Valerie Daniels-Carter, the co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Milwaukee-based V&J Holding Companies Inc., will receive the 2020 Bravo! Entrepreneur Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by BizTimes Media.
The Bravo! Entrepreneur Lifetime Achievement Award is presented each year at BizExpo. Usually a daylong event held in late May, BizExpo 2020 will instead be held virtually on the afternoons of Aug. 19 and 20, due to COVID-19. Click here for more information about BizExpo 2020.
The Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Daniels-Carter during the Bravo! Entrepreneur and I.Q. (Innovation Quotient) Awards program on Aug. 20.
Daniels-Carter and her brother, John Daniels, started V&J Foods with a single Burger King restaurant in 1982. Within 16 years she grew the company into a 137-unit, multi-brand franchise restaurant operation.  Today the business has units under several brands including Burger King, Pizza Hut, Auntie Anne’s, Coffee Beanery, Haagen-Dazs, My Yo My! Frozen Yogurt, Nino’s Southern Sides and Captain D’s. V&J is the largest female-owned food service franchise organization in the country.
Daniels-Carter is also a board member for the Green Bay Packers and a minority owner of the Milwaukee Bucks. She has also served as president of Milwaukee World Festival Inc. and as chair of the Automobile Association of America. Black Enterprise magazine named Daniels-Carter to its list of 50 Most Impactful Women.
Daniels-Carter joins an illustrious list of past recipients of the Bravo! Entrepreneur Lifetime Achievement Award, including: Donald Baumgartner, founder of Paper Machinery Corp.; Tim Keane, president of Keane Consultants and director of Golden Angels Investors; Carol Schneider, founder and CEO of SEEK Careers/Staffing Inc.; George and Julie Mosher, co-founders of National Business Furniture; Steve Laughlin, co-founder and chief executive officer of Laughlin Constable; Gary Grunau, real estate developer and president of Grucon Group LLC; Michael Cudahy, founder of Marquette Electronics and philanthropist; Sheldon Lubar, founder and chairman of Lubar & Co. in Milwaukee; Fritz and Debra Usinger of Usinger’s Famous Sausage; Richard Pieper Sr., chairman of PPC Partners Inc.; Stephen Marcus, former CEO of The Marcus Corp.; George Dalton, former CEO of Fiserv Inc.; Robert Kern, former CEO of Generac; Joe Zilber, former CEO of Zilber Ltd.; and Harry Quadracci, former CEO of Quad/Graphics Inc.
Also during the Bravo/I.Q. Awards program, Dr. John Raymond Sr., the president and CEO of the Medical College of Wisconsin, will receive the Regional Spirit Award, in recognition of his community leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, 10 area companies and their leaders will be honored with Bravo/I.Q. Awards for entrepreneurship and innovation. They include:
- Accelerated Analytical Laboratories Inc., David Metzger, president and CEO
- Approyo LLC, Chris Carter, CEO
- EmbedTek LLC, Kent Tabor president and CTO
- Fiveable, Amanda Doamaral, founder and CEO
- Geneva Supply Inc., Jeff Peterson, co-founder and CEO
- Islands of Brilliance, Mark Fairbanks, co-founder and executive director
- Kane Communications Group, Kimberly Kane, president and CEO
- Rebel Converting LLC, Mike Kryshak, owner
- Safety4her Inc., Melissa Gaglione, president
- Stamm Technologies, David Stamm, CEO
