Melissa Beck, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County and the Inland Empire, was recently announced as a semifinalist in the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2018 Orange County awards program.

Now in its 32nd year, the awards program recognizes entrepreneurs who are excelling in areas such as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.

Of this year’s group of 28 semifinalists, Melissa is the sole semifinalist from a nonprofit organization.

Melissa oversees the general operations and all programming for the 3,500+ children the agency serves annually. Over the past five years, she has more than doubled revenue and expanded the agency into San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

Programmatically, she launched a Workplace Mentoring program with local corporations and led the organization to become the first in California and second nationally to expand its program to age 25. Melissa is on-track to meet goals that projected a 50 percent growth, serving 4,000 children with a $6.5 million operating budget by 2019.

The Orange County region award winners will be announced at a gala on June 22, 2018 at Monarch Beach Resort. Regional award winners are eligible for the Entrepreneur Of The Year national awards as well as the World Entrepreneur Of The Year award. Past honorees have included Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee Company, John Mackey of Whole Foods Market Inc. and Pierre Omidyar of eBay, Inc.