The Innovators: The disruptors shaking things up and getting the region to see things in a different way
Chris Babcock
CEO, Apiture
Chris Babcock has continually led fintech company Apiture to accolades since his appointment to CEO in 2019.
Why He’s an Innovator:
The Wilmington-based company, a joint venture of Live Oak Bancshares and Atlanta-based First Data Corp., continues to grow, with more than 360 employees and over 300 clients. In November, it announced that it raised $10 million in funding, bringing its total amount raised since the company started in 2017 to $79 million.
Apiture also won NC TECH awards this year in the Great Places to Work and Fintech categories.
With a background in startups, Babcock co-founded the Americas office of Clear2Pay, a payment tech company. After Clear2Pay was acquired in 2014, Babcock held various tech leadership roles, including at S1 Corp. and Accenture. At Apiture, Babcock’s team works to add new features to the company through partnerships with other fintech firms. For example, it was the first digital banking provider to integrate with Greenlight, a family finance app that teaches financial literacy to kids and teens. In 2023, Apiture announced double-digit revenue growth and plans to continue expansion in 2024, Babcock said. MX Innovator Awards recognized the fintech with this year’s Innovation Partner of the Year award.
Will Baird
CEO & Co-Founder, Boreas Monitoring Solutions
William Baird created a tool for the next generation of fertility treatment with Boreas Monitoring Solutions. The biotech startup in Wilmington is rolling out its product to the U.S. market.
Why He’s an Innovator:
Baird’s product is a cryotank management system. The Boreas CryoScout monitoring system is a patented, weight-based system for storing biological materials.
The product ensures the tissues in storage are kept at optimal conditions, monitoring the amount of liquid nitrogen in storage tanks. The system will alert laboratory personnel if there is a change in the weight of the liquid nitrogen, possibly meaning the tissues are not being stored at the correct temperature.
This year, Baird won an NC IDEA SEED grant for $50,000 as well as $10,000 from The Launch Place’s Big Launch Challenge. Boreas Monitoring Solutions was also a finalist for this year’s NC TECH awards for the BioTech/HealthTech company category.
Starting Up: The company has grown to seven employees and plans to add more in the coming year, Baird said. The co-founder plans to begin sales and distribution in Canada in 2024.
Ben Currin & Dave Sweyer
CEO & Founder, Vantaca
Under the leadership of founder and COO Dave Sweyer and CEO Ben Currin, software company Vantaca was recognized as one of the fastest-growing private companies by Inc. 5000 for the third year in 2023. Currin said Vantaca’s community management performance software includes over 4 million homes nationwide and annually processes billions of dollars in homeowner and vendor payments.
Why They’re Innovators:
Vantaca held its second annual Vantaca Vision Conference in November. The conference had over
400 attendees, and during the event, Vantaca launched its new homeowner portal app.
Sweyer leads the product development, engineering, customer support and access teams, and Currin determines the business’s direction. Currin said he wants to expand Vantaca’s team this year by hiring high-potential individuals with the skills to drive results.
The company also received the award for one of the 100 fastest-growing veteran-owned/led businesses in the country by Vet 100.
Currin and Sweyer have led the company to grow its employee count to 140 in 2023. The two said they are committed to growing the company locally and supporting local jobs, with UNCW alums making up most of their employees.
At Your Service: Before Currin’s role at the tech company, he served as a nuclear engineer and submarine officer in the U.S. Navy.
Tom Dalton
President, Eden Village
Tom Dalton, an anesthesiologist at Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center, and his wife, Kim, a retired nurse, led an effort to build a 31-unit tiny home community in Wilmington to house chronically homeless people. Now entirely constructed, Eden Village reached full occupancy this fall.
Why He’s an Innovator:
The Daltons brought a new and innovative solution to addressing homelessness in the Cape Fear region.
The tiny home neighborhood, which sits on 4 acres off of Kornegay Avenue between Creekwood and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, is modeled after the first Eden Village in Springfield, Missouri. The idea of Eden Village launched in early 2020, and the community held its grand opening this year.
