Announcing the winners of Atlanta’s Smart Business Network Dealmaker Award and Dealmakers Hall of Fame Class of 2024!

The Smart Business Dealmakers Dealmaker of the Year Awards recognize exceptional individuals who are shaping the business and innovation landscape in Atlanta.

Additionally, the Atlanta Dealmakers Hall of Fame has recognized a class of dealmakers who have made an often revolutionary impact on their organizations, industries and the region over several decades of activity.

We celebrated the accomplishments of the Class of 2024 on May 16 at the Atlanta Smart Business Dealmakers Conference. Together, they paint a strong picture of Atlanta’s business community.

Dealmaker of the Year winners

Matt Anderson is the founder and CEO of FPD Solutions, an insurance-technology company that helps insurers, adjusters and service providers simplify the claims process by eliminating inefficiencies. Anderson has led the company through its growth, including acquiring Bridgewater Group in March 2021 and Dineley Claims Services in May 2022.

Tony Bash is an operating partner at The MacArthur Companies; Todd Boren is the managing partner of the firm. The couple led the November 2023 acquisition of cosmetics brand Uoma Beauty, whose clientele includes JC Penney, Ulta Beauty, Nordstrom and Target. Uoma faced financial challenges earlier in 2023. Bash, Boren and the team at The MacArthur Companies are now stabilizing Uoma and turning it around to put it back on a growth path.

Lisa Calhoun is the Managing Partner of Valor VC, a venture capital firm that invests in seed-stage companies that operate in the B2B SaaS space. Gary Peat is a general partner of the firm. Over the past 12 months, Calhoun, Peat and the Valor VC team have made 10 investments in nascent technology companies, providing critical working capital to owners and entrepreneurs who will build the next great SaaS companies.

Dr Baratunde Cola is the founder and CEO of Carbice Corporation, which develops carbon nanomaterial-based thermal interface materials that lower the temperature of devices and dissipate heat from product packaging. Dr. Cola led the company from a small laboratory at George Tech to a 20,000 square foot headquarters and global production facility in Atlanta. Carbice materials have flown on several satellites and have many applications related to heat transfer of electronic components. In developing Carbice, Dr. Cola attracted more than $18 million in venture funding.

Nwanyinma Dyke is the CEO of Startup Runway Foundation, a 501(c)3 that introduces investors to startups. Dike and his team connect investors to startups led by underrepresented founders. They host pitch events and manage an active network of angel investors. Over the past few years, finalists have been selected by companies ranging from Canaan Partners to Microsoft, Techstars, Valor VC, Floodgate, and more.

Josh Dundon is CEO of AT-PAC, which manufactures engineered scaffolding systems used in facilities such as chemical plants, refineries and other large-scale industrial facilities. Harley Karseboom is the company’s chief financial officer. Last July, the duo sold the company to Doka, an Austria-based global supplier that Dundon and Karseboom initially partnered with in 2020. The deal positions AT-PAC for further growth within Doka.

Linnéa Geiss is COO of PDI Technologies; Jay Warner is the company’s vice president of corporate development. PDI develops enterprise-class retail automation software systems and employs more than 1,500 people worldwide. Together, Geiss and Warner have identified and executed numerous organic initiatives and acquisitions over the past several years that have generated significant growth and strategically positioned the company in its industry.

Josh Levy is the co-founder and CEO of Document Crunch, a construction contract compliance and intelligence software platform. In December, Levy raised $9 million in Series A venture capital in a deal led by Navitas. The funds will be used to deepen the company’s AI platform, which enables contractors across the value chain to reduce risk, increase compliance and increase their own bottom lines.

Marie Toler is the founding and managing partner of SteelSky Ventures. SteelSky is a venture capital firm that invests in women’s healthcare companies across a broad range of consumer health, digital health and healthcare infrastructure sectors. Over the past 24 months, Toler and his team have been extremely active: they have invested in 17 companies, including Midi Health, Bend Health and TwentyEight Health.

Jeremy Wilson And Nathaniel Wilson are co-founders of AKA Tree Service, a tree removal service company. The two men built the company, owned it and co-led it until it was acquired by CPS Capital in June last year.

Negotiators Hall of Fame

Daniel Dorfman And Larry Dorfman are co-founders of Roots Investment Community, a real estate investing community they created to make real estate investing more accessible and equitable. They believe everyone should be able to invest in real estate and create wealth through real estate. They are therefore developing a unique investment ecosystem where commerce meets community.

Lori Brewer is an accomplished entrepreneur and technology leader who has demonstrated her forward-thinking visions in the development of award-winning fintech applications, including CompenSafe, the first incentive compensation management platform, and LimeGear, a revolutionary business intelligence platform. As a U.S. Air Force officer, Brewer designed an inaugural website for the C-130 Hercules, organizing and presenting crucial information for troops around the world. As a civilian software developer, she was hired by a mortgage lender and faced similar challenges: disorganized and disparate data, a clear need for process improvement, and the ability to show returns on technology investments students. Today, Brewer is an indispensable technology leader in the industry, and the founder and CEO of LBA Ware, an Inc. 5000 company, and recipient of the prestigious Tech All-Star award from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Fred Lee is chairman of the board and co-founder, with his father, of Progressive Lighting, a lighting manufacturer in business for over 50 years. Lee graduated from Georgia State University. He began his career as a developer and builder of custom homes in Atlanta and found that there were few to no choices in home lighting at that time. He recognized the need and identified an opportunity to open a lighting showroom. In 1965, Lee and his father opened the doors to Progressive Lighting and began growing the brand, which includes subsidiaries Lee Lighting, Savoy House and LightsOnline.com. Today, under Lee’s leadership as Chairman of the Board, Progressive Lighting is the largest family-owned and operated residential lighting showroom chain in the Southeast.