EY helps clients create long-term value for all stakeholders. Enabled by data and technology, our services and solutions provide trust through assurance and help clients transform, grow and operate.
At EY, our purpose is building a better working world. The insights and services we provide help to create long-term value for clients, people and society, and to build trust in the capital markets.
Congratulations to our region’s Entrepreneur Of The Year® winners, who were selected by an independent panel of judges based on their demonstration of long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact, among other core contributions and attributes. Finalists were recognized and winners were announced during the regional celebration.
Regional winners went on to compete for National recognition. National finalists and winners were announced during the National awards gala.
CADY is the premier high school photography company, serving 400+ schools with 16 studio locations across the south. CADY offers best-in-class products, industry-leading timelines and technical solutions to its school clients.
Crisp, Inc. provides incredible video marketing to law firms and has expanded its services to give law firm owners the resources, relationships and support needed to run a successful business. Crisp Coach provides leadership coaching that focuses on improving firm culture and growing an organization's number-one asset: its people.
EDS Service Solutions, LLC is a woman-owned and operated business that is focused on providing labor outsourcing and business optimization for companies within the travel, airport, hospitality, and logistics sectors. The services provided by EDS range from turnkey on-site management and staffing of key back-of-house operations, to staff augmentation and recruitment process outsourcing for crucial functions of our client organization.
GoHealth makes it easy to get quality on-demand health care through its award-winning, efficient, and highly accessible centers alongside its fully integrated virtual care platform. GoHealth centers deliver unparalleled experiences through an innovative and effortless customer journey that is seamlessly integrated into the broader continuum of care through its partnerships with leading health systems.
Craig Gunckel
CEO
Iconex
Denise Shields
Co-Founder and CEO
Nych Brands
Jonathan Hinton
CEO
RavenVolt, Inc.
Courtney Folk
Co-Founder and CEO
Renewal Logistics
Iconex is the largest manufacturer of receipt paper and one of the fastest growing label solutions companies worldwide. For its more than 40,000 customers, Iconex transforms business processes to drive profitability, productivity and sustainability.
Nych Brands is a company based in Charlotte, NC that specializes in designing, marketing, and shipping outdoor fencing products in the online space. Nych Brands has three brands — WamBam Fence, Zippity Outdoor Products, and Enclo Privacy screens — that it will sell directly to consumers or through large dot-com retailers.
RavenVolt designs and builds resilient and reliable microgrids that are scalable alternatives for reducing emissions. They specialize in providing tailored on-site energy solutions to increase energy reliability and resilience while minimizing long-term operational costs for customers — which are typically Fortune 500 companies with stated ESG goals.
Renewal Logistics is a woman-owned, high-volume logistics company for apparel, footwear and consumer goods. It is the largest independent provider in its space, and its focus on the circular economy has a significant environmental impact.
Donald Thompson
Co-Founder and CEO
The Diversity Movement
The Diversity Movement powers real-world business outcomes through a combination of data, technology, and expert content that has transformed the way businesses are addressing diversity, equity and inclusion.
Chanda Bell
Founder and Co-CEO
The Lumistella Company
The Lumistella Company was founded by twin sisters Christa Pitts and Chanda Bell and remains a family-owned global intellectual property company. The Elf on the Shelf is the company’s signature product, which comes in a keepsake box and includes both a small elf doll and a hardcover book describing the story of Santa’s elves visiting children during the Christmas season.
Christa Pitts
Founder and Co-CEO
The Lumistella Company
The Lumistella Company was founded by twin sisters Christa Pitts and Chanda Bell and remains a family-owned global intellectual property company. The Elf on the Shelf is the company’s signature product, which comes in a keepsake box and includes both a small elf doll and a hardcover book describing the story of Santa’s elves visiting children during the Christmas season.
L.T. Gibson
President and CEO
US LBM
US LBM is a leading distributor of specialty building materials in the United States. Offering a comprehensive portfolio of specialty products, including windows, doors, millwork, wallboard, roofing, siding, engineered components, and cabinetry, US LBM combines the scale and operational advantages of a national platform with a local go-to-market strategy through its national network of locations across the country.
Jane Zhang
CEO
STAR EV Corporation
Regional Transformative Leader Award
2023 National finalist
STAR EV Corporation, headquartered in Greenville, SC, USA, produces a well-engineered, high-performance, low-speed electric vehicle that delivers an unforgettable driving experience.
2023 Southeast Finalists
Dennis Lally is the CEO and Jenna Lally Whigham is the President of Abound Health.
The Company serves the intellectually/developmentally disabled (I/DD) community through a behavioral health agency and a home-grown software platform. Its behavioral health agency, Abound Health, provides a comprehensive array of supports and services to children and adults with all types of intellectual and developmental disabilities. Its software platform, OnTarget, offers an EHR platform for I/DD and mental health providers.
William Miller is the CEO and Founder of Aimpoint Digital.
Aimpoint Digital, headquartered in Atlanta, GA, is an analytics firm that uses data to solve its clients’ most complex use-cases, drives effectiveness across value chain operations and reshapes customer experiences. Aimpoint Digital is a trusted advisor for companies looking to extract tangible value from data and develop into analytics-driven organizations.
Jill Evanko is the President and CEO of Chart Industries, Inc.
Chart is a global manufacturer of highly engineered equipment servicing multiple applications in the energy and industrial gas markets and a provider of technology and equipment in liquefied natural gas, hydrogen, biogas and carbon dioxide capture, among other applications.
