Mia Drennan is representing the UK in the 2026 EY World Entrepreneur of the Year finals in Monaco this week.
Drennan, founder and CEO of GLAS, is among finalists from 46 countries.
Drennan is redefining how the world navigates complex loan restructurings. She has spent more than three decades at the forefront of debt capital markets, shaping the standards, expectations and evolution of the institutional debt landscape across the globe.
In 2011, she recognised how traditional institutions struggled to respond swiftly to complex restructurings after the global financial crisis. She introduced a new idea: an independent ‘white glove’ loan agency and trustee service designed to help creditors recover value on defaulted institutional debt.
That concept became GLAS, a business that created its own category and now employs more than 450 professionals across 10 countries. Under Drennan’s leadership, the firm administers more than 7,000 credit facilities and manages over $850 billion in assets.
She has guided GLAS through major milestones, including a partial buyout by Levine Leichtman Capital Partners in 2022 and strategic acquisitions in Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore in 2024 — alongside opening new offices in Dubai, Melbourne and Madrid.
Most recently, Drennan led the business through an acquisition by Oakley Capital and La Caisse, valuing GLAS at over £1 billion.
Before GLAS, she built BNY Mellon’s EMEA Trustee and Agency business and held senior finance roles throughout the industry.
“Entrepreneurship has given me freedom, confidence and the ability to believe I can do anything I put my mind to and overcome any challenge that comes my way. It has helped me discover how resilient I am,” she said.
The other finalists are listed below. For full profiles, visit EY’s website.
Argentina – Federico Lauria, Dale Play
Australia – Laurent Boillon, Laurent Bakery
Austria – Klaus Lässer, ILF Consulting Engineers
Azerbaijan – Mehri Ahmadova and Ilyas Ahmadov, Berry Blues by We Grow
Belgium – Prof. Dr. Frank Ohle, Van Genechten Packaging Group
Brazil – Ari de Sá Neto, Arco Educação
Canada – Isaac Langleben and Jacqueline Prehogan, Open Farm
Chile – Rafael Guilisasti, Isabel Guilisasti and Eduardo Guilisasti, Viña Concha y Toro
Chinese mainland – Dr. Lu Xianping, Shenzhen Chipscreen Biosciences Co., Ltd.
Colombia – Liliana Estrada and Elsa Gómez, Eficacia
Croatia – Zvonimir Viduka, ALTPRO
Czech Republic – Dušan Šenkypl, Pale Fire Capital and Groupon
Denmark – Carsten Haagen Nielsen and Prof. Andreas Kjær, Minerva Imaging
Estonia – Mihkel Aamer and Martin Sokk, Lightyear
Finland and Poland – Pekka Laurila and Rafal Modrzewski, ICEYE
France – Raphaël Gorgé, Gorgé Group
Germany – David Reger, NEURA Robotics
Greece – Harry Vafias, VAFIAS GROUP
Hong Kong/Macau – Li Pui Leung, TK Group (Holdings) Limited
Hungary – Tibor Veres, Wallis Group
India – Deepinder Goyal, Eternal Ltd
Indonesia – Charles Richard Oentomo, PT Centrepark Citra Corpora
Ireland – Edward McCloskey, WaterWipes and Boyne Valley Group
Italy – Francesco Nalini and Carlotta Rossi Luciani, CAREL
Japan – Kunihiko Tanaka, Kura Sushi, Inc.
Luxembourg – René Beltjens, Alter Domus
Malaysia – Dato’ Kamarul Redzuan Muhamed, Uzma Berhad
Mexico – Alejandro Ramírez Magaña, Cinépolis
The Netherlands – Matthijs Welle, Mews
New Zealand – Alliv Samson and Hengjie Wang, Kami
Norway – Børge Gjeldvik, Axess Group
Peru – Jose Antonio Mejia, Amazonas Trading Peru
Portugal – Virgílio Bento, Sword Health
Romania – Laurențiu Bălașa and Marius Iordache, The Bible Chat App
Singapore – Chin Wei Jia, HMI Medical
Slovak Republic – Jaroslav Maslen, MASLEN
South Korea – Mongwon Chung, HL Group
Spain – Jorge Costa, Grupo Costa
Sweden – Stefan Krook, Kivra
Switzerland – Luc Burnier, nu glass
Taiwan – Frank Liang, C SUN
Ukraine – Oleksandr Yakovenko, TAF Industries
United States – Casey Morrison, Jitendra Mohan and Sanjay Gajendra, Astera Labs
Venezuela – Zonia Bezara de Atencio, ZOOM