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$Freedom
Financial Network CEOs Named Semifinalists for E&Y
Entrepreneur of the Year Awards
-- San Mateo Debt Resolution
Company Earns Honors for Leadership, Innovation, Integrity--
SAN MATEO, Calif., April
20 2006 – Andrew Housser and Brad Stroh, co-founders
and CEOs of San Mateo-based Freedom Financial Network,
LLC, have been named semifinalists in Ernst & Young’s
2006 Northern California Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.
The Entrepreneur of
the Year program, started in 1986, honors extraordinary
entrepreneurs throughout the United States and in 34
other countries. An independent panel of judges comprising
past winners, educators, and business and community
leaders evaluates the nominees in each region. Judges
look at entrepreneurs’ track records as well as
their forward motion, and make a thorough assessment
of each entrepreneur’s leadership, innovation
and integrity, particularly with respect to financial
performance, company growth and future plans.
Industry category finalists
for the Northern California awards will be announced
May 19, with an awards gala taking place June 16 at
the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco to honor all semifinalists
and finalists. Local award recipients will be eligible
to participate in the National Entrepreneur of the Year
Awards, with recognition at a ceremony in Palm Springs
Nov. 18. The program culminates in the World Entrepreneur
of the Year Awards in Monte Carlo next June.
Freedom Financial
Network (www.freedomfinancialnetwork.com), based in
San Mateo, provides debt resolution services through
its Freedom Debt Relief and Freedom Tax Relief divisions.
The company works for the consumer, negotiating with
creditors on clients’ behalf to lower principal
balances due that can often result in savings of up
to half the amount owed. Providing an alternative to
bankruptcy, credit counseling, and debt consolidation,
Freedom Financial Network has served more than 7,500
customers nationwide and currently manages more than
$250 million in consumer debt. The company operates
offices in Sacramento and Tempe, Ariz., as well as its
headquarters office in San Mateo.
Founded in 2002, the company has
grown at nearly 50 percent annually. Housser and Stroh
attribute the growth to the staggering, and continually
increasing, amount of consumer debt in the United
States. Total consumer debt – excluding mortgage
debt – now tops $2 trillion and continues to
climb. Americans carry 1.2 billion credit cards, and
more than 44 million households carry card balances
that average $8,025 month to month.
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