Ernst & Young US Selects Clearfield’s President and CEO as an Entrepreneur of the Year® 2021 Heartland Award Finalist

Beranek among the 35th class of unstoppable entrepreneurs who transform the Heartland Region and beyond

Clearfield, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLFD), the specialist in fiber management for communication service providers, today announced that Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) has named its President & CEO Cheri Beranek an Entrepreneur of the Year^® 2021 Heartland Award finalist. Now in its 35th year, the Entrepreneur of the Year program honors unstoppable business leaders whose ambition, ingenuity, and courage in the face of adversity help catapult us from the now to next and beyond.

“I am honored to be recognized alongside great leaders in my region by EY US,” said Beranek. “I am proud to lead a company with high-integrity employees that have greatly contributed to Clearfield’s success. Through our products, we are delivering fiber-fed broadband and are thrilled to have built a company that is capitalizing on the rapid network buildouts happening today and that will accelerate due to the post-pandemic appetite for broadband connectivity.”

Entrepreneur of the Year is one of the preeminent competitive award programs for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies. The nominees are evaluated based on six criteria: entrepreneurial leadership; talent management; degree of difficulty; financial performance; societal impact and building a values-based company; and originality, innovation and future plans. Since its launch, the program has expanded to recognize business leaders in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries around the world.

“Under Cheri’s leadership, Clearfield’s record and reputation in the community broadband market has grown exponentially,” said Ron Roth, Chairman of the Board for Clearfield. “Clearfield holds a strong competitive position in the market because of its ability to remove obstacles for the integration of wireline and wireless networks and offer fiber management expertise in areas with great growth potential such as 5G, NG-PON, and edge computing. Cheri is very deserving of this recognition. There is no doubt that the Clearfield team will continue providing solutions that enable the lifestyle that better broadband provides under her leadership.”

Cheri was selected by a panel of independent judges. Award winners will be announced during a special virtual celebration on Tuesday, July 27, 2021, becoming lifetime members of an esteemed community of Entrepreneur of the Year alumni from around the world. Regional award winners are eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur of the Year National Awards, to be announced in November 2021 at the Strategic Growth Forum^®, one of the nation’s most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies. The Entrepreneur of the Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year™ Award in June 2022.

About Clearfield, Inc.

Clearfield, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLFD) designs, manufactures, and distributes fiber optic management, protection and delivery products for communications networks. Our “fiber to anywhere” platform serves the unique requirements of leading incumbent local exchange carriers (traditional carriers), competitive local exchange carriers (alternative carriers), and MSO/cable TV companies, while also catering to the broadband needs of the utility/municipality, enterprise, data center and military markets. Headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, Clearfield deploys more than a million fiber ports each year. For more information, visit www.SeeClearfield.com.

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