Nashville Business Journal
Nashville Entrepreneurs' Organization is group's fastest-growing chapter
By E. J. Boyer, Staff Writer- Nashville Business Journal
April 8, 2013
Adding 21 new members since the start of 2013, the Nashville Entrepreneurs' Organization is the fastest-growing EO chapter in the world, according to EO Global. There are 122 EO chapters in 35 countries across the globe.
The Nashville chapter has a total of 131 members. To join, an entrepreneur must be a founder, co-founder, owner or controlling shareholder of a company with gross annual sales exceeding $1 million.
Six of the 21 new members of the Nashville EO are graduates of the organization's inaugural Catalyst class, a program that offers peer-to-peer mentorship and forums to help business owners surpass the benchmark of $1 million in annual sales.
"Members of the first Catalyst class grew an average 53 percent last year, and increased hiring anywhere between 30-100 percent," Bryan Ansley, president and CEO of FNB Merchants and EO Nashville board chair responsible for the Catalyst program, said in a release. "This is certainly welcome news in our current economy."
The Nashville chapter has grown 185 percent since 2010. The group added 19 new members in 2010, 29 in 2011 and 23 new members in 2012
Southern/alpha News for the Southeast Startup Scene
Nashville’s EO Chapter Is the World’s Fastest-Growing
By Walker Duncan
April 8, 2013
According to an announcement sent this morning, the Nashville chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) is the fastest growing of the group’s 122 worldwide chapters.
Since the start of this year, 21 new members have joined the EO, which now boasts a membership of 131. News of the distinction is made more impressive by the fact that the EO has 122 chapters in 35 countries around the globe.
“Nashville’s vibrant and growing entrepreneurial community, and our accomplishments as a chapter give us all energy and proof that our work is worthwhile,” said Andy Bailey, EO Nashville president and entrepreneur coach at Petra. “There were a lot of folks who helped in this effort: John Kepley and Jackson Miller as the membership chairs, along with many, many members that worked to make this growth possible.”
Among the other news highlighted was also EO Global’s addition of its 1000th female member last month (three of the new Nashville members are women), and that alumni of the group’s inaugural Catalyst class grew an average 53 percent last year.
The Tennessean
