Hinton Youth Entrepreneurship Award
Each year, entrepreneurs who have built large companies share their stories and hard-won lessons with our students. Thank you to everyone who has given their time.
Serial founder and EY Entrepreneur of the Year
Jonathan started his first business in fifth grade, reselling school supplies, and his first real company at 16: a landscaping business that won a government contract and had to grow fast.
He has since founded or co-founded four companies, including RavenVolt, with more than $1 billion in combined revenue and $1 billion in exits. He holds a BBA in accounting and an MBA from MIT.
Founder and Executive Chairman, Mark Spain Real Estate
Mark is a second-generation real estate agent and a graduate of the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business. Over a 30-year career, he and his team have sold billions of dollars of homes, and Mark Spain Real Estate now has offices across the Southeast and Texas.
The firm has been ranked among the top real estate teams in the country and named to the Inc. 5000 eight years running. Mark also leads the Mark Spain Foundation, the company's charitable arm.
Co-founders and Co-CEOs, The Lumistella Company (The Elf on the Shelf)
Twin sisters Christa and Chanda turned their family's Christmas tradition into The Elf on the Shelf with their mother, Carol Aebersold. When publishers turned the book down, they published it themselves and sold it out of the back of a car. More than 33 million Scout Elves have since been adopted in 33 countries.
Christa, a former QVC host, leads the brand and the business; Chanda, a former middle school English teacher, is “Santa's Chief Storyteller” and has written nearly 20 books. Both were named 2023 EY Entrepreneurs of the Year for the Southeast and to the 2026 Forbes 50 Over 50 list.
Cofounder and Chief Revenue Officer, Clustr
Lauren built her career in enterprise sales at Microsoft and Salesforce, where she was a top performer, before becoming a founder. She co-founded Ternary, which was acquired, and then founded Zinnia, an AI sales platform that won a $100,000 investment at a HearstLab pitch event.
She was named a Charlotte Business Journal Women in Business honoree and is now a cofounder of Clustr, which helps organizations put AI to work for their people.
Founder and CEO, Zapps Wholesale
Anthony started Zapps Wholesale from his college dorm, then left school to build it full time. The company buys overstock and returned merchandise from major retailers and resells it, from warehouses in North Carolina and Ohio.
He has been named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and an EY Entrepreneur of the Year, and Zapps Wholesale has made the Inc. 5000 four times.