This article was updated on July 14 to reflect changes to the event date and the list of honorees.
Twenty-eight Midlands-area business leaders — 14 established community stalwarts and 14 hard-charging game-changers — have been selected as members of the Columbia Regional Business Report’s second class of Icons and Phenoms.
The Business Report is honoring a pair of groups making an impact on the area business scene: Icons, the respected pillars who have established standards of business and civic excellence; and Phenoms, the motivated go-getters who are getting things done in new and exciting ways.
This year’s honorees span a wide range of industry, from construction pioneers to city leaders to nonprofit champions.
Award recipients, nominated by Business Report readers and selected by a panel of judges, will be recognized at an online event Aug. 5. A profile of each honoree will be published in the July 20 print edition of the Business Report.
Event tickets are available online.
The 2020 honorees:
Icons
- Julie Ann Avin, executive director/president, Mental Illness Recovery Center Inc.
- Sharon Bryant, South Carolina regional president, First Citizens Bank
- Lee Bussell, chairman and CEO, Chernoff Newman
- Richard Cohn Sr., chairman, Cohn Corp.
- Reginald Corley, president and managing attorney, Scott & Corley PA
- Peter Fawcett, CEO, Republic National Distributing Co.
- Jim Hudson, president and owner, Jim Hudson Automotive Group
- Karen Jenkins, president and CEO, KRJ Consulting LLC
- Tom Keith, president and CEO, Sisters of Charity Foundation of S.C.
- Matt Kennell, president and CEO, City Center Partnership
- Curtis Loftis, S.C. State Treasurer
- Nathaniel Spells, president and CEO, Construction Dynamics Inc.
- Tommy Suggs, president and CEO, HUB Carolinas
Phenoms
- Nick Annan, senior manager, Elliott Davis
- Joshua Bennett, attorney/shareholder, Rogers Townsend LLC
- Frank Cason, president, Cason Development Group
- Lisa Ellis, founder, SC for Ed
- Jean Cecil Frick, senior strategic advisor, NP Strategy
- Charlie Griffin, senior relationship manager/vice president of business banking, Bank of America
- Meghan Hickman, executive director, EngenuitySC
- Amelia Hough-Ross, deputy chief technology officer, Companion Data Services
- David McNeice, director of structural engineering, Stevens & Wilkinson
- Lindsey Miles, vice president of operational excellence, Nephron Pharmaceuticals
- Graeme Moore, president and owner, The Moore Co.
- Rachel Popkowski, vice president, Livingston Insurance Agency Inc.
- Ashlye Wilkerson, franchise owner/children’s author, Wine & Design Columbia