EO Nashville Members in the News: Inc. 500, NEXT Awards, Ben Goldberg & Michael Brody-Waite

It has been an award heavy week for EO Nashville members (not that we’re complaining)!

On Wednesday, Inc. magazine announced its newest list of America’s 500 fastest-growing private companies. Of the three Nashville companies that made the list, two were members of EO Nashville: Teknetex [John Kepley] and Medicare.com [Bill Kimberlin].

Also this week, the Nashville Chamber announced its finalists for the company and individual NEXT awards. EO Nashville members and member companies that were honored included:

Company Awards:

Individual Awards:

The Catbird SeatBen Goldberg’s The Catbird Seat also landed on Bon Appetit’s Hot 10 List of America’s Best New Restaurants this week. The Catbird Seat ranked fifth on the powerhouse list.

And lastly, Inquicker received national press attention, appearing in an Entrepreneur magazine piece on the “7 Deadly Sins of Business Meetings.” In the article, Michael Brody-Waite talks about how his company did away with unproductive meetings.

EO Nashville Members in the News: InQuicker; Top Influential Nashville Entrepreneurs; Nicholas Holland; Best Places to Work

We’ve seen a great number of EO Nashville members and member companies in the news recently, and wanted to share these sightings.

First off, the Nashville Post covered InQuicker.com [Michael Brody-Waite] and its recent announcement of a new partnership with Team Health.

Nashpreneur.com also recently listed its Top 30 Influential Nashville Entrepreneurs, a collection of local business owners who Nashpreneur believes “are influencing the local community and in some cases, other parts of the world.” The list includes the following EO Nashville members,

Nicholas Holland was also recently profiled in the Nashville Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 series.

And lastly, the Nashville Business Journal hosted its annual Best Places to Work competition, highlighting the honored companies in its May 25 print edition. Click the links below to download the story clips.

EO Nashville finalists for Best Places to Work

Yesterday, the Nashville Business Journal revealed finalists for its 2012 Best Places to Work.

According to the Business Journal, “Employees of nominated companies were asked to complete an online survey conducted by Quantum Workplace. The employee survey measures 10 key engagement categories, including team effectiveness, trust in senior leaders and manager effectiveness. Responses from each question of each completed survey are compiled and evaluated. Companies are ranked and winners are chosen in each size category according to their overall composite score.”

EO Nashville companies honored include:

Small companies (10 – 25 employees)
Concept Technology Inc.
InQuicker
Paramore
Rustici Software LLC

Medium companies (26 – 100 employees)
Advanced Network Solutions
LetterLogic
Vaco LLC

Three winners from each category will be recognized on May 22.

EO Nashville and the Inc. 500|5000 List

1 in 4 Nashville Area Companies to Make the 2011 Inc. 500|5000 List are EO Nashville Members

Of the current 88 EO Nashville members, 15% have been named to the Inc. 500|5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America.

EO Nashville member companies also make up 25% of Nashville-based companies on the Inc. 500|5000 list. Statewide, EO Nashville members account for 12% of Tennessee-based companies on the list.

Member companies who made the Inc. 500|5000 list are:

  • Advanced Network Solutions (#3232), Sonny Clark, Founder and President
  • Concept Technology, Inc. (#2516), James Fields, Founder and President
  • Crosslin & Associates (#3763), Justin Crosslin, Principal
  • Document Solutions, Inc. (#1662), Tom Turner, Co-Founder and President
  • Emma (#1610), Clint Smith, Co-Founder and CEO
  • Fastsigns (#2055), Scott Snoyer, Owner
  • LetterLogic (#2682), Sherry Stewart Deutschmann, Founder and CEO
  • Metova (#492), Kevin Ross, President and Founder
  • Midsouth Consulting Group (#3923), Jason Carpenter, CEO
  • OptiMech (#3911), Tim Page, Executive Vice President
  • Paramore-Redd Online Marketing (#2974), Hannah Paramore, President
  • Randa Solutions (#388), Marty Reed, President and CEO
  • Vaco Resources, LLC (#3895), Jerry Bostelman, Founder

According to the magazine, companies are chosen for the list by comparing revenue growth from 2007 to 2010. Companies must be U.S.-based, privately held, independent, for-profit and not a subsidiary or division of another company. Revenues in 2007 must have been at least $100,000 and at least $2 million for 2010.

The full list can be accessed here.

EO Nashville Grows 32%

Adds 21 new members since start of 2011

Following a record-breaking fall recruitment, the Nashville EO chapter again broke recruitment molds, adding 21 members since the beginning of 2011, and securing its place as one of the fastest growing EO chapters in the world.

EO Nashville has grown 32% over the last 12 months. The growth is due to more than just adding new members—96% of existing members recently renewed their memberships as well.

The 21 new members of EO Nashville are:

Michael Berman is founder and CEO of Network Contract Solutions, a leading provider of contract management solutions. He has worked as general counsel for Goldleaf Financial Solutions, Inc., Tecniflex, Inc. and Imagic Corporation. He holds degrees from Cornell University and the University of Tennessee.

Robert Collins III founded Wealth Management Group of Tennessee in 2001, after nine years in the insurance and investment industry. His practice focuses on investment strategy, wealth preservation, retirement distribution and legacy planning for the next generation. He attended the University of Mississippi and Belmont University.

