Sponsors
platinum
Compass Group
As the leading foodservice and support services company, Compass Group North America is a family of companies building experiences for all of our customers. We serve award-winning restaurants, corporate cafes, hospitals, schools, arenas, museums, and more. In addition, we are proud to offer state-of-the-art self-service and office coffee solutions.
Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Compass Group North America has the privilege of serving such prestigious clients as IBM, United Technologies Corp., SAP, Mount Sinai Hospital NYC, Louisiana State University, and Texas A&M University. In addition, Compass provides catering to special events such as the US Open and the Academy Awards®. Compass Group was the official catering services supplier for the 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
Our parent company, UK-based Compass Group PLC, operates in 50 countries, with leading market positions in the UK, Continental Europe, Australia, and the US, combined with business in developing markets in Eastern Europe, South America, and Asia. Compass Group employs more than 500,000 associates worldwide delivering superior service for the highest customer experience. The Group had revenues of £19.9 billion in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016.
We recognize that our success and future depend on each of us behaving professionally, ethically, and responsibly as laid out in our Mission & Vision and Code of Business Conduct without exception and without compromise.
Womble Bond Dickinson
A hands-on, switched-on law firm, Womble Bond Dickinson is well positioned to help our clients continue to thrive in a rapidly changing world. With extensive transatlantic capability and intimate knowledge of local markets, we provide clients with more integrated access than ever before.
Full service and bench strength across our markets: Energy & Natural Resources, Financial Institutions, Insurance, Manufacturing, Real Estate, Retail & Consumer, Transportation & Infrastructure, Life Sciences, Pharma, Communications & Technology, Private Wealth and Healthcare.
- More resources delivering higher value
- More than 1,000 lawyers
- Access to international networks and thought leaders in your sector
- Offices in global hubs of banking and financial services
- Strategic alliances throughout most important markets in the US and Europe
- Seamless service in 23 dynamic metropolitan areas in the US and UK
- Enhanced knowledge sharing for greater insight and informed decisions
- Active collaboration and innovation for our clients’ competitive advantage
- Dedicated client service teams
A new breed of transatlantic law firm:
gold
BAE Systems
BAE Systems, Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of BAE Systems plc, a global defense, security and aerospace company which delivers a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, security, information technology solutions and customer support services. With the Head Office located in London and US Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, BAE Systems employs over 83,000 globally, approximately 38,000 in the United States. BAE Systems provides some of the worlds most advanced, technology-led defense, aerospace and security solutions. Working with customers and local partners to develop, engineer, manufacture and support products and systems to deliver military capability, protect national security and people and keep critical information and infrastructure secure.
Blumenthal Performing Arts
Blumenthal Performing Arts is home to outstanding arts organizations including Charlotte Symphony, Community School of the Arts, Charlotte Ballet, On Q Productions, Opera Carolina, Studio 345 and Caroline Calouche & Company.
Mission: To present the best in the performing arts and in partnership with others, share and employ the arts as a major catalyst to strengthen education, build community cohesiveness and advance economic growth.
- Brings to Charlotte and the region an incredible array of the very best of the performing and cultural arts, including first-class touring Broadway productions, and a variety of dance, music, family and educational programs.
- Offers curriculum-enhancing programs through its Education Department for the region’s students in classrooms, studios, theaters and neighborhood and community centers.
- Collaborates with numerous local and regional partners to bring diverse arts and cultural programs to our communities.
- Welcomes and serves nearly 630,000 attendees, including 150,000 students and children to its programs, theaters, classrooms and galleries annually, and provides a home to its 16 resident companies at the Center and Spirit Square.
- Infuses $52 million annually into our economy.
- Since opening our theater doors in 1992, 7.9 million people have attended an event, performance, activity or meeting at the Center or Spirit Square.
- Ranks among the leading performing arts centers in the nation.
Delta/Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Atlantic is a major British success story. From our first leased jumbo to the UK’s second largest long haul airline, we’ve come a long way. Since it was founded in 1984, Virgin Atlantic Airways has become one of the worlds leading airlines serving the world’s major cities. Virgin Atlantic is the quintessential Virgin story. It has every ingredient: the small newcomer taking on the giant and complacent establishment, the people’s champion introducing better service and lower costs for passengers with a reputation for quality and innovative product development.
Our mission statement is simple, yet the foundation of everything we do at Virgin Atlantic Airways – to embrace the human spirit and let it fly.
Domtar Corporation
Domtar makes products that people around the world rely on every day. We design, manufacture, market and distribute a wide variety of pulp, paper and personal care products, from copy paper to baby diapers.
Our nearly 10,000 employees are driven by a commitment to continually find ways to do a better job in developing our products, improving our manufacturing processes and managing natural resources responsibly.
