Skonnard Earned Top Honors in the Consumer Products & Distribution Category for the Utah Region of the Annual Ernst & Young Award Program 

SALT LAKE CITY – In what continues to be a pivotal year for online training company Pluralsight, CEO Aaron Skonnard was honored Thursday as a Utah region Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the 27^th annual awards gala. After earning the evening's highest distinction in the Consumer Products & Distribution category, Skonnard moves on to the national competition, which comprises 25 U.S. regions. 

“Our state is flush with innovation and exceptional leadership. Utah is rightfully earning its reputation as a hot spot for entrepreneurship.” 

The award program, which began with a field of 52 nominees -- pared down to 26 finalists in April -- recognizes regional business owners or executives who have demonstrated uncommon ingenuity and leadership in their field. Under Skonnard's direction, Layton-based Pluralsight is emerging as the leading training resource for Web and IT pros. The company started the year off having raised $27.5 million in funding after having successfully bootstrapped since its 2004 founding. 

"I am tremendously grateful for the recognition, which, more than anything, is a reflection of our excellent employees. Our team has worked hard to put Pluralsight on such an exciting trajectory," Skonnard said. 

A developer at heart, Skonnard brings both technical proficiency and strategic entrepreneurial vision to the highly competitive technology industry. In recent months he launched an initiative to provide free programming courses to kids -- a testament to his passion for the field and his desire to turn young talent toward highly employable careers. 

"Personally, it was an honor to be numbered among such high-caliber nominees from our state," Skonnard said. "Our state is flush with innovation and exceptional leadership. Utah is rightfully earning its reputation as a hot spot for entrepreneurship." 

In all, the Utah region will send nine individuals to the national rung. Pluralsight's Consumer Products & Distribution category included KT Tape, Uinta Brewing Company and Goal Zero.

With the award, Skonnard joins a legacy of astounding accomplishment that includes past honorees such as Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, Michael Dell of Dell Inc., Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines, Fred Smith of FedEx, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Richard Schulze of Best Buy, Andrew Mason of Groupon, Mindy Grossman of HSN, Inc., Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn, and many more. 

This is yet another a milestone of rapid growth for Pluralsight, which is attracting a world-renowned team of experts and authors who deliver the most advanced and effective online educational experiences available today. Founded originally as a classroom-based training company, Pluralsight began a major pivot to move its training business completely online in 2008 to provide high-quality, professional content through a flexible subscription model priced for worldwide scale. It now offers more than 500 courses to its 250,000 users and has seen triple-digit revenue growth in recent years.