Nisbet Venture Fund : Finalists
The Nisbet Venture Fund, established through the generous support from Marian Nisbet and Chip Nisbet ’86, provides Davidson College students and recent alumni education, mentoring, and capital to fuel the expansion of their innovative ideas through The Jay Hurt Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Davidson College. After 6 weeks of programming, finalists pitch their ventures during a live competition on April 24th to a live audience and panel of judges who will decide on the grand prizes.
In addition to the live final pitch for the judging panel, the finalists are also competing for an online Audience Choice Award of $2,500. This vote was open on the Hurt Hub website from April 15th-April 19th 11:59pm EST and individuals from all over the world were allowed to vote. The winner will be announced at the live competition.
AirFit is more than just a gym at airports worldwide, it’s an escape from the stressors of flying.
Adiba Barney’s over two decade long career in the tech and startup industry took her from Stockholm, Sweden to San Francisco, Silicon Valley in early 2011. As the CEO of Silicon Valley Forum, Adiba and her team created environments that supported and encouraged achievers, thinkers and dreamers, and connected them to the key players needed in order to transform dreams into reality. Their work supported not just the local ecosystem of entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley but also entrepreneurs from innovation hubs around the globe.
Throughout her career her greatest passion has always been to coach entrepreneurs, to celebrate, encourage and support those who wish to lead the way and make an impact through their ventures.
Adiba recently moved to Davidson with her son Alex and two kitties Tiger & Snow. She is very excited to be part of the mentor program at The Hurt Hub, to support and mentor those who wish to create new pathways of their own.
GrotN is an online platform connecting potential housemates and providing rental management services for landlords, utilizing AI-driven matching to pair tenants for their dream housing, streamlining rental searches and application processes.
Jeffrey Mann (1984) was a senior IT industry analyst at Gartner for 30 years. He also held several product management positions at a startup in The Netherlands. Currently, he splits his time between Amsterdam and France while advising startups and established vendors on product strategy and messaging.
SensorySymbio is a social media app that is focused on the blind community by offering a fully accessible and inclusive social platform. Through features like voice messages, audio descriptions of images, and meaningful connection-matching, we enhance communication, interaction, and engagement.
SurPho is an app that connects photographers to clients in a convenient manner
Amanda Anderson is a fine art photographer based in the vibrant city of Charlotte, NC, with a body of work inspired by years spent in San Francisco and travels abroad to Africa, Mexico and the Caribbean. While pursuing a Biology degree at Davidson College, Amanda found a creative outlet through the lens of her camera. Her portfolio, which includes both portraits and a travel based print collection, is a testament to her deep connection with nature, showcasing the soothing warmth of earthy tones and the coastal calm of rich blue hues. Her limited-edition print collections, housed under A Print Shop, can be viewed at her Southend studio in the Dilworth Artisan Station building or shopped online.
Amanda’s work has been published in multiple print magazines such as Good Housekeeping, LUX magazine, QC Exclusive, and her images were recently seen on CNBC’s Shark Tank. Amanda has received numerous awards for her work including “Top 100” by NAPCP and was named “Best of the Best” Photographer by Charlotte Magazine in 2023.”
TruePharma is a blockchain solution to aid Patients in achieving safer pharmaceutical delivery, ensuring authenticity and traceability throughout the supply chain.
Chris is a Business Strategy & Supply Chain professional, where he currently is a leader in Accenture’s Retail Strategy Practice. Prior to Accenture, Chris led client development & management at Data Ventures, a software & analytical services subsidiary of Coca Cola Consolidated, and was a Consumer & Raetail Principal at Kearney & North Highland leading numerous business strategy, supply chain strategy & process improvement engagements. He is a resident of Davidson (since 2004) and has been contributing to our community in two areas that he is passionate about – entrepreneurship & soccer – as he serves as a mentor of over 10 startup companies locally at both LaunchCLT in Lake Norman & at Revtech Labs in Charlotte (where he has been mentoring since 2015) while also coaching youth soccer (for over 10 years) with Charlotte Independence.
Chris has a Bachelor’s in Engineering from Duke University and an MBA from MIT Sloan, with a concentration in New Product & Venture Development. Although a Blue Devil at heart, he has been won over by and cheers regularly for our local Wildcats.
What’s the best way to STAND OUT? Well, it’s BizCards of course. BizCards is the first on-demand laser engraver for your cards metal, wooden, and even paper. We aim to help students by providing them with an option to get their personalized cards with RFID capabilities just like printing their paper in the library.
