Nerd Street Gamers Founder and CEO, John Fazio, Finalist for EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2020

September 3, 2020 – The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year program celebrates the unstoppable entrepreneurs whose ambitions deliver innovation, growth, and prosperity that transform our world. Today, we are proud to announce our own founder and CEO, John Fazio, is a finalist for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2020 Greater Philadelphia region.

John is one of the 23 finalists that represent the Greater Philadelphia area’s top leaders on track to change their industry. The regional winners will be announced on October 2, 2020 during a virtual celebration.

“I’m humbled to be recognized by such a prestigious organization as EY. I stand on the shoulders of an incredible team at Nerd Street,” John Fazio said. “My success would not be possible without them or the faith of our investors, so this accomplishment is theirs as much as it is mine.”

This accomplishment stems from John’s ability to elevate the Nerd Street Gamers brand in the esports industry. Even through the COVID-19 pandemic we have expanded by moving all operations online and hosting tournaments virtually, while still focusing on accessibility, integrity and opportunity for our gamers.

John’s inspiration behind founding the company was born from his first time witnessing an amateur video game tournament in-person at a local video game cafe in Pennsylvania. The experience exposed the lack of opportunities that existed for competitive gamers during that time, and the potential the esports industry could reach by replicating traditional sports pipelines.

A Philadelphia-native, John then went on to attend Drexel University, where he played on the school’s Division I soccer team. At Drexel, he founded the web software engineering firm Jarvus, where he continued to incubate the idea for Nerd Street Gamers. The Jarvus office eventually became our first Localhost on North Third Street (N3rd Street) in Philadelphia.

Since then, we have taken the esports world by storm in the U.S. with locations spanning coast to coast. Under John’s leadership, we are growing and thriving with the core mission of bringing esports to everyone.

Award winners will be announced through a special virtual event in early October and will join a lifelong community of esteemed Entrepreneur Of The Year alumni from around the world. This year, unstoppable entrepreneurs who have provided extraordinary support for their communities, employees and others during the COVID-19 crisis will also be recognized for their courage, resilience and ingenuity.

Entrepreneur Of The Year Award winners become lifetime members of a global, multi-industry community of entrepreneurs, with exclusive, ongoing access to the experience, insight and wisdom of program alumni and other ecosystem members in over 60 countries — all supported by vast EY resources.

About Nerd Street Gamers

Nerd Street Gamers is a national network of esports facilities and events dedicated to powering competitive opportunities for gamers. The company promotes greater access to the esports industry, laying a national framework for esports talent development and high-quality gaming tournaments. NSG has received backing from Five Below, Comcast, SeventySix Capital, Elevate Ventures, and angel investor George Miller.

For more information, follow @nerdstgamers on Twitter or visit nerdstgamers.com.

About Entrepreneur Of The Year®

Entrepreneur Of The Year® is the world’s most prestigious business awards program for unstoppable entrepreneurs. These visionary leaders deliver innovation, growth and prosperity that transform our world. The program engages entrepreneurs with insights and experiences that foster growth. It connects them with their peers to strengthen entrepreneurship around the world. Entrepreneur Of The Year is the first and only truly global awards program of its kind. It celebrates entrepreneurs through regional and national awards programs in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries. Winners go on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ title. ey.com/us/eoy