Albert Edwards is the President of Corporate Environmental Risk Management.
Corporate Environmental Risk Management is a corporate environmental risk management firm that provides consulting and contracting services to energy, environmental, federal, transportation, water, and other clients. The Company assists its clients through the management, design, engineering, and construction of projects.
Todd Buelow, Daniel DelaCruz, and Ben Gilman are each a Principal of Dualboot Partners.
Dualboot Partners is a Charlotte-based software and business development company that provides on-demand product design and engineering with the dexterity to start small or scale fast. The Dualboot business philosophy is simple: build businesses, not software. They do this by partnering with seasoned business leaders and entrepreneurs.
Reade Kidd is the CEO of E*DRAY.
E*DRAY is a technology-forward supply-chain management solution and is untangling the intricacy of the import supply chain, focusing on US ports, trucks and warehousing space through destination management. E*DRAY thrives in the most difficult part of the supply chain — the "final mile" at the ports — and covers all rail and marine terminals in North America, supporting Fortune 500 companies and top-20 importers.
Michael Walsh is the CEO of EspriGas.
EspriGas is an innovator in the medical, industrial and beverage gas space, leveraging digital automation, technology, and a network business model to make gas supply simple.
Kelcy Pegler is the CEO of FlexGen.
FlexGen is a leading battery storage company enabling the grid transition, sitting in between dependable, long-standing fossil fuel sources and newer renewable resources like wind and solar. FlexGen designs and integrates storage solutions and the software platform that is enabling today's energy transition.
Jason Murphy is the CEO of Flip Electronics.
Flip Electronics sources and delivers factory-direct semiconductors and electrical components. By working closely with its manufacturer partners, Flip saves its end-user clients time and money by helping them avoid costly shutdowns and extend product life cycles.
Chris Cochran is the CEO of FreightWise, LLC.
FreightWise provides best-in-class software-as-a-service (SaaS) transportation management systems (TMS) and managed services to small and mid-size companies. With FreightWise, customers are able to turn their supply chain into a competitive advantage.
Nick Black is the Co-founder and CEO and Jeremy Berman is the Co-founder and President of GoodUnited.
GoodUnited empowers nonprofit organizations to connect with their donors where they spend time. By utilizing conversational social media platforms, GoodUnited provides a software service to nonprofits so they can build a relationship with their donors, and in turn, receive recurring donations.
David Miles is the Co-Founder and CEO of Grayshift, LLC.
Grayshift, LLC (Grayshift) is a leader in mobile device digital forensics, specializing in lawful access and extraction. The company’s flagship GrayKey technology provides same-day access, complete control, and comprehensive data extraction from mobile devices available only to law enforcement, public safety, government and defense agencies. Grayshift’s innovative solutions are purpose-built to empower law enforcement and government investigative agencies to resolve critical investigations swiftly and ensure public safety.
Douglas Ghertner is the CEO of IVX Health.
IVX Health is a national provider of biologic injections and infusion therapy for patients with a range of complex chronic conditions. IVX Health’s national footprint of outpatient infusion centers are conveniently located in communities where patients live and work, delivering high-quality, personalized care in a private, comfortable setting.
Jennifer Byrne is the CEO of Javara.
Javara is an integrated research organization (IRO) that partners with healthcare organizations to provide research services as well as access to a diverse portfolio of clinical trials that best serve their patient populations.
David Voronin is the President and CEO of MigWay.
MigWay, headquartered in Charlotte, NC, is an asset-based expedited trucking company delivering rush-critical loads with a seamless process that brings peace of mind. MigWay offers a variety of services such as rush trucking, expedited shipping, distribution, warehouse storage, and logistical needs.
Zebulon Hadley is the CEO of National Coatings Inc.
National Coatings is a trusted commercial and industrial painting company serving a broad range of commercial and industrial customers. The business uses epoxies, urethanes, latex, and waterproofing to provide commercial painting, industrial coatings and sandblasting services nationwide.
John Bradford is the Founder and CEO of PetScreening.
PetScreening helps streamline assistance animal processes and implement pet policies that allow residential and commercial companies to become more pet-inclusive, all while saving them time and helping them earn more pet-related revenue.
Adam Wexler is the Founder and CEO of PrizePicks.
PrizePicks is the largest independently owned Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) platform in North America. PrizePicks allows sports fans to play against the numbers rather than each other, and offers the simplest variety of daily fantasy sports with the widest breadth of sports coverage of any DFS operator.
Timothy Bertram is the CEO of ProKidney.
ProKidney is a late clinical-stage biotech company developing a cell therapy that aims to transform the treatment for chronic kidney disease. In pioneering this unique therapy, the company is making breakthroughs in manufacturing, supply chain, and medical delivery of cellular therapy products and have the potential to end kidney failure and need for dialysis to preserve kidney function.
Adam Gladieux is the Founder and CEO of RxRise.
RxRise is a company that was created to provide direct access to the pharmaceutical supply chain. RxRise offers a scaling platform where buyers can directly access thousands of medicals products from suppliers.
Paul Evans is the President and CEO of Velocity Clinical Research.
Velocity Clinical Research operates around North America, the UK and Germany. Velocity sites support the development of new drugs and vaccines by identifying patients to take part in clinical research studies, generating the data that their pharmaceutical and clinical research organization clients will use to gain marketing approvals from regulators like the FDA. Velocity is the largest clinical research site business developing vaccines and played a major role in the development of the COVID-19 vaccines.
