EO Nashville Member Company Emma Wins National Award

Join me in congratulating EO member and past president Clint Smith whose company

Clint Smith

Emma has been named one of the “2011 Top Small Company Workplaces” by Inc. magazine and Winning Workplaces. One of 50 companies nationally to be recognized, Emma was the only Tennessee business to make the list.

The annual contest recognizes small and mid-sized companies that attribute their business success to outstanding workplace cultures and engaged employees who deliver bottom-line results. Emma was selected out of 350 award applicants. Contest winners are featured in Inc.’s June issue and on the magazine’s website.

Also take a look at Emma’s profile on Inc.’s website. Be sure to “like” them as your favorite Winning Workplace while you’re there.

Congratulations to Nashville’s own John Rich — Winner of Celebrity Apprentice

After John Rich showed us such a great time at his home back in March, we wanted to make sure that we sent John our hearty congratulations for winning The Celebrity Apprentice Sunday night. The country music artist and entrepreneur raised more than $1.25 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital by participating on the NBC show.

Congratulations John from all of EO Nashville. We are certain that your hard work, creativity and risk-taking will mean so much to the children at St. Jude.

To get more details about John’s win, check out The Tennessean article here.

John Rich and current EO president Debbie Gordon at the March 30 EO/John Rich event

Mike Hall, John Rich and Michelle Hall at the John Rich/EO event

EO Member in the News

The Entrepreneur Center and Entrepreneurs’ Organization Nashville member Michael Burcham landed a cover story on this week’s Nashville Business Journal. The story, “Graduation day,” talks about the first round of businesses graduating from the incubator.

If you have a NBJ subscription, read the online article here. If not, click on the images below.

EO Nashville Member in the News: Michael Burcham

EO Nashville member Michael Burcham (Nashville Entrepreneur Center) made the Nashville City Paper in two articles in Monday’s edition.

The first article, “Off-campus hatching,” talks about how the Entrepreneur Center is helping existing businesses foster new ideas. The second article, “Back in the Flo,” profiles Mark Montgomery, co-founder of groundbreaking Nashville music tech firm Echomusic, who has a new commercial venture. Michael is a member of the advisory board for Mark’s new venture.

Corporate Philanthropy Awards

In follow-up to our April 29 blog post, which announced that two EO Nashville businesses were 2011 winners of the Nashville Business Journal’s Corporate Philanthropy awards (Crosslin & Associates PC and Emma), below are the articles detailing that philanthropic activities of these two companies.

Click on the pictures to read more.

Nashville CEO Forums — An Overview

In this month’s Nashville Post Magazine, EO Nashville is prominently featured in a story about CEO forums.

The story begins with a quote from member Tom Turner of DSi, and includes photos of past president Clint Smith of Emma and current president Debbie Gordon of S3 Consulting and Snappy Auctions.

The story makes a great case for joining a CEO forum. What the story does not make clear is what a good value EO is compared to other CEO forums in town. For example, annual dues for The Alternative Board are $7,200, they are $11,700 for C12 and range from $9,000 to $13,200 for Vistage.

Click on the images below to read the full story.

EO D.C. Visits Nashville!

In case you didn’t know, members of an EO D.C. forum group are here in Nashville, exploring the sites and getting to know the business community.

They started their Nashville visit off last night with a signature honky-tonkin session on Broadway. The group’s tentative schedule for the rest of the weekend includes:

• Today: Yoga, an art project, happy hour with EO Nashville members @ Sam’s Sports Bar & Grill in Hillsboro Village @ 5 p.m., a visit to The Patterson House and Virago — all before catching The Cleverlys @ The Station Inn
• Friday: a Forum exercise, meetings with Nashville business folks, dinner at Rotiers and hitting up one of Nashville’s finer music venues (Bluebird Cafe anyone?)
• Saturday: Wrap-up, more yoga, and a trip to one of Nashville’s attractions like the Country Music Hall of Fame or the Ryman

Join me in welcoming the group to Nashvegas!

Inner City 100

Clint Smith

Two EO Nashville companies have been named to the Inner City 100, a list created by Fortune magazine of the 100 fastest growing businesses located in America’s urban cores.

Emma, led by immediate EO past president Clint Smith, made the #10 spot on the list.

James Fields

Concept Technology Inc., led by EO member James Fields, came in at #55.

Congratulations to Clint and James on this significant recognition. Here’s a link to the listing.