MiddleM Creative's Joanne Verkuilen Named Finalist for Charlotte Business Journal's 2025 Most Admired CEO

We're proud to announce that Joanne Verkuilen, Founder and Managing Director of MiddleM Creative, has been selected as a finalist for Charlotte Business Journal's 2025 Most Admired CEOs in the Professional Services/Marketing category.

This prestigious recognition honors established local leaders who have demonstrated strong vision for their companies, shown unwavering commitment to workplace culture and made significant contributions to the Charlotte community.

Since founding MiddleM Creative in 2018 after her tenure as Director of Marketing at BlackArch Partners, Joanne has leveraged her deep investment banking and marketing background to build a specialized firm serving private equity, investment banking and private credit clients. Under her leadership, MiddleM has achieved remarkable growth, expanding from two employees to a team of ten professionals with 60% maintaining tenure of three years or longer.

This culture of excellence has translated into impressive business results, with the MiddleM experiencing 25% sales growth between 2022-2024 and earning recognition on Inc.'s list of fastest-growing companies in the Mid-Atlantic region. MiddleM was also recently named a Communications Firm of the Year Finalist for the 23rd annual M&A Advisor Awards, further validating the team's industry expertise. Joanne was previously recognized on Charlotte Ledger's 2022 40 Over 40 List.

Please join us in congratulating this year’s finalists on this well-deserved recognition!

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