The Queens McColl School of Business, along with the Entrepreneurial Leadership Circle, proudly established the Carolinas Entrepreneur Hall of Fame in 2010 to honor the individuals whose legacies still shape today’s business and economy throughout the Carolinas and beyond. The McColl School is dedicated to developing leaders of high competency and character who are committed to shaping their communities. The Hall of Fame gives the School and the University the opportunity to thank the entrepreneurs who have made lasting contributions and laid the groundwork for the major business sectors in our region. The event is sponsored by Wells Fargo.
The selection committee for the Carolinas Entrepreneur Hall of Fame consists of entrepreneurs, business leaders and historians representative of both North Carolina and South Carolina.
- Melissa Bodford, Co-founder, Chairman & CEO, uBack
- Louis Foreman, Founder and CEO, Enventys and Edison Nation
- David Jones, Founder & Chairman, Peak 10
- Kimberly Kicklighter, Executive Director, Business Tax Services, EY
- John Lassiter, President, Carolina Staffing, LLC
- Keith Luedeman, Founder, goodmortgage.com
- Richard Mathieu, Dean, McColl School of Business
- Joan Zimmerman, Founder, Southern Shows, Inc.
The membership criteria, which was established by the selection committee, includes:
- Laureate can be founder or subsequent entrepreneurial leader
- Induction into Hall of Fame can be during active leadership role, after retirement or posthumously
- Business founded or led by laureate must have minimum ten-year track record, and must have positively impacted the community it serves
- Laureate must personally have contributed to the greater good of the Carolinas
In 2020, Queens University of Charlotte announced the addition of the inaugural Innovator of Distinction award, featuring an emerging entrepreneur or business to be honored at the Carolinas Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. The Dean of the McColl School of business and the currently Entrepreneurial Leadership Circle Chair developed the criteria for this new award and the selection committee selected Derek Wang, CEO and co-founder of Stratifyd, Inc. as the inaugural recipient.
The award recognizes the entrepreneurial efforts and achievements of a business person who has developed a successful regional or national business. This entrepreneur must have launched and ran a business with at least three to five years of sustained growth and multiple rounds of venture funding or sustained revenue growth. Additionally, the selected entrepreneur must be making a significant impact on the Charlotte region and have a clear statement of company principles.
INNOVATOR OF DISTINCTION AWARD
Reach Out
To learn more about the Carolinas Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame, contact Cristin Corder Lee at leec3@queens.edu.