Linda McCurdy of K-Bro Linen Systems Inc. named EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2018 Prairies winner

Prairies entrepreneur sustainably revolutionizes the health care and hospitality industry

CALGARY, Oct. 19, 2018 /CNW/ - Linda McCurdy, Director, President and CEO of K-Bro Linen Systems Inc. ? an international leader in laundry and linen processing for hospitality and health care clients ? is this year's EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2018 Prairies winner.

Elected CEO before the age of 30, Linda transformed K-Bro from a sleepy privately owned and manually operated laundering and linen company into an international market leader. Today, K-Bro has 15 locations across Canada, operations in the UK and plans for continued international expansion.

"Under Linda's leadership, K-Bro has re-defined industry expectations ? from prioritizing sales and volume with a keen eye on reducing costs, to partnering with hospitals, health authorities and hospitality companies," says Rob Jolley, Entrepreneur Of The Year Prairies Program Director. "Linda's progressive vision and execution over the last 20 years has not only revolutionized K-Bro, but the entire health care and hospitality industry."

K-Bro manages all aspects of the laundry processes for hospitals, providing specific value-added services including: access to K-Bro's inventory, delivering high quality laundered linens and handling each hospitals entire supply chain and cost management processes. That's translated into cost savings for hospitals between 15%-20%.

"K-Bro enhances the quality of patient care provided to Canadians by freeing up funds for the health care community and redirecting those savings to doctors, nurses and clinical investment," says Jolley. "The company is also tackling the environmental impact of self-laundering hospitals using disposable linens that fill our local landfills. Linda's environmentally conscious mindset is one more factor contributing to a bright future for further international expansion."

Linda credits much of the company's success to K-Bro's family business-like corporate culture. Collaborative growth comes naturally, with all employees empowered to challenge and contribute ideas, and especially to avidly seek new avenues for learning and career progression. Looking ahead, K-Bro is investing heavily in new facilities, equipment and processes in order to transform the industry once again to incorporate latest technologies.

What's next?
As the Prairies region's EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2018, Linda McCurdy will compete with top entrepreneurs from the Pacific, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic regions for the national honour of EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2018 Canada, to be presented at a gala celebration on 29 November 2018 in Toronto. In June 2019, Canada's EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2018 will move to the world stage to compete with more than 50 country recipients for the title of EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year.

More information
Follow @EYCanada and #EOYPrairies on Twitter for the latest event updates.

Visit ey.com/ca/EOY for more program details and a complete list of category finalists and gala dates in other regions.

The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2018 Prairies category award recipients:

Agriculture & Environmental
McMillan-McGee Corp. | Calgary
Bruce McGee

Automotive &Transportation
CWS Logistics LTD. | Winnipeg
Shawn Bergen

Business-to-Business Products & Services
K-Bro Linen Systems Inc. | Edmonton
Linda McCurdy

Business-to-Consumer Products & Services
Fries Tallman Lumber Ltd. | Regina
Kevin Stricker

Emerging
MANTL Canada Inc. | Calgary
Matt Kenna

Energy
Frac Shack Inc. | Acheson
Todd Van Vliet

Food & Beverage
Fiasco Gelato | Calgary
James Boettcher

Professional Services
C-health | Calgary
Aly Nanji

Real Estate/Construction
Cameron Corporation | Edmonton
Jerry Naqvi, Tina Naqvi-Rota, Cam Naqvi, Henrietta Naqvi and Rose Naqvi-Parasynchuk

Technology
Helcim Inc. | Calgary
Nicolas Beique

About EY Entrepreneur Of The Year^®
EY Entrepreneur Of The Year^® is the world's most prestigious business awards program for entrepreneurs. The program makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global awards program of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 145 cities in more than 50 countries. ey.com/ca/EOY

The 2018 Prairies independent judging panel consists of Kristi Cawthorn, President, Startec Compression & Process; Laurie Goldberg, CEO & Executive Chairman, People Corporation; Lorne Jacobson, Vice Chairman, TriWest Capital Partners; Marcela Mandeville, CEO, Alberta Women Entrepreneurs; Tim Melton, Chairman of the Board, Melcor; and Brenda Nowakowski, Vice President Finance, JNE Welding. 

This year's program national sponsors are ICI RDI, The TMX Group, The Globe and Mail Inc., Merrill Corporation, Kira Talent, Air Canada, Media One Creative and The Printing House Limited. Prairies regional sponsors are The Executive Committee (TEC) and Captivate Networks.

About EY
EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.

For more information, please visit ey.com/ca. Follow us on Twitter @EYCanada.

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SOURCE EY (Ernst & Young)