Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Nineteen founders walked offstage with trophies as 700 business leaders filled the Schermerhorn Symphony Center earlier this week for the 2025 NEXT Awards hosted by the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.

The 19 were:

1. Darrell Freeman Award: Mignon Francois, Founder of The Cupcake Collection, received an award named for a mentor she called a friend.
2. David H. Furse Mentor Award: Chris Sloan, who co-leads Baker Donelson’s Emerging Companies and Venture Capital Team, received the inaugural Furse Award.
3. Start-up Entrepreneur of 2025: Dr. Edmund Jackson, Founder of UnityAI, which builds artificial intelligence tools that solve actual problems, not tools that chase trends.
4. Growth Entrepreneur of 2025: Penny Austermiller, Austermiller Roofing and Construction. It is, as its name implies, a roofing and construction company, but she credits her recent growth to joining peer organizations like EO Nashville and BrainTrust.

Three individuals were inducted into the Entrepreneurs’ Hall of Fame. They were:

1. Rosetta Miller-Perry, who founded Perry and Perry Associates in 1990 and published Contempora, a Tennessee-focused African American magazine. In 1992, she founded the community-oriented Tennessee Tribune in order to focus on issues like health, education, and voter registration. Later, Miller-Perry established the Greater Nashville Black Chamber of Commerce (GNBCC) in 1998. That same year, she created the Anthony J. Cebrun Journalism Center in partnership with Dell Computers to prepare young people for careers in journalism.
2. Manuel Cuevas, who is a Mexican fashion designer best known for the garments he created for prominent rock and roll and is a Mexican fashion designer best known for the garments he created for prominent rock and roll and country music acts. He moved to Nashville from Los Angeles in 1988.
3. Mark Deutschmann, who is described as an advocate for strong, connected, and sustainable local communities and is a key player in the revitalization of Nashville’s most in-demand urban neighborhoods. Deutschmann is a visionary with an eye towards the future of urban living and aims to plan, build, and revive neighborhoods that are magnetic, providing aspects that residents look for in a healthy and environmentally conscious community. More recently, he’s the author of a book, One-Mile Radius: Building Community From the Core.

Other awards included sector specific. They were:

1. Music, Sports, Gaming, and Entertainment – Start-up: Brandwood Global, Inc.;
2. Music, Sports, Gaming, and Entertainment – Growth: mtheory;
3. Products and Services – Start-up: Daily Crunch;
4. Products and Services – Growth: FortyAU;
5. Financial Services – Start-up: Upside Guaranty;
6. Financial Services – Growth: Continuum Planning Partners;
7. Hospitality and Retail – Start-up: visitour;
8. Hospitality and Retail – Growth: Rolled 4 Ever Ice Cream;
9. Real Estate and Construction – Start-up: Your Pros;
10. Real Estate and Construction – Growth: Holladay Ventures;
11. Healthcare – Start-up: Agentis Longevity; and
12. Healthcare – Growth: DYNTL.

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