Dean Parker Named Finalist for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards

Mobile, AL – Callis Communications, the leading provider of unified communications solutions for key business markets across the Southeast U.S., today announced that the founder and CEO, Dean N. Parker, Jr., was selected as a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2012, Alabama/Georgia/Tennessee region. The award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who have demonstrated excellence and extraordinary success in areas such as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Dean was selected by an independent judging panel made up of previous winners, leading CEOs, private capital investors and other regional business leaders. More than 1,700 entrepreneurs were nominated for this award across the country, and Dean is the first entrepreneur to be selected from the Mobile, AL region. Dean is an accomplished corporate executive, serial technology entrepreneur, company advisor and public speaker. He founded Callis Communications in 1999 and throughout the last 12 years has pioneered multiple layers of innovation for unified cloud communications. Callis offers cloud-based telephony, hosted PBX, data, security, email and collaboration solutions, all backed by a highly reliable and redundant network. With its unified communications services, Callis offers customers with one vendor to fulfill all of their communications and customer support needs. Callis provides an industry-unique 5-1-1 customer concierge service for 24×7 customer support, while also offering services with no capital expenditure. Callis was the first communications company to build and use a next generation IP network for all communications. Today, Callis is proudly serving over 500 customers throughout the Southeast U.S., providing them best-in-class cloud communications solutions. Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year is the world’s most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs of high growth and market leading companies and recognizes business leaders in more than 140 cities and in 50 countries throughout the world. Entrepreneur of the Year celebrates its 26th anniversary this year and honors entrepreneurs who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses. The award encourages entrepreneurial activity and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement.  Past award winners have included Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee Company, Arthur M. Blank of AMB Group, LLC (Home Depot, Atlanta Falcons), Peirre Omidyar of eBay, Inc., Ruth Fertel of Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Inc., Maxine Clark of Build-a-Bear Workshop, Tom Adams of Rosetta Stone Inc., Matt Szulik of Red Hat, Inc., and Howard Lutnick of Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Capital Partners, Inc. “It is truly an honor and a privilege to be selected as a finalist for the Entrepreneur of the Year award among such an extraordinary group of entrepreneurs,” said Dean Parker. “Callis’ growth and success is directly attributed to the passion of our team, continuous innovation, commitment to our customers, and our vision to dream big. We are greatly blessed.” About Callis Communications Callis Communications is a leading provider of cloud communications solutions for key business markets across the Southeast U.S. Callis offers cloud-based telephony, hosted PBX, data, security, email and collaboration services, all backed by a highly reliable and redundant network.  With its unified communications services, Callis provides customers with one vendor to fulfill all of their communications and customer support needs. Callis provides an innovative 5-1-1-customer concierge service for 24×7 customer support while also offering services with no capital expenditure. Callis is proudly serving over 500 customers throughout the Gulf Coast region, providing them the best-in-class cloud communications solutions. For its fourth consecutive year, Callis Communications has been awarded as one of the fastest growing unified/cloud communications companies on the Inc. 500|5000 list. Additionally, the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce awarded Callis as the 2011 Small Business of the Year. Callis was the first communications company to build and use a next generation IP network for all communications and is also a founding member of the Cloud Communications Alliance. Founded in 1999, Callis is headquartered in Mobile, AL. For more information, please visit www.mycallis.com. About Ernst & Young Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services.  Worldwide, the organization’s 141,000 people are united by their shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. Ernst & Young makes a difference by helping their people, clients and their wider communities achieve their potential. Ernst & Young refers to the global organization of member first of Ernst & Young Global Limited operating in the U.S. For more information, please visit www.ey.com.