charlotte
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Jayesh Mori and the patience of the customer
He built a consulting business, then a CRM with two former classmates. Now Jayesh Mori is bringing the same question to AI commerce: how much work should software ask of the person using it?
Natalie Norcross knew a beautiful room needed an introduction
She built a career designing interiors, then helped other designers get their work into print. Natalie Norcross turned the practical business of being noticed into A Design Partnership.
Anne Marie Holder and the art of a better conversation
She started SPARK Strategic Ideas at a coffee-shop table in 2008. The Charlotte founder has spent the years since making a business out of listening carefully, asking awkward questions and choosing her company.
Khristian Gutierrez and the education of a parking lot
Before helping cities run their curbs, Passport’s co-founder leased a parking facility to learn the job. His route from investment banking to municipal software has kept returning to the same question: what happens when the technology meets the people who use it?
Michael Vadini and the price of keeping faith
At TITAN, Michael Vadini gave investors more shares and reduced his own stake. Through SignUpGenius, the family business behind Glew, and Infocenter’s sale to Insight, his career keeps returning to the people behind the systems.
Buffy McCoy Kelly and the trouble with a sensible idea
A mile of rubber ducks. A two-story vacuum cleaner. A snack cake with an attitude. Buffy McCoy Kelly built a career giving familiar brands unexpected things to say - then rewrote her own job.
Michael Axelrod and the business behind the label
From condiments and Mexican meals to salty snacks, Michael Axelrod has built a career inside the businesses behind the supermarket shelf. At BellRing Brands, his next assignment pairs familiar brands with a demanding operating brief.
Martina McIsaac and the value of starting again
She left a manufacturing career, spent nearly five years away, and returned to learn the construction business. Now leading MSC Industrial Supply, Martina McIsaac brings the experience of both sides of the factory gate.
Doug Lebda and the price of asking twice
A $55,000 condo sent a young accountant looking for a mortgage. Doug Lebda spent the next three decades asking why the banks weren’t competing for him.
Jameka S. Whitten and the Art of Being Seen
Before she built a career helping other people get noticed, Jameka S. Whitten was asking what it meant to be seen. Twenty years into JSW Media Group, that question still connects her work in music, media and the life of Charlotte.
Rick Manley and the business of starting again
After four decades in banking, Rick Manley took on a familiar challenge with a new name above the door: building a North Carolina business for ServisFirst Bank. His career offers a close look at how regional banking grows, one local team at a time.
Gene Lowe and the value of keeping things cool
Before data centers made cooling a headline business, Gene Lowe was already running it. His route to the top of SPX helps explain a company built around the equipment that keeps everyday life working.
Sam F. Khashman’s case for less work
A customer helped give ImagineSoftware its name. A quarter-century later, its founder is still asking how much unnecessary work a piece of software can remove.
David Smith and the arithmetic of a second chance
At Sonic Automotive, David Smith inherited a family name and took responsibility for a public company. EchoPark’s retreat, recovery and arrival on a NASCAR speedway tell the more interesting part of his story.
Michael Rhodes and the ambition of doing less
An engineer by training and a banker by experience, Michael Rhodes arrived at Ally with a long résumé in credit cards. Then he sold the card business. His next chapter is a study in choosing what deserves to stay.
Vimal Kapur and the case for taking things apart
He spent more than three decades learning Honeywell from the inside. Then Vimal Kapur reached the top and helped turn one industrial conglomerate into three companies.
Harry Sideris and the long apprenticeship to keeping the lights on
A tailor’s son from Asheville answered a newspaper ad and spent nearly three decades learning the power business. Now Duke Energy’s CEO has to make an expensive new era of electricity add up for the people paying the bills.
John Tournet and the business of getting people to stay
From regional leadership to the U.S. helm of Gallagher’s Benefits & HR Consulting Division, John Tournet has kept returning to a practical question: what makes an employer worth staying with?
Conor Murphy and the business of keeping promises
Before he became CEO of F&G, Conor Murphy helped put his family’s Donegal shop on the internet. His route from handwritten thank-you notes to retirement finance is a story about what happens after a customer says yes.
Xu Xuan and the art of getting people in the room
Before he became Equitable’s Head of Life Insurance, Xu “Vincent” Xuan edited newsletters, organized volunteers and learned to fly. Across those pursuits runs a recurring interest: bringing people together to do difficult work.
Robert Chambless and the value of staying in the room
He joined Coca-Cola Consolidated in 1986. Four decades later, Robert Chambless is preparing to pass on a business education measured in stores, sales teams, restaurant counters, and the occasional drag race.
Bill Rogers and the corner that kept getting bigger
He started in commercial banking in 1980 and helped bring SunTrust and BB&T together. As Bill Rogers hands over the CEO’s chair at Truist, a small personal idea offers a way to read a very large career.
Eric Steigerwalt and the business between the bells
He helped take MetLife public, then led Brighthouse Financial into a life of its own. Eric Steigerwalt’s career follows the patient work behind the ceremonies: financing an insurer, building its habits and keeping promises that outlast a trading day.
Kevin Brungardt and the business of coming home
He helped turn RoundPoint into a national mortgage servicing business. His next chapter brings the work closer to the ground: building homes in Charlotte.
Gustavo Muller Medeiros and the price of waiting
After two decades in finance, Gustavo Muller Medeiros helped build Monkey around a stubborn problem: suppliers do the work now and get paid later. Then he moved to Charlotte to take that argument abroad.
Christopher Salerno and the business next door
He built QC Capital around apartment buildings, then went looking for businesses he could run himself. Car washes, oil-change bays and small industrial spaces became the next chapter.
Booshan Rengachari and the art of making money boring
A bank technology manager saw a gap between the apps people loved and the systems their banks depended on. Since founding Finzly in 2012, Booshan Rengachari has been working to close it, one piece of infrastructure at a time.
Joe Alala and the businesses between the banks
Joe Alala built Capitala around a stubborn financing gap: established small businesses with plans to grow and too few places to find the money. Twenty-eight years later, his work still turns on who gets capital, who keeps control, and who answers the next call.
Maeve Hagen and the long game of becoming CEO
Before she led Taylor, Maeve Hagen defended a college field hockey goal and joined the agency as an intern. Her route to the top has been a study in staying, learning and making room for other people.
Zheng Li Is Trying to Keep a Battery’s Most Valuable Secret Intact
After eighteen years in battery research, Zheng Li has arrived at an industrial question: can yesterday’s cathode become tomorrow’s cathode without first being reduced to its cheapest parts? His answer is moving from patents and pilot lines toward a 10,000-ton test of scale.