Riverhead - Atlantis Marine World owner, Jim Bissett, has been named "Entrepreneur of the Year" by the Advancement for Commerce, Industry & Technology (ACIT).

At the 2010 ACIT Annual Business Leadership Awards Luncheon, Jim Bissett claimed the award that recognized Bissett's success in co-founding and expanding the Long Island Aquarium, Atlantis Marine World.

"It is a great honor to accept this award from ACIT," said Bissett. "Although this is a personal award, I believe that it belongs as much to me as it does to my partner, Joe Petrocelli, Atlantis Marine World's owner and co-founder, and the teams at both Atlantis Marine World and at Bissett Nursery.

Bissett co-founded and opened the Aquarium in 2000. Since then, he has ushered the Aquarium to exceptional growth and profitability, and is currently building a 97,498-square-foot, $24 million facility next to the Aquarium that takes visitors beneath the waves and beyond the ocean. The new structure will encompass areas that include a 28,000-square-foot Exhibition, Banquet, and Conference Center, and a 100-room Hyatt Place Hotel.