From his earliest recollections Chris Bird was always interested in business, commerce and sales-from operating drink stands by the neighborhood tennis court to advertising his lawn mowing business on white match book cases with a rubber stamp with his contact information. In college, Chris even started 1520 Enterprises Unlimited to loan money to f
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When Tommy Earl and Gary Dodson purchased four of Barloworld Truck Center’s dealerships in the summer of 2007, they say their $25 million bought the best Barloworld had to offer in the Freightliner business in terms of employees and customers. The service center and dealership locations are in Jackson, TN, Jonesboro, AR, Tupelo, MS, with headquar
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Hilliard founded Memphis Glove Company in 1974 as an importer of industrial gloves. After several years of success, he co-founded with his brothers Crews Safety Glasses and River City Rainwear. In 1984 he formed Shelby Specialty Gloves to concentrate on the Fire Fighting Industry. All 4 of these companies are leaders in the Personal Protectio
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From art student to artist, designer to chef to restaurateur, Karen Carrier has been creating in different mediums for over 25 years. An energetic and vivacious woman, Carrier was born and raised in Memphis. Her first love was painting and glasswork and that, in a roundabout way, is where she got her start in the culinary world. Apprenticing and
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Carolyn Hardy is a serial entrepreneur and an amazing leader. If leadership is best measured in times of adversity, Hardy’s finest hour to date may have been in 2005 when she and her staff were notified that the local Coors plant would be closed at the end of 2006. With morale understandably in the tank, Hardy gathered her 400 employees and deliv
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Patrick W. Lawler is chief executive officer of Youth Villages, one of the largest private providers of services to troubled children and their families in the country. Under his leadership, Youth Villages has established an array of specialized treatment programs operated by an effective team of more than 3,000 employees in 85 locations across 19
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William E. Orgel (Billy) is a native of Memphis, Tennessee and a BBA from the University of Texas at Austin in 1985. After graduation, he moved to Memphis to work at his family business, Majestic Communications, which he helped build into the areas’ largest retailer of Motorola two-way radio equipment as well as the
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Chip Dudley and Susan Stephenson are the Co-Founders and Co-Chairmen of Independent Bank in Memphis, Tennessee. Established in 1998, Independent Bank now has over $800 million in total assets and over $100 million in capital. It is the second largest bank headquartered in Shelby County with 10 branches and 180 employe
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Classic American Hardwoods was started in April of 2001 literally off of Bill Courtney’s couch. By June of 2001, it boomed in growth to 3 employees operating out of a front room in his home. Today, the company sits on a 43 acre site in North Memphis where the manufacturing and domestic sales offices operate and has additional sales offices in Sha
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David Andrews is Chief Executive Officer and Owner of City Enterprises, LLC. City Enterprises, LLC is the parent company for the following auto related business; City Auto Sales, City Direct, City Auto Finance, Dealers Auto Auction of Huntsville, Dealers Auto Auction of the South, Dealers Auto Auction of Mobile LLC, and Dealers Auto Auction of Murf
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