Drake is an entrepreneur at heart and runs a Fractional CFO firm that helps small business financially flourish by helping them to improve profitability, reduce debt, and find financial peace of mind. After graduating from Liberty University with his Bachelor’s and from Vanderbilt with his Master’s in Finance, Drake worked in investment banking and activist investing before acquiring FinTeam Business Consulting in 2023. He has passed all three levels of the CFA and is an avid learner.
Direct Camp was founded on the principle of helping camps maximize and fulfill their potential. By introducing an online platform for camps to rent their facilities during the off-season, we aim to help camps thrive year-round!
Jordan is a founding Partner with Harbour Grove, a private investment fund focused on the middle market. Prior to Harbour Grove, Jordan founded Stacauto, a SaaS platform providing automotive dealers advanced buyer intelligence through contactless test-driving.
Prior to entrepreneurship, Jordan was Vice President, Corporate Strategy at J.P.Morgan and began his career at GE Capital where he graduated from the GE Commercial Leadership Program. In addition, he created the J.P.Morgan Carolinas Women in Leadership Forum, led the J.P.Morgan Carolina’s Summer Internship Program, was a member of the GE College Recruiting program, and served as treasurer for GE Canada United Way.
Jordan graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a Bachelor of Management and Organizational Sciences with specialization in finance. Jordan is former Track 3 ski instructor for children with disabilities, board member of the Lake Norman Special Olympics, advisor with LaunchCLT, and former volunteer pilot serving in the North Carolina wing of the Civil Air Patrol.
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Evergreen ESG is a sustainability solution agency for micro and small businesses. We are built on the belief that businesses will drive environmental, social, and governance change for good.
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MESA is a rights management tool for music creators. MESA organizes and legally protects all collaborator’s intellectual property.
Andrew is the Founder/CEO of Lucid Bots, a Y Combinator-backed company that builds robots for dull, dirty, and dangerous jobs. Lucid, the third-fastest growing company in Charlotte, is at the forefront of transforming labor-intensive tasks with robots that significantly boost safety and productivity nationwide.
Andrew attended Davidson College, where he played baseball, and ultimately graduated in three years to focus his full attention on growing Lucid. Outside of Lucid, Andrew and his wife share a passion for entrepreneurship and positive impact, leading them to create an organizational software platform that helps mentorship communities scale their impact and improve entrepreneurial outcomes.
Mark is a co-founder of LaunchCLT and oversees the organization’s investment arm, the Charlotte Fund. He is also co-founder of Real Ventures, Canada’s largest and most active early stage venture capital fund. He oversees the firm’s investments in blockchain, wireless, and educational technology. Mark has been an active angel investor and provided seed funding to Millennial Media (NYSE IPO), NextNav (NASDAQ IPO) and several other transformative businesses in the wireless industry. Mark holds BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT. He lives in Cornelius, NC, with his wife and two children.
Med Launch: We help doctors with revenue cycle data management.
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Sunken Paradise is an established men’s athleisure and yoga company on a mission to disrupt the fast-fashion industry and its multi-billion dollar corporate overlords by showing that fashion can be sustainable, utilitarian, and, most importantly, ethical. They aim to create high-quality apparel that allows people to enjoy all the fruits of our planet—surfing, hiking, maybe an Asheville drum circle or two—without having to change outfits, sacrifice quality, or compromise their vision of a cleaner, healthier world for everyone.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ProctorFree, a growing technology company that uses machine learning to improve the quality of education, Mike has a passion for innovation and mission-driven businesses. Prior to starting his own business, Mike worked as the Marketing Director for Everblue Training Institute, a training and education company focused on environmental sustainability and green building. Earlier in his career, Mike served in the Army as an Intelligence Analyst and as a defense contractor where he completed three tours in Iraq. Mike has also served four years as a Board Member for the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce and three years as the Vice Chairman of Communication and Technology on the Chamber Board of Directors. Outside of the office, Mike values spending time with his family, volunteering in his community, reading, and staying active.
US-Georgia Wines imports a curated selection of the world’s oldest and health-enhancing Georgian wines, bridging the rich heritage of ancient winemaking with today’s pursuit of exceptional quality and wellness.
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Wil Co-owns Schedulefly and hosts the Restaurant Owners Uncorked podcast, a top-10 worldwide hospitality podcast. Schedulefly serves 5500 restaurants and their 250,000 employees with a small team of five people. Prior to Schedulefly, Wil helped build First Research, which he and his partners sold to Dun & Bradstreet in 2007. First Research was bootstrapped and profitable, as is Schedulefly.