We have corporate offices in Fort Mill, South Carolina, and Montreal, Quebec, and we serve customers in more than 50 countries.
Our common stock is traded on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges. Our common interest is in making the best use of every asset we have to serve our customers, support our employees and strengthen our communities.
It’s just our way of doing things.
silver
B&W Fiberglass
We do more than make glass fibers. We provide solutions to complex problems through innovation and proprietary technologies. Whatever your pain point – manufacturing, sourcing, R&D, and more – our team can navigate you towards a complete solution.
Today, B&W Fiberglass is one of the most respected names in glass fiber manufacturing and distribution globally.
The business is headquartered west of Charlotte, NC and employs over 200 team members throughout 7 manufacturing facilities throughout the US and UK, enabling service to the largest of global clientele. BWF’s success can be largely attributed to a dedication to product innovation and a commitment to viable, long-term partnerships. BWF has been recognized locally as one of the fastest-growing companies in the greater Charlotte, NC area.
From startups to global powerhouses, there’s no business too small or too large to benefit from our comprehensive solutions.
BDO
BDO delivers assurance, tax, financial advisory, and consulting services to clients throughout the country and around the globe. We offer numerous industry-specific practices, world-class resources, and an unparalleled commitment to meeting our clients’ needs. We currently serve more than 400 publicly traded domestic and international clients. Offering; unparalleled partner-involvement, deep industry knowledge and participation, geographic coverage across the U.S., cohesive global network and focused capabilities across disciplines.
BDO brings world-class resources and exceptional service to each and every one of our clients. BDO USA is a member of BDO International, the world’s fifth largest accounting and consulting network.
BDO’s global network extends across 158 countries, with over 67,000 people working out of more than 1,401 offices. That means local resources backed by a truly global network – no matter where you do business. This is just one part of BDO’s commitment to delivering exceptional client service.
CliftonLarsonAllen
CLA is a professional services firm delivering integrated wealth advisory, outsourcing and public accounting capabilities to help clients succeed professionally and personally. This allows us to serve clients more completely and offer our people diverse career opportunities.
Our people are industry practitioners first and foremost. You will work with professionals who know you, your organization, and your industry — and combine their knowledge with yours to make you stronger.
Unprecedented emphasis on serving privately held businesses and their owners, as well as nonprofits and governmental entities – serving more than 150,000 clients.
Primary industries served include agribusiness, construction and real estate, commercial services, cooperatives, dealerships, employee benefit plans, federal government, financial institutions, government contractors, health care, higher education, manufacturing and distribution, nonprofit, professional services, and state and local government.
More than 60 years of quality, service, and experience. Over 100 locations across the United States. More than 5,000 professionals, including 700+ principals and over 2,200 CPAs . A career building and “Best Place to Work” firm.
Elliott Davis
Elliott Davis is one of the top 30 accounting, tax and consulting services firms in the U.S. Serving clients for 90 years, our firm is deeply rooted in the history and economies of the markets we serve.
It is our mission to make a positive impact on our clients, our people and our communities. Our professionals serve as trusted advisors to businesses, organizations and individuals and have diverse backgrounds – many are former CFOs, controllers or Big Four associates who bring extensive knowledge, deep experience and critical insights to clients across a wide-range of industries.
Consistently named a “Best Place to Work” in major markets, we promote an inclusive, progressive culture, aiming to maintain continuity of staff as well as provide senior team member involvement on all client engagements.
At Elliott Davis, our values guide us in how we work, how we make decisions and what we do each day to make a positive impact on our clients, our people and our communities – Do the Right Thing, Serve Others, Mutual Respect, Always Getting Better, Quality.
Engage2Excel
We take a science-driven approach to helping you improve engagement throughout the talent lifecycle.
Engage2Excel helps HR organizations create unique candidate and employee experiences from pre-hire to retirement. We know that engaging workplace experiences are essential for motivating employees to care more, work smarter and stay longer. We understand what employees really want because we look at the entire employee lifecycle through a scientific lens.
Our Trendicators research division conducts original surveys, validates best practices from our client base of 2,700+ organizations and relies on three decades of groundbreaking research by our chief scientific officer, Jack Wiley, Ph.D. Our industry-leading solutions for recruitment, employee recognition and engagement surveys are tailored to each client’s unique business objectives and are designed to help clients increase competitive advantage and improve bottom-line results.
Our innovative workforce solutions help HR leaders drive bottom-line benefits.
Recruitment Solutions: Attract, engage and hire employees who care more, work smarter and stay longer.
Employee Recognition: Design, scale and improve employee recognition programs to accelerate your success.
Engagement Surveys: Analyze, benchmark and improve engagement to increase your competitive advantage.