Eden Village received a much higher number of resident applications than available homes. Because of this demand, Dalton aims to grow the presence of Eden Village. Plans include Eden Village Two, a tiny home community featuring 3D-printed homes intended to be stronger and less expensive than standard construction.
Dalton also wants to see local leaders take a more coordinated approach to managing homelessness.
Serving a Need: Eden Village serves those who have been chronically homeless in Wilmington for over a year. Many residents also suffer from a physical or mental illness.
Kirk Englebright
President & CEO, Dark Horse Studios
Businessman Kirk Englebright launched Dark Horse Studios in 2020, introducing a new soundstage space to the Wilmington market.
Why He’s an Innovator:
Dark Horse Studios broke ground on two new soundstages at its Harley Road facility this year with Gov. Roy Cooper present for the ceremony. The two new stages will be about 20,000 square feet each and 45 feet tall – doubling the relatively new film production studio’s footprint.
In early 2020, Englebright upgraded the space he bought off Market Street to host production soundstages. He initially purchased the building for a health care-related purpose, but after he received calls from studio executives eager to find space in the post-pandemic film boom the region was experiencing, he decided to switch gears. Through the existing soundstage and office space, Dark Horse has been the setting for a variety of filmmakers. Dark Horse Studios’ website lists productions including Florida Man, Welcome to Flatch, Our Kind of People, George & Tammy, Along for the Ride and others as its previous clientele. With the recent resolutions of the industry’s writer and actors strikes, Dark Horse’s upcoming expansion is poised to host even more productions and projects are expected to gear back up in Wilmington.
Business Background: Englebright spent 17 years as founder and president of Mattress Capital and owned other Wilmington-area mattress businesses, including A Goodnight Sleepstore and Wilmington Furniture & Mattress Co.
Hap Fatzinger
Director, N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher
Hap Fatzinger swam to the top of the aquarium’s leadership pool in 2019.
Why He’s an Innovator:
Fatzinger is leading the aquarium’s $55 million plans to significantly expand and renovate its facilities with additional conservation and educational components. The attraction in Kure Beach broke records in the fiscal year for welcoming more than 500,000 visitors. The aquarium has again received accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and Fatzinger earned an AZA Outstanding Service Award. Fatzinger oversees the aquarium’s daily operations (it’s open 363 days a year), nearly 100 employees and the care of 4,000 animals.
Fatzinger started as a volunteer with the aquarium and moved up the ranks, serving for 13 years as the aquarium’s curator. In 2015, he became the director of the N.C. Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores and served in that role for nearly four years before rejoining Fort Fisher.
First Job: “I grew up working on small family farms, understanding the value of hard work and commitment, supporting the needs of our small community. If you didn’t get the work done, others had to pick up your slack, and I didn’t want to let anyone down,” Fatzinger said. “I take great accountability for myself and my actions. I am willing to do whatever it takes to support my team and our mission.”
Dano Ferons
Operations Manager, Mad Mole Brewing
In recent years, Dano Ferons has worked to improve the sustainability of Mad Mole Brewing, bringing some of those changes to Wilmington’s broader craft brewing scene.
Why He’s an Innovator:
As Mad Mole’s operations manager, Ferons is responsible for the brewing schedule, developing new recipes, assisting with brewing and running the brewery’s internship program.
Ferons started hosting interns from the University of North Carolina Wilmington a few years ago to help solve several sustainability problems.
Over the course of the program, the interns have developed a regional recycling program for thick, plastic grain bags. The interns have also helped expand a composting program for spent grains and secured grants to improve the brewery’s stormwater and runoff infrastructure.
Mad Mole Brewing opened its doors in 2018. With its “brewed by the sun” tagline, the brewery uses solar panels on its roof to power its brewing operations.
Ferons is overseeing the brewery’s current intern as they work to develop a sustainable outreach program as part of the Mad Mole Green Initiative. He’s also working to grow the brewery’s production and boost efficiency.
Partners in Beer: Ferons is creating a spiced winter ale called Digging These Lights. The ale is expected to become the official beer for the annual Enchanted Airlie event at Airlie Gardens.
