Chris McCurry will be participating in Carolina Connect 2010: Innovation Through Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship. This year Chris will be one of the featured speakers as part of the “Inside the Minds of CEOs” Panel Discussion. Moderated by Henry Doss, an AdvantageWest Board Director and a business consultant and principal with Avenue ISR, a consumer research and business strategy practice based in Traverse City, Michigan. The successful leaders of some of the region’s most admired companies share their secrets in an informal “conversation with the CEOs” setting. What energizes them? What is the one thing they must do every day, without fail? What keeps them awake at night? What do they view as the best opportunities in today’s economy?
Other entrepreneurial leaders that will join McCurry on the panel will be:
Michael Shore is CEO of FLS Energy, a solar energy generation company headquartered in Asheville. The company, which started with three employees in 2006 and today has more than 50, has developed, designed, installed, and financed some of the most important solar energy projects in the Southeast. Shore has written extensively on sustainability issues, and he served on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency Leadership Group and North Carolina’s Global Climate Change Commission. He has Master’s degrees in both Civil Engineering and in Environmental Policy.
Toby Stansell is president of OOBE, Inc., a company based in Greenville SC, that has been designing and creating uniforms that are stylish, functional, comfortable, and durable since the early 1990s. OOBE works collaboratively with its customers – which include premier national brands such as Chick‐fil‐A, Wolverine, Food Lion and Stone Mountain Park – to create a custom apparel program that fits the company’s brand image.
Greg Lucas is director of business development for Creative Allies, a new social network that brings bands and fans together around user‐ generated art. An expansion of Music Allies, an Asheville‐based marketing and promotions company that works with major festivals and independent record labels, Creative Allies allows anyone to create content for companies, brands and even rock stars and get paid for it.
As one of the leaders in the the Green Business industry, she will lead a discussion on “How the Clam Makes the World’s Hardest Ceramics at Room Temperature.” This panel discussion will address how thinking like nature can drive radical innovation. Chris McCurry has extensive experience in creating an industry around the very foundations of sustainable building practices. Excited to bring her background and perspective to the conversation had this to say about Carolina Connect, “I think the emphasis of this conference is process and will therefore appeal to a wide audience. It’s not so much what the speakers have done, but how they did it and what it took to accomplish the task.”
Chris McCurry has successfully lead Highland Craftsmen through key sustainable business certifications, such as, Cradle to Cradle Gold, B Corp, and Chain of Custody.
