Mike Griffin | Photo: Ernst & Young

April 22. Twelve of the 36 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2025 Southeast nominees are from North Carolina, one of them—Mike Griffin— is from Cornelius.

Mike Griffin is a partner at Griffin Brothers Cos., which includes ZoomUp, an investment and consulting company that looks to acquire and/or partner with reputable family companies that don’t have an exit strategy. ZoomUp Consulting Services also looks to help companies navigate out of “No Mans Land” and tap into their growth potential.

Griffin Brothers Cos. began in 1961 as a tire shop in Charlotte’s Historic West End and has since grown into a diversified family business spanning waste management, real estate, hospitality and portfolio investments.

Background

The program honors entrepreneurs whose innovations shape the future and pave the way for a thriving economy and a hopeful tomorrow.

An independent panel of judges selected 36 finalists from Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee for their entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and building long-term value.

The 2025 Southeast finalists:

• Marc Hodulich | 29029 | Atlanta, Georgia

• Damon Stafford | Alpine Intel | Charlotte, North Carolina

• Lou Hensley | Aspida | Durham, North Carolina

• Matthew Dent | Buffalo Rock Company | Birmingham, Alabama

• Melanie Little | Colonial Pipeline Company | Alpharetta, Georgia

• Will Bartholomew | D1 Training | Franklin, Tennessee

• Rene Diaz | Diaz Foods | Atlanta, Georgia

• David Quirk | DLB Associates Consulting Engineers PC | Peachtree Corners, Georgia

• Markus Scott | EyeQ Monitoring | Atlanta, Georgia

• Jon Gosier | FilmHedge | Atlanta, Georgia

• John Fitzpatrick | Force Marketing | Atlanta, Georgia

• Dr. Barry Patel | Galt Companies | Atlanta, Georgia

• Dr. Wade Smith | Galt Companies | Atlanta, Georgia

• Charles Gillespie | Gambling.com Group | Charlotte, North Carolina

• Kevin McCrystle | Gambling.com Group | Charlotte, North Carolina

• Mike Griffin | Griffin Brothers Companies | Cornelius, North Carolina

• Erin Hanson | Guardian Sports | Peachtree Corners, Georgia

• Dan Beem | Hissho Sushi | Charlotte, North Carolina

• Aaron Siegel | Home Team BBQ | Charleston, South Carolina

• Marc Murphy | Ignite Digital Services | Charleston, South Carolina

• Miller Chalk | Inglett & Stubbs, LLC | Mableton, Georgia

• Liza Rodewald | Instant Teams | Southern Pines, North Carolina

• Stephen Andresen | McClancy Foods & Flavors | Fort Mill, South Carolina

• Travis LeFever | Mission Mobile Medical Group | Greensboro, North Carolina

• Cyrus Mojdehi | Northway Homes | Charlotte, North Carolina

• Connor Ryan | NutraSky | Alpharetta, Georgia

• Fritz Owens | OTR Solutions | Roswell, Georgia

• Christopher Chuang | Relay, Inc. | Raleigh, North Carolina

• Kurt Jacobus | restor3d, Inc. | Durham, North Carolina

• Tom Kendrot | Shearwater Health | Nashville, Tennessee

• Teak Shore | Southern Lighting Source | Cumberland, Georgia

• Cindy Eckert | Sprout Pharmaceuticals | Raleigh, North Carolina

• Bryan Moore | TalkShopLive Inc. | Nashville, Tennessee

• Tina Moore | TalkShopLive Inc. | Nashville, Tennessee

• Igor Marinelli | Tractian | Atlanta, Georgia

• Joan Butters | Xsolis | Franklin, Tennessee

Entrepreneur Of The Year honors many different types of business leaders for their ingenuity, courage and entrepreneurial spirit. The program celebrates original founders who bootstrapped their business from inception or who raised outside capital to grow their company; transformational CEOs who infused innovation into an existing organization to catapult its trajectory; and multigenerational family business leaders who reimagined a legacy business model to strengthen it for the future.

Learn more about the finalists at https://www.ey.com/en_us/entrepreneur-of-the-year-us/southeast/winners-finalists.