Form Technologies
Form Technologies is a leading global precision component manufacturer operating 26 design and production facilities in 16 countries worldwide. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, our companies produce more than 5 billion precision components annually with a broad customer base of over 2,000, from blue chips to local companies.
Three industry leaders, one leading company, delivering precision where it matters most. Form Technologies is pioneering the next generation of precision component manufacturing in die casting – Dynacast, metal injection molding – Optimim, and investment casting – Signicast.
Built with 80 years of innovation along with unmatched expertise from three of the most advanced manufacturers in our industry, we work as one to turn our customers’ ideas into reality – in virtually any volume anywhere on the planet. The evolution we at Form have undertaken is characterized by three key principles: Consistent innovation, international growth, and expansion to new areas of precision metal expertise. What’s more, we have the results to prove it.
In today’s cutthroat global markets, manufacturers must deliver more innovative products, faster than ever before. They must be able to out-think, out-pace, and out-perform competitors if they are to survive and thrive. And there is no room for failure. Form Technologies and its portfolio of companies offer a direct route to sustained competitive advantage.
Designing and delivering the highest quality precision components, we give our customers freedom to create the products their customers’ value most. We support them with unparalleled expertise from the most knowledgeable professionals in the industry, combined with the scale and capacity to deliver virtually any volume, anywhere around the globe.
Grant Thornton
Grant Thornton LLP is the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd, one of the world’s leading organizations of independent audit, tax and advisory firms. These firms help dynamic organizations unlock their potential for growth by providing meaningful, forward-looking advice. Proactive teams, led by approachable partners in these firms, use insights, experience and instinct to understand complex issues faced by privately owned, publicly listed and public sector clients and help them to find solutions. More than 42,000 Grant Thornton people in more than 130 countries are focused on making a difference to clients, colleagues and the communities in which we live and work.
PNC Bank
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC) is one of the largest diversified financial services institutions in the United States with assets of $371 billion as of March 31, 2017. Operating primarily in 19 states and the District of Columbia, PNC is organized around its customers and communities for strong relationships and local delivery of retail and business banking, including a full range of lending products; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending; wealth management and asset management.
For more than 160 years, we have been committed to providing our clients with great service and powerful financial expertise to help them meet their financial goals. We are proud of our longstanding history of supporting not only our customers but also our communities, employees and shareholders.
PNC offers a wide range of services for all our customers, from individuals and small businesses, to corporations and government entities. No matter how simple or complicated your needs, we’re sure to have the products, knowledge and resources necessary for financial success.
PNC has strategic international offices located in Canada, China, Germany and the United Kingdom.
RSM USA
Founded in 1926, RSM is the 5th largest accounting firm in the United States. With over 85 offices located throughout the United States and Canada with 9,000 professionals, 43,000 globally serving 120 countries, providing audit, tax and consulting services.
RSM’s unwavering focus on delivering a highly personalized and relevant client experience is the cornerstone of everything we do. The RSM Client Experience is based on a client-centric focus, building long-term relationships and gaining a deep understanding of our clients’ businesses, aspirations and challenges to provide relevant insights and solutions to help them succeed. At RSM, it’s all about understanding our clients—and understanding them better than anyone else. We demonstrate this understanding through highly engaged partners and client service teams who create relevant value for our clients. It’s also about trust. Because of our keen understanding of our clients, they trust us to deliver the insights, services and resources they need to achieve their business goals and objectives, and they are confident in the strategic choices they make.
Southern Shows
Since 1959, Southern Shows, Inc. has been known for producing exciting, quality, timely and well-attended consumer shows. Family owned and still operated by family members, we currently produce twelve shows in eleven cities from Michigan to Florida, including the Home & Garden Show, Southern Christmas Show, Southern Farm Show and Southern Spring Home & Garden Show.
Southern Shows, Inc. created the first Women’s Show ever held in 1983, and have been the leader in them ever since. The Southern Farm Show, held annually in Raleigh since 1979 is the number one market place for agricultural equipment, chemicals and services.
Consumer shows offer the ideal platform for companies seeking public interaction, product understanding, media exposure, and opportunities to drive retail and website traffic sales.
Wells Fargo Bank
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.9 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial financial services through more than 8,600 locations, 13,000 ATMs, online (wellsfargo.com), and mobile devices.
We’re headquartered in San Francisco, but we’re decentralized so every local Wells Fargo location is a headquarters for satisfying our customers’ financial needs and helping them succeeds financially. We do business with 70 million customers and one in three U.S. households. Wells Fargo has approximately 273,000 team members in 42 countries and territories across our more than 90 businesses.
At the end of first quarter 2017, Wells Fargo ranked third in assets among U.S. banks.
Our vision: “We want to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially.”