Sherrod Davis serves as EcoMap’s co-founder and CEO. Since joining EcoMap in 2021 as COO, Davis has played a pivotal role in the company's growth. Prior to EcoMap, Davis co-founded AdWap, an adtech platform with a charitable fundraising focus. He also held leadership roles at TrackOFF, a data privacy startup that was acquired by Avast Software in 2019, and Protenus, series D healthtech startup. Davis has been active in the Baltimore tech ecosystem as one of the co-founders of a coalition dedicated to transforming Baltimore into a hub for diverse tech professionals. His contributions to the tech community have earned him recognition as a ‘Best in Tech’ Executive by the Baltimore Business Journal. He is also involved in various community initiatives and currently serves on the boards of Retrain America and Code in the Schools. Davis holds a Master's in Management from Wake Forest University and a BA from Davidson College.
Christine Nicodemus is a serial EdTech entrepreneur with two exits, most recently scaling Aperture Education to reach 3MM students in measuring their social and emotional growth. In 2024, she launched Wayhaven, seeking to increase access to mental health and wellness support for college students. Outside of her ventures, Christine is an active angel investor, mentor, and social justice advocate.
Bennet is the President & CEO of NCInnovation and has more than 20 years of senior leadership experience in operations, finance, strategy, and life-cycle M&A. He’s led three companies to successful liquidity events and held enterprise-wide roles in two public companies. Bennet also served in two Presidential Administrations, concluding his government service as Counselor to the Secretary at the US. Department of Homeland Security, where his portfolio included counterterrorism, critical infrastructure protection, emergency management, and aviation, border, and transportation security. Bennet is an Honors graduate of Davidson College; the Boston University School of Public Health; and the Medical University of South Carolina, where he was a Dean's List graduate and inducted into the MUSC Honor Society. A Louisiana native, Bennet resides in Durham with his wife and three daughters. He is an instrument-rated private pilot, avid sports fan, and enjoys cooking, travel, and spending time with his family in the North Carolina.
Whitney A. White is the CEO and Co-Founder of Equity Commons. In this role, Whitney leads the business in addressing the pervasive issue of implicit bias by providing client organizations with immersive Virtual Reality training that reduces bias. Previously, for more than 12 years, Whitney served as CEO of Afara Global, an innovation firm that guides startups, social enterprises, and corporate teams through the process of launching and scaling new products and services. Whitney is also the creator of Take Back Your Time, a coaching practice that helps high achievers cut through the noise of the million and one things on their plates and get on a clear path to achieving the goals that matter to them most. Whitney began her career in management consulting with Bain & Company, where her work spanned go-to-market strategy, merger integration, and cost reduction projects across a myriad of industries. Whitney later led business expansion, supply chain, and logistics teams for multibillion-dollar e-commerce company McMaster-Carr prior to leading fulfillment operations on the Washington, DC launch team for Google Express. A graduate of Davidson College, Whitney founded the Davidson Tech Impact Fund in 2015. She is Chair of the Davidson College Board of Visitors and a member of the Davidson College Board of Trustees, where she serves on the Teaching, Learning, & Research and Audit & Finance committees.
Jay is a 1988 graduate of Davidson College with BA in Economics coupled with a comprehensive study of the humanities, specifically the development of Western civilization. While at Davidson, Jay was an active member of the North Carolina Epsilon chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon and involved in club tennis among other things. Professionally, Jay is the former President & CEO of The Hurt Company, Inc., one of the nation’s largest privately held oil marketing and distribution companies, a position he held since 1992. During this time, Jay grew The Hurt Company from a small regional company to a nationwide provider through multiple acquisitions, strategic expansion of product and service categories, and significant organic growth. In 2010, Jay was instrumental in the strategy creation and formation of RelaDyne, LLC, a company initially founded through the simultaneous acquisition of The Hurt Company and three other industry leading companies. RelaDyne is a $1+ billion company with offices throughout the United States focusing on the distribution, manufacturing and servicing of refined petroleum products and equipment. Jay served as RelaDyne’s Executive Vice President before retiring at the end of 2015 after successfully selling RelaDyne in one of the largest private equity backed transactions in industry history. Jay is a member of the Board of Visitors at Davidson College and a member of the Advisory Council for the Jay Hurt Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Jay has been an active volunteer for the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity since his graduation and has served as President of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Educational Foundation as well as a member of its National Board of Directors both as a student and an alumnus. Jay is also active in his community and serves on the Board of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, the Hermann Park Conservancy, Preservation Houston, Boulevard Oaks Civic Association, Westwood Golf Club and other charitable and community organizations.
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