President & CEO V& J Holding Companies, Inc. – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
After beginning her career as a retail and commercial lender and auditor, Valerie Daniels-Carter segued into the multi-billion industry of quick-service restaurants. She and her brother, John, started V & J Foods with a single Burger King restaurant in 1984. Over the past 20 years, she has nurtured the company into a conglomerate of more than 126 franchise eateries in Wisconsin, Michigan, New York and Massachusetts. Mrs. Carter’s hands-on approach to restaurant operations assures the quality of each and every unit, so that all are achieving positive results. Her operating philosophy is YATSE: You are the standard of excellence. Active in her business and industry organizations, she currently serves as president of the Minority Franchise Association of Burger King Corporation and Executive Board member of the National Franchisee Association. Mrs. Carter is also the recipient of numerous awards for her entrepreneurship from such well-known entities as Essence Magazine, Junior Achievement, Black Enterprise Magazine and the National Rainbow PUSH Coalition. V & J, the company, has also been recognized for its achievement, being named among the Top 500 Women-Owned businesses by Working Woman Magazine and among the Top 200 restaurants in the U.S. by Restaurant Finance Monitor. Mrs. Carter has taken her bachelor’s degree from Lincoln University and her MBA from Cardinal Stritch College in Milwaukee far beyond her initial finance career, building an award-winning model of restaurant management success.