Sherry Stewart Deutschmann founded LetterLogic, Inc. in 2002 from in the basement of her home. The fast-growing manufacturing and business services provider, prints and mails statements, letters and invoices for other business, primarily in the healthcare sector. Deutschmann also speaks for national women’s organizations, publicizing the benefits of employee-centric cultures.

Michael Hodges has been president and CEO of Advance Financial since 1998. He has grown the company from three locations to 26 with over 200 employees, making it the leading provider of alternative financial services in Middle Tennessee. He attended the University of Tennessee.

Aimee Johns is well known in the music industry, not for her music, but for her unique style and unmatched client service. Her award-winning designer boutiques, Flavour and Flavour Men, cater to the music industry as well as professional athletes and everyone in between. Johns previously worked at RCA Records and Arista.

Bill Kimberlin is a proven entrepreneur, founder and investor of numerous businesses. By the age of 27, both Forbes and US News & World Report had recognized him as a leading entrepreneur. Kimberlin currently serves as founder and CEO of Medicare.com. He was the founding president of the Nashville chapter of EO, at the time called Young Entrepreneurs Organization.

Chris Kincade is chief executive officer of The Kincade Group, Inc., a master franchisor in commercial cleaning. He’s led and company for 12 years, managing more than 300 franchises for Bonus Building Care in Nashville, Memphis, Birmingham and South Florida. He attended Vanderbilt University.

Nancy Leach founded Facility Planners, Inc. in 1995, under the concept of coordinating the fields of architecture, interior design, construction and project management with furniture specification, procurement and installation. Leach got her bachelor’s from O’More College and her master’s from Belmont University.

Alan Looney is founder and president of Castle Homes. He serves as the Custom Builders Council president for the Home Builders Association of Middle Tennessee. He is also a member of Builder 20, U.S. Green Building Council, Christian Leadership Concept and the Nashville Chamber of Commerce.

Bert Lyles has spent his career in commercial and residential real estate. Currently the CEO of Showhomes Franchise Corporation, the country’s largest provider of staging services to high-end houses for sale. He has also served for more than 10 years as an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University’s Graduate School of Business.

Susan Marlow is founder and CEO of Smart Data Strategies, Inc. She is familiar with all facets of the parcel conversion industry, having completed GIS and parcel conversion projects for cities and counties across the United States. She is active in multiple professional organizations, including the Institute for GIS Studies and the Transportation Research Board.

Jackson Miller is an innovative technologist turned entrepreneur. He currently owns Plato’s Closet franchises and is CEO of Bizen, a web-based dashboarding tool that provides insight into the workings of franchises. He has also made significant contributions to many of Nashville’s most noteworthy startups, including Emma, Magazines.com, centresource and BorderJump.

Taylor Milliken is president and CEO of Elite Landscape Company, Inc., a turnkey provider for residential and commercial landscape services. He previously worked for The Tess Company, and attended Volunteer State Community College for engineering.

Miranda Whitcomb Pontes owns Burger Up in the 12South neighborhood. She’s passionate about using organic, locally sourced meat and produce in her establishments. She is currently fostering plans for a second Burger Up location in Cool Springs.

Gene Robertson has owned U.S. Lawns of Nashville, a commercial landscape management franchise, for 12 years. In addition to two Nashville locations, he has locations in Clarksville and Murfreesboro. Robertson graduated from Middle Tennessee State University.

JJ Rosen is the CEO and founder of Atiba Software LLC. He founded Atiba in 1992 to provide IT, programming, Web development, database design, and project management services to clients of all types and sizes including the District Attorneys Office and the State of Tennessee Department of Human Services. He graduated from Vanderbilt University.

Kevin Ross is an entrepreneur with a passion for bootstrapping and building profitable, sustainable companies that make a difference. He founded the mobile software company, Metova, Inc. in 2006. Three offices later, Metova now ranks among the best in the world in mobile application development. He graduated from Iowa State University.

Suzanne Sevier Rowland always had a passion for sewing clothes, but didn’t consider making a career out of the hobby until her late 20s, when she moved to New York City, enrolled in The Fashion Institute of Technology and took a job at the city’s top fabric store, Mood Fabrics. Rowland’s skirts-only line took off in 2004, and sales of Sevier Skirts have doubled every year thereafter.

Alex Tolbert is a team member at Bernard Health, a health insurance advisor. Founded in 2006, Bernard Health now employs 12 employees with offices in Nashville, Indianapolis and Louisville. Tolbert attended the University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University.

George Uribe is president of Guestbooker.com. His television experience includes stints at Fox News Channel, MSNBC and CNN. He serves on the board of governors for The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Mid-South Chapter. He holds degrees from George Washington University and North Carolina State University.

Hart Weatherford is the founder of Farmington Financial Group LLC. He has personally originated and closed over $500 million in mortgage loans in his career. Weatherford has consistently been a “Diamond” and “Platinum” awards of excellence winner by the Mortgage Bankers Association. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee.

For the 2nd year, Entrepreneurs’ Organization Nashville has sponsored The City Paper’s annual list of up-and-coming, influential, local entrepreneurs of the year.

Join us in congratulating the 10 business owners who made the 2011 list.