The Charlotte Ledger announces 2023 class of inspirational award-winners: 40 leaders aged 40+
The Ledger honoring 40 Over 40 winners at last year’s celebration. This year’s will be on April 27 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Charlotte Museum of History.
The Charlotte Ledger is pleased to announce this year’s recipients of The Charlotte Ledger 40 Over 40 Awards, presented by U.S. Bank.
The awards celebrate local unsung heroes aged 40+ who are doing great things in our community.
This year’s group was chosen by a distinguished independent panel of under-40 judges, who reviewed many impressive nominations — awe-inspiring and thought-provoking stories of innovators and problem-solvers who toil humbly to lift others up, or find gaps in systems and work to fill them.
They are making Charlotte a better place in a variety of ways, all over the city.
➡️ Award celebration: We’re holding a party in honor of these award winners, to be held April 27 at the Charlotte Museum of History. It’s going to be a fun time — a 1980s movie-themed celebration, with dinner, drinks, music, a costume contest and a few surprises. (Tickets are on sale now, details below.)
But let’s get right to this year’s winners:
Toya Bailey, Community Engagement Lead, Truliant Federal Credit Union
Reginald Bean, Managing Director, White Label Management Group
Tony A. Brantley, Business and CTE Instructor, Sugar Creek Charter School and Co-founder, LeadCity Youth
Ivanna Garibaldi Campbell, HR Manager, Bank of America and Mentor, Kidz That Care
Carla A. Carlisle, Executive Director, The Compassionate Companion
Alli Celebron-Brown, President + CEO, McColl Center
Steve Crump, Reporter, WBTV
Louis Foreman, Founder and CEO, Enventys Partners
Heather Call Fuller, Attorney, Lincoln Derr, PLLC
Teneika Funderburk, MSN, RN, CCHP, Owner and Founder of Loving In Home Care Services Inc. and Nursing Careers Institute Inc.
Christian Gallardo, Agency Owner, Carolina's 1st Choice Agency LLC
Nidiya Gaspar, Founder & President, Shakthi Corporation
Jessica Graham, President, Fionix Consulting
Tameka Gunn, President and CEO, Community Link
Shannon Harris, Managing Director Real Estate Development, Panorama Holdings
Emily Harry, Co-founder, Baby Bundles
Renee Hode, Director, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, South Piedmont Community College
Darlene Ifill-Taylor, MD, Founder and Medical Director, Three Strand Wellness, LLC
Alvin C. Jacobs, Jr., CEO and Lead Photographer, ACJ Holdings LLC
Josh Jacobson, CEO, Next Stage
Dr. Robert A. Johnson, III, Senior Care Advocate, UHC, Optum
Brian Kahn, Charlotte Office Managing Partner, McGuireWoods and Co-Producer, Charlotte Squawks
Dr. Alyson Kuroski-Mazzei, CEO & Chief Medical Officer, HopeWay
Heather Leavitt, Co-founder, Baby Bundles
Brian Li, Financial Education Coordinator and Middle School Math Teacher, Providence Day School
Cat Long, Co-founder, Baby Bundles and Real Estate Broker, Compass
Shannon McKnight, Founder and Chief Consultant, Next Level Nonprofits
Raj Merchant, Director, Grant Thornton LLP
Tchernavia Montgomery, Chief Executive Officer, Care Ring
Joe Mynatt, Program Manager, Common Wealth Charlotte
Rashaan Peek, Chief of Staff, Charlotte Center City Partners
Glenn Proctor, Founder, Reddjobb
Cheryl L. Richards, Ph.D., President & CEO, Catapult Employers Association
Mike Stolp, Investigative Producer, WSOC-TV
Jennifer Szakaly, Founder & CEO, Caregiving Corner
Brent Torstrick, Partner, Robinson Bradshaw
Shelley White, President and CEO, Ascend Nonprofit Solutions
April B. Whitlock, Head of Corporate Citizenship, LendingTree
Gregory A. Willingham, Program Director, SoundVizion LLC / Jazz ‘N Soul Music and Senior Managing Director, Point B Consulting
Amanda Wise, Director of Nonprofit Partnerships, SHARE Charlotte
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➡️ Want to know more about the winners? You can find the full descriptions and backgrounds on these 40 winners online.
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We’ll be celebrating these folks in April. Join us! Key details:
When: Thursday, April 27, from 6 to 9 p.m.
Where: Charlotte Museum of History, 3500 Shamrock Drive
What: ’80s movie-themed celebration, with buffet dinner, open bar with beer and wine, music and a few surprises. There’s also a costume contest if you care to dress the part. We are designing it to be a fun night — no stuffy sit-down country club dinner here. Your ticket also gets you admission to the museum’s first-floor exhibits, where you are free to mingle and explore some of our city’s history. There’s plenty of free parking.
Cost: Early bird pricing through Friday is $85 per person ($10 off for Ledger members—discount code available here). On Saturday, April 1, prices rise to $95. Why not get tickets today?
➡️ More info and tickets available here, or click this handy button:
We price tickets reasonably to encourage people to attend. We can do that because of the support of our event sponsors:
Title sponsor: U.S. Bank
Gold sponsors: Catapult; Ducie Stark, residential real estate broker with Dickens Mitchener
Silver sponsors: The Charlotte Museum of History, CLT Public Relations
Last year’s celebration attracted a sold-out crowd of nearly 250 people to honor the 40 Over 40 winners from 2020, 2021 and 2022.
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With 40 Over 40, there’s always next year
Do you know someone who didn’t make the final cut, or whom you’d like to nominate for next year? Hang onto that thought for next year’s Charlotte Ledger 40 Over 40 contest, which we’ll announce at the start of 2024.
Congratulations again to all of the award recipients, and a big thank you to everybody making this celebration a success: all the nominees, all the people who took the time to nominate somebody, our volunteer judges — and a special thanks to Deborah Goldberg, who coordinated this year’s awards.
We hope to see you at the celebration on the 27th!
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Staff writer: Lindsey Banks; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project