By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global (LGI), was named the Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2012 Media, Entertainment and Communications Category Award winner recently .

Fries was recognized for his foresight and ability to expand the company into regions of the world not yet explored by other cable providers and in which nine million homes are still watching analog television. It was Fries’ critical leadership that helped create a global organization that generated $10 billion in revenues, has 20 million customers and operates in 13 countries.

LGI was born in 1989 and Fries’ first job was to travel the globe, drum up new business opportunities and lead the company’s first deals. In 1990, he found himself driving around rural Hungary in meetings with local officials. He was beaming presentations intended to teach communists about profit and value creation onto the walls of ranches and town halls. The fall of communism had given local governments network systems and rights that they didn’t know how to use. Mike was there with a solution, and the result was the launch of the first international cable network, HBO Hungary.