Latitude CEO is Tech Entrepreneur of the Year

Latitude CEO Named Technology Entrepreneur of the Year

London, 31 October 2006: Dylan Thwaites, CEO of Latitude, the Search Engine Marketing specialist, has won the sought-after title of Ernst & Young Technology & Communication Entrepreneur of the Year for 2006. He held off strong competition to collect the award at the UK Entrepreneur of the Year finals.

The award was seen as recognition of Dylan's outstanding achievement in growing Latitude from a staff of six with £100,000 sales in its first year in 2001, to its current position as the biggest dedicated search marketing company in Europe.

The company is one of the top ten fastest growing technology companies in the UK, as recognised in the recent Sunday Times Tech Track 100. Dylan attributed this growth to the: "talent, dedication and ambition of the Latitude team."

Richard Hall, UK Markets Leader of Ernst & Young, commented: “This award recognises Dylan’s significant vision, which has seen him establish a successful Search Engine Marketing business that he aims to grow to be the world’s biggest and most profitable online marketing company within five years.” This was supported by the Rt. Hon. Lord Young, chairman of the 2006 awards national judging panel, who said the award recognised: "A professional entrepreneur who has punched above his weight and secured deals with huge blue-chip companies.”

After collecting the award, Dylan said he felt privileged to join the Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame, which includes Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Pierre Omidyar of eBay and Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google. But Dylan was quick to stress that he saw it as an award for the whole of Latitude.

Dylan also stressed that Latitude will continue to innovate. "The changing Search Engine landscape means we can’t stand still", he explained. "We need to keep pace with technological and industry developments and work harder then ever to ensure we deliver maximum value to our clients."