ENTREPRENEUR
Dr. Valerie Daniels-Carter is one of the most preeminent business owners in the United States. In addition to auspiciously commandeering several restaurants branded operations in the United States, she has been widely recognized for her adroit business ingenuity. She is the President and CEO of V&J Foods, Holding Companies, Inc. (V&J Holdings), a multi-brand/multi-state operation. It is recognized as the largest female owned franchise organization in the country. Dr. Daniels-Carter’s quick-service restaurant empire operations are comprised of Auntie Anne’s Soft Pretzels, Burger King, Coffee Beanery, Nino’s Southern Sides, MyYoMy Frozen Yogurt, Pizza Hut and Captain D’s Seafood along with numerous Real Estate ventures. Prior to establishing V&J Holding Companies, Inc., she worked in banking and finance.
ACADEMIA
Valerie Daniels-Carter graduated from Lincoln University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. In 1984, she earned a Master’s degree in Business Management from Cardinal Stritch University. Dr. Daniels-Carter received Honorary Doctors of Humane Letters from Cardinal Stritch University in 2008 and Lincoln University in 2016. In 2019, she was inducted into the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame joining an elite group of successful African-Americans honored recipients.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Dr. Daniels-Carter serves on an array of community and corporate boards. She is currently a board member of the Green Bay Packers and a minority owner of the Milwaukee Bucks Basketball Team. She has also chaired a cluster of boards spanning a multifarious arc of civic, corporate and non-profit organizations. Believing in her ability to drive the association to improved platforms, in the spring of 2017, the Automobile Association of America (AAA) appointed her as the First African-American Female Board Chairperson. AAA is an organization comprised of over 60 million members.
RECOGNITIONS AND HONORS
She has been recognized by Essence magazine as one of the 50 most inspiring African-Americans in the U.S. In 2020, Black Enterprise Magazine awarded Dr. Daniels-Carter the Legacy Award and recognized her as being a part of the 50 most Inspiring Women in Business. Also in 2020, in her home State of Wisconsin, Biz Times Media honored and presented to her the “Bravo! Entrepreneur Award of Lifetime Achievement.”
HUