MobileDemand's president regional finalist for Entrepreneur of the Year

MobileDemand President Matt Miller has been named a Midwest Region finalist for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year award, the company announced Thursday.

Miller was recognized for demonstrating excellence and extraordinary success in innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to his business and community, according to Ernst & Young.

Miller founded the company in 2003 when an opportunity presented itself with Anheuser-Busch. The brewer needed a way to deliver data to and from the field sales team at the point of transaction.

Miller believed the best way to deliver the data was to automate field sales with rugged table PCs. He spent about one year in his basement office creating a business plan, engaging suppliers in Asia and going to industry trade shows until he secured initial sales to three Iowa beer wholesalers.

MobileDemand gained the attention of Anheuser-Bush through its early sales, and soon its xTablet was certified for sale to the brewer's network of more than 700 wholesalers.

MobileDemand then began using Internet marketing to aggressively promote its tablets to other markets, resulting in rapid growth in food and beverage distribution, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, agriculture, utilities and other markets.