Gareth Harte
CEO, Telios
This year, Gareth Harte shifted the scope of his business. The company now uses an AI firewall built by Harte to help companies boost their efficiency using the technology without compromising privacy.
Why He’s an Innovator:
Before the shift to generative AI, Telios was focused on email, holding important information in a decentralized platform for privacy.
Harte said the business shift in February substantially increased the company’s revenue. Telios also partnered with Tax Titans, which allowed Telios to develop an AI assistant for accountants that can do the repetitive tasks required of the profession.
Harte said many of the company’s projects are focused on the financial industry. He said he is currently working on an AI process to help the business valuation and loan underwriting process. The advancement of AI brings a lot of potential to Telios’s future, Harte said. He said his goal is to emphasize a focused approach, prioritizing essential aspects in professional and personal spheres.
Regional Recommendation: Harte’s suggestion for an improvement locally is to increase investment opportunities. “Enhanced investment visibility in this region,” he said, “would unlock potential growth opportunities, fostering innovation and development in various sectors, particularly in technology and AI.”
Keith Holden
CEO, FOCUS Broadband
Keith Holden has been CEO and general manager of FOCUS Broadband (formerly Atlantic Telephone Membership Corp, or ATMC) since his promotion in 2018. A native of Brunswick County, Holden has been employed at the member-owned telecommunications cooperative since 1998.
Why He’s an Innovator:
As FOCUS Broadband’s leader, Holden has re-examined the company’s services to keep up with changing technologies.
Starting in 2022, Holden has been leading the company’s rebranding effort, which aims to reflect its evolution since its founding in 1955 and its business change from a traditional telephone and cable TV provider to one specializing in delivering fiber optic, high-speed internet. Holden said the company is working on a $100 million fiber optic upgrade initiative for Brunswick County, providing multi-gigabit broadband connectivity to more than 60,000 locations.
FOCUS Broadband is in the midst of construction projects to expand its Fiber to the Home network that will continue through 2024, Holden said. The projects will expand high-speed internet services into portions of Bladen, Brunswick, Chowan, Columbus, Duplin, Hoke, Pender, Perquimans, Robeson and Scotland counties.
Employee Count: 360 people
Jeff James
CEO, Wilmington Health
Jeff James has served as head of Wilmington Health, the region’s largest independent multi-specialty physician practice, since 2008. It now has about 1,200 employees.
Why He's an Innovator:
Besides being head of the practice, James also has a hand in other projects Wilmington Health is expanding into.
He supported the physician leaders in developing WH Research, which, according to Wilmington Health, conducts the highest volume of local research studies in the community to date. Many of the studies directly supported the rapid deployment of the COVID-19 vaccines.
He also developed Innovo Research, a provider-sponsored, provider-led network of high-performing Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) that utilize clinical research as part of their population health strategy.
James champions Wilmington Health’s priority of making health care accessible and affordable. In 2022, Wilmington Health reported over $16 million in savings to the Medicare system. It ranked second in highest quality for all practices participating in this Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Innovation program. The company expects that in 2023, savings will approach $26 million to Medicare, according to Wilmington Health.
Ambulatory Advances: Wilmington Health this year added robotic surgery to its ambulatory surgery center that opened in 2022. The practice also is requesting clearance from the state to develop an ambulatory surgery center cardiac catheterization laboratory.
Richard Johnson
Owner & Manager, Turtle Cove Holdings
Richard Johnson calls himself the CIG (Chief Idea Guy) of Turtle Cove Holdings. Turtle Cove manages the Johnson family’s companies, properties, investments and philanthropy efforts.
Why He's an Innovator:
Turtle Cove is working to revitalize the town of Burgaw through its various businesses and initiatives. Burgaw Brewing, the second of Turtle Cove’s restaurants, is the latest of the company’s endeavors to open. The company plans to launch an Own Your Own Market Place, an initiative to help revitalize small towns across America. Johnson said the project will be a crowdfunding effort to bring entrepreneurs and investors together with landlords to create new businesses.
