ichhpurani, President, Global Partner Ecosystem and Channels, Google Cloud. “We are proud to name dbt Labs a 2026 Google Cloud Partner Award winner, celebrating their role in driving customer success over the last year.”

This recognition is the latest example of dbt Labs’ momentum since launching on Google Cloud Marketplace one year ago. The partnership’s trajectory is driven by extensive global adoption and usage across diverse industries and a rapidly expanding community of active practitioners. Additionally, dbt Labs’ partner team earned two Google Partner All Star awards, reinforcing the deep collaboration and commitment to driving mutual success.

By bringing Google AI capabilities into dbt workflows, joint customers gain the trustworthy, well-documented, governed foundation that reliable analytics and AI demand. To learn more about how dbt Labs and Google Cloud are enabling AI-ready data pipelines, watch the on-demand webinar “Building dbt Models Faster with Google AI” at https://www.getdbt.com/confirmation/building-dbt-models-faster-with-google-ai-recording.

About dbt Labs
Since 2016, dbt Labs has been on a mission to help data practitioners create and disseminate organizational knowledge. dbt is the standard for AI-ready structured data. Powered by the dbt Fusion engine, it unlocks the performance, context, and trust that organizations need to scale analytics in the era of AI. Globally, more than 80,000 data teams use dbt, including those at Siemens, Roche and Condé Nast.

Learn more at getdbt.com, and follow dbt Labs on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.

 

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SOURCE dbt Labs

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