Jagdeep Singh, president and chief executive of the Sunnyvale (USA) and Bangalore-based Infinera Inc, has been conferred the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year Award, 2008 for networking and communications in the Northern California program. Singh was selected by an independent panel of judges and presented the award at a gala event at San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel on June 21.

In his acceptance speech, Singh told the audience of more than 450 guests that he was honoured to receive the award and recalled Infinera’s small beginnings. “Our goal was to develop a disruptive technology, photonic integration, and use that to change the fundamental economics of optical communications for our customers. We knew that if we could do it, we could change this industry forever,” he said attributing Infinera’s success to the quality of the company’s workforce which he described as “world-class”, and which has grown to 800 worldwide.

The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program is one of the most comprehensive, thorough, and respected programs of its type in the world, involving several months of study of hundreds of companies and entrepreneurs by a team of Ernst & Young professionals, independent consultants and judges. According to Ernst & Young, the program honours entrepreneurs who have demonstrated exceptionality in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.