Turtle Cove also has a live oak tree-planting project that collects acorns from Wilmington’s oldest live oak trees. This year, the company hit 40,000 live oaks raised from the initiative. The effort aims to restore trees lost to development and hurricanes.
A Million Dreams: The organization wrapped up its Own Your Own restaurant challenge in October that awarded $1 million and a restaurant venue on Courthouse Avenue to the winner after a series of cooking competitions. Karoline Schwartz was named the winner for her concept, Outland, and given the keys to the Burgaw venue. (Read more about the project
here.)
Jennifer & Sam McCall
Co-Founders, SeaTox Research
SeaTox Research, a Wilmington research startup, focuses on two main areas: drug discovery and development of natural products into new bio-actives and developing faster, easier-to-use testing for toxins that can contaminate commercial seafood. Husband-and-wife team Sam and Jennifer McCall run the business together as biologists and business partners.
Why They're Innovators:
As part of its consulting work, SeaTox also helps other researchers who want to turn a discovery or idea into a usable product or service. That includes practical issues such as grant writing, finding investors and navigating the complex world of regulation and intellectual property protection.
SeaTox’s research has resulted in three commercial products: three test kits that can easily and quickly identify toxins in certain marine life. The primary customers are agencies that manage marine fisheries. The company’s test kits will bring the Wilmington company to Alaska this year. SeaTox received an almost $1.5 million grant to develop test kits to help identify toxin-producing algal blooms in Alaska’s commercial shellfish. The five-year grant will help fund SeaTox in rolling out its testing mechanism to be used in Alaska to test commercial shellfish that could be contaminated with deadly algal toxins.
Seahawk: Jennifer McCall is also a UNCW lab research professor.
Michael McWhorter
CEO, Mojotone
Michael McWhorter has served as the CEO and co-owner of Burgaw-based Mojotone for over 20 years. Mojotone is a vintage electronics supplier, custom and vintage reproduction speaker cabinet builder and pickup manufacturer. The shop helps build, modify and repair vintage musical equipment.
Why He's an Innovator:
Mojotone acquired and tuned ampwares.com, the largest historical database for vintage amp and guitar information, and created tonemovement.com, a travel blog dedicated to publishing stories in the vintage musical accessory supply industry.
This year, the Small Business Association recognized McWhorter as N.C. Small Business Person of the Year.
McWhorter worked on a project in 2023 with Alex Lifeson, of the band Rush, in which McWhorter is helping manufacture Lifeson’s line of amplifiers and guitar pickups. McWhorter described this partnership as a career highlight due to his love of Lifeson’s band. The amps were launched in late 2023.
Up Next: In 2024, Mojotone plans on expanding its guitar speakers and speaker cabinets with two new worldwide distributors. The company also plans on offering more amp-building classes at its Burgaw headquarters as well as at other locations throughout the U.S.
Girard Newkirk
CEO, Genesis Block
Girard Newkirk founded Genesis Block in 2019 with his wife, Tracey. The incubator provides business development services supporting small business owners, entrepreneurs, and early-stage startups. Genesis has a particular focus on supporting ventures led by minorities and women.
Why He's an Innovator:
Newkirk was a startup entrepreneur before creating Genesis Block to help others get their start. He founded the technology company KWHCoin, which won the Coastal Entrepreneurship Award for Emerging Company in 2019 for combining technology with renewable energy.
This year, Genesis Block updated its services for community entrepreneurs, including its Jumpstart Academy and Wits Begin Curriculum. Newkirk said after the successful launch of Block Eatz this fall, the company plans to roll out Block Kitchenz in 2024 and add another Block Eatz location to its network.
Genesis Block is looking to expand its network across the city and the Carolinas; Newkirk is currently working toward expanding into Jacksonville, North Carolina, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
He said he believes one thing the city could do to improve the region’s business environment is to leverage the Port of Wilmington more assertively as an asset for small business creation and sustainability.
Board Member: Newkirk sits on the boards of the Cape Fear Economic Development Council, Cape Fear Collective and Cape Fear Community College’s Information Technology committee.
Kristi Ray & Erika Arlee
Co-Founders, Honey Head Films
Kristi Ray and Erika Arlee are co-founders of Honey Head Films, an award-winning boutique film production company in Wilmington.
