Alumni Shine at Sixth Annual Belmont Entrepreneur Awards

Three distinguished graduates presented Impact Award, James Archer receives Legacy Award

One hundred of Belmont’s top alumni entrepreneurs were invited to the sixth annual Belmont Entrepreneur Awards hosted by Belmont’s Thomas F. Cone Sr. Center for Entrepreneurship. 

This premiere event was established to shine a spotlight on alumni who are innovating and making a significant impact through their entrepreneurial ventures. 

“The entrepreneurial mindset pervades our entire campus as we seek to reimagine higher education,” President Greg Jones expressed to an audience of students, alumni and their guests from the stage of the Fisher Center for Performing Arts. “When you think of our top 100 and all who have founded new initiatives with a variety of business models across all our colleges, you think about their commitment, perseverance, courage and their amazing character.”  

The Cone Center, led by Executive Director Elizabeth Gortmaker, supports entrepreneurship on campus by working with student and alumni entrepreneurs throughout the year.  

Impact Award Recipients

In addition to bringing together 100 of Belmont's top entrepreneurs for a night of celebration and networking, the Entrepreneur Awards acknowledged stand out alumni by presenting Impact Awards in three categories and one Legacy Award, which was established lasted year. 

Industry Impact — Blair Miller 

Business: Chaos Creators 

Program: Music Business ‘18 

Behind the brand: Chaos Creators is an innovative entertainment marketing agency that disrupts traditional strategies by creating customized approaches tailored to artists’ unique personalities and fan bases. 

• Demonstrating that sometimes the best path forward is through controlled chaos, Miller was named to Forbes prestigious 30 under 30 list in the music category in 2025. 

Peer Impact — Clark Buckner  

Business: Relationary Marketing  

Program: Entrepreneurship, Marketing ‘13 

Behind the brand: Relationary Marketing harnesses the power of connection through podcasting, helping entrepreneurs establish and grow trust while exploring new ways to share their stories.  

• Buckner’s talent has helped foster one of the nation's largest monthly meetups — Nashville Podcasters — cultivating a thriving community in the process.  

Community Impact — Mark Hogg 

Business: WaterStep 

Program: Management, ‘85 

Behind the brand: WaterStep provides fresh water to 15 million people worldwide by using appropriate technology and training to empower volunteers and humanitarian professionals with the ability to assist communities with sustainable water solutions.  

• Following the devastation of Hurricane Helene in 2024, Hogg's organization worked relentlessly to deliver hundreds of thousands of gallons of safe water to communities in Georgia and western North Carolina. 

Legacy Award — James Archer 

The Legacy Award honors an accomplished entrepreneur whose legacy has made a lasting impact on the community.  

A serial entrepreneur, committed to the entrepreneurial mindset and a spirit of innovation, James Archer serves on Belmont’s Board of Trustees and is best known for launching Multi-Chem, a specialty production chemical company that sold to Halliburton in a $850 million deal. Archer is also the founder of MV2 on Music Row. 

 “He's one of those people who can't help but always look to what's next on the horizon, to the possibilities for the future,” Jones noted. “James and Lois are a team in all they do. They're an amazing couple who represent the best of Belmont — the best of the entrepreneurial mindset.”  

Belmont's presidential scholarship is named in honor of James and his wife, Lois. The Archer Presidential Scholarship is the University’s highest academic merit scholarship, awarded to approximately five incoming first-year students. The scholarship provides full tuition, room, board, books and fees for four academic years (eight semesters) of continuous study.  

Upon accepting the Legacy Award, Archer shared words of encouragement with alumni and student entrepreneurs present, stressing value-based leadership, a spirit of generosity and the importance of people. 

“The key to any business is people,” he said. “The greatest people in the world work with our companies to accomplish a goal and a mission. The right people doing the right thing based on the values of your company is critical.” 

Alumni Spotlights 

Throughout the evening, video spotlights of alumni businesses were projected. Alumni video spotlights included: 

• Culture + Co: Ashton Judy, psychology ‘16 

• Skin Pharm: Maegan Griffin, nursing ‘11 

• Green Roots Farm: William Crenshaw, MBA ‘17 

• Corner to Corner: Shana Berkeley, Juris Doctor ‘14 

Further demonstrating Belmont’s committed support of alumni entrepreneurs, several alumni businesses provided services for the event: Nashville Smile Bar, Porch Flowers, Pack Films, RV Pottery, Chechi’s Chai, Tastify and NoBaked Cookie Dough.  

“The true magic of entrepreneurship is the impact that it brings to our world,” Gortmaker said. “Entrepreneurship is bringing an idea to life and making it tangible. It's solving problems and creating solutions. It's economic development and job creation and the power that comes from starting with an idea and creating something new.”