2025 Honorees

Brett Schulman

Co-Founder & CEO, CAVA

Brett Schulman is the Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of CAVA, a leading Mediterranean culinary brand with a mission to bring heart, health, and humanity to food. CAVA serves modern, authentic, and vibrant Mediterranean food to a national audience in restaurant and grocery channels through a unique, culinary-driven experience. CAVA has been recognized by QSR Magazine as one of the top 25 best brands to work for and Fast Company Magazine as one of their 50 most innovative companies.

Prior to co-founding CAVA, Brett spent over a decade in the financial world at firms, including Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown and its predecessor, Alex. Brown, before becoming the COO at Snikiddy, a natural and organic food company. At Snikiddy, he helped expand the brand from the conceptual stage to a nationally distributed growth business, which was subsequently acquired by Utz Quality Foods.

Brett has been recognized for his leadership as the Washington Business Journal’s CEO of the Year and the Association for Corporate Growth’s Executive of the Year for a public company. Brett has also been named to Nations Restaurant News Power List, has been recognized by Goldman Sachs as one of their 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs, and is the recipient of the EnTERPreneur award from the University of Maryland. Brett is a Washington, DC native, a graduate of the University of Maryland, and resides in Bethesda, MD, with his wife Mary and children Sunny, Sadie, and Luke.

Craig A. Ruppert

Founder and Executive Chairman of Ruppert Landscape

Craig A. Ruppert is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Ruppert Landscape, a leading commercial landscape installation and management company with 50 branches and approximately 2,850 employees across the Mid-Atlantic, Florida, and Texas. He is also the Founder and Co-CEO of Ruppert Nurseries, a wholesale, large tree, growing operation spanning over 1,250 acres, and the Founder and CEO of Ruppert Properties, which owns, develops, and manages commercial real estate in the Washington, D.C., region. Craig also co-founded Ruppert Grows, a family holding company that supports the Ruppert family’s business, investment, and philanthropic ventures.

Craig is a tenured leader in both business and community service. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Wills Group. His past board service includes Sandy Spring Bank, St. John’s College High School, Easterseals Greater Washington-Baltimore Region, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. He also served as Chairman of the Washington Metro and U.S. Capital chapters of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). Craig has held leadership roles with the Montgomery County Farmers Club, the 2030 Group, Food for the Poor, and The Community Foundation of Montgomery County.

A committed philanthropist, Craig and his family actively find ways to give back through the Ruppert Family Foundation, which supports causes primarily focused on childhood illness, education, and poverty alleviation. Craig’s contributions have been recognized with numerous honors, including the National Capital Business Ethics Award (2007), Easterseals Philanthropist of the Year (2007), Montgomery County Philanthropist of the Year (2008), Catholic Business Person of the Year (2013), induction into the Washington Business Hall of Fame (2021), and the Montgomery County Chamber of
Commerce Business Legacy Award (2025).

Craig resides in Laytonsville, Maryland, with his wife, Pat. They are proud parents of four children and grandparents to eleven grandchildren.

George R. Snowden, Jr.

Owner, Snowden Funeral Home

George R. Snowden, Jr. is the fourth-generation owner and operator of Snowden Funeral Home in Rockville, MD, an African American, family-owned business that has been providing end of life celebration services for more than 100 years. His great-grandfather established the business in its current location in 1926, then the middle of the Rockville’s black community.

The funeral home has weathered many historical events all including the great depression of the 1930s, overall discrimination through the 1940s and 1950s, the riots in the 1960s, Rockville revitalizations, market crashes and the COVID Pandemic. The business reach of Snowden Funeral Home has now expanded into other Maryland counties including Howard, Prince George’s, Anne Arundel, Frederick, as well as Washington, D.C..

Through the years, the Snowden Family has been generous in their participation and collaboration with churches, community events as well as many charitable organizations. Snowden Funeral Home supports sports teams in the City of Rockville, donates to scholarship funds of many organizations in the county, contributes to many community promoted events and sponsors a back-to-school “Believe to Succeed” backpack campaign to help our youth start the school year off with needed school supplies.

Today the Snowden family legacy of celebrating life is managed and operated by George and his wife, Dia Snowden. Their daughter, Taylor, works with them – the fifth generation to work tirelessly to uphold their long commitment to those in need of services.

Seth Goldman

Co-Founder of JUST ICE TEA

Seth Goldman is Co-Founder of JUST ICE TEA, a line of organic and Fair Trade bottled tea that’s Just Sweet Enough. Seth and his co-Founder, Celebrity Chef Spike Mendelsohn are also co-founders of PLNT Burger, a plant-based quick-serve restaurant that offers delicious burgers, fries, and soft-serve.

Seth is also the Co-founder of Honest Tea and Chair of the board of Beyond Meat. In 2023 he took on a new role as Chair of the Mission Guardians for Tony’s Chocolonely, an international chocolate company committed to creating an exploitation-free supply chain. He has been widely recognized for his entrepreneurial success and impact, including the Washington DC Business Hall of Fame, Partnership for Healthier America’s CEO of the Year, and EARTHDAY.ORG’s Climate Visionary of the year.

He is a graduate of Harvard College (1987) and the Yale School of Management (1995). Seth and his Honest Tea co-founder, Barry Nalebuff are the authors of The New York Times bestselling comic book, Mission in a Bottle. The book tells the story of the creation of Honest Tea and its sale to The Coca-Cola Company.

Marguerite Chinn

Co-owner, Negril Restaurants

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Marguerite Chinn’s journey has been shaped by resilience, entrepreneurship, and a deep love for culture and community. She attended high school in Jamaica before pursuing university studies in London, Ontario, Canada. Her career began in Brooklyn, New York, where she worked at the first USDA-certified factory producing Jamaican beef patties.

After a brief return to Jamaica, Marguerite made her home in Washington, D.C. There, she joined her brother in launching Negril Eatery in the vibrant Adams Morgan neighborhood. While her brother pushed the boundaries of expansion, Marguerite was the steady force behind the business—dedicated, grounded, and all in.

More than four decades later, the Negril adventure continues, a testament to her unwavering commitment and the legacy she’s helped build in the heart of the nation’s capital.