Why They're Innovators:
The film production company won first prize for Best Feature Film this summer at the Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival.
Their award-winning independent film, A Song for Imogene, was written and directed by Arlee and produced by Ray, who also starred in the movie. Last year, the film was financed, cast, produced, shot and edited in Southeastern North Carolina.
Ray and Arlee said that with a clear focus on bolstering female filmmakers and opportunities for workforce development, Honey Head continues to lead the way with its innovative approach to filmmaking.
While working on its film, Honey Head also ran an internship program with college students. Honey Head is in development for a documentary about certified professional midwives and their quest for licensure in North Carolina.
Happy Campers: The co-founders said in addition to full-time narrative film production, Honey Head also runs an intensive summer camp called Shoot Like a Girl for high schoolers interested in the creative filmmaking process.
Yousry Sayed
President & CEO, Quality Chemical Laboratories
Yousry Sayed has led his team at Quality Chemical Laboratories to multiple drug development projects and the start of an injectable manufacturing facility in Wilmington.
Why He's an Innovator:
Sayed started Quality Chemical Laboratories (QCL) in 1998 with just a handful of employees. The contract research, testing and prototyping firm has grown to a team of about 275.
Through the venture, Sayed, who has a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Minnesota, has been developing original pharmaceutical products on the Food and Drug Administration’s shortage list. According to Sayed, one product he developed over several years is about one year from federal approval.
Though the company started in 2005, Pyramid Pharmaceuticals’ formal public launch will take place in the next couple of years, following the completion of the company’s new facility.
Quality Chemical is looking to expand next year, planning to add 100 employees, new business and technology in the Wilmington area.
College Ties: Before founding QCL, Sayed was a professor in UNCW’s chemistry and biochemistry department and served as director of the general college.
Nathan Snell
CEO & Co-Founder, Raleon
Nathan Snell has been a top player on Wilmington’s technology scene for more than a decade. A co-founder of nCino, Snell led the firm’s product and innovation division before leaving to co-found and head up Raleon, a loyalty platform for e-commerce brands.
Why He's an Innovator:
A self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur, Snell formed Raleon with co-founder Adam Larson last year. The company aims to develop loyal customers for eCommerce platforms that sometimes struggle to make customers feel valued and keep them coming back.
Raleon’s software-as-a-service loyalty platform uses emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain to help brands personalize every interaction with their customers, turning it into more revenue. In 2023, the company’s seed round secured $3.8 million in funding. Heading into the next year, Raleon looks to grow its customer base and add to its six-person staff.
Snell is also an angel investor, working to invest in and advise several companies across North Carolina. Snell aims to get more involved in North Carolina’s startup ecosystem, particularly given the current macroeconomic conditions.
Silicon Coast: Snell wants to see the Cape Fear region become North Carolina’s “Silicon Coast” by drawing more tech jobs and tech workers to the area.
Bobby Zimmerman
Owner, We Are True Blue
Bobby Zimmerman is the founder of We Are True Blue, a company in Wilmington that grew from a single restaurant to a network of food and drink venues and ventures. Zimmerman started the endeavor in 2016 with True Blue Butcher and Table restaurant.
Why He's An Innovator:
The single restaurant has become a brand.
We Are True Blue has five restaurants under its umbrella including True Blue Butcher and Barrel, True Blue Butcher and Baker, Beat Street and the newest of the bunch, Elipsis, which rebranded a previous restaurant of Zimmerman’s Mariposa Tapas Bar.
Zimmerman also expanded his company into the events space. With True Blue Events, the company offers catering and other event services throughout Wilmington. For those not wanting to wait at a table inside one of Zimmerman’s various restaurants, the company also offers True Blue Home, a program offering butcher boxes of True Blue meat, DIY kits for charcuterie boards and different meal kits for customers to cook at home.
Taking the Stage: The latest venture in the We Are True Blue brand is Ellipsis, which opened in October.
Read more about the 2023 WilmingtonBiz 100 honorees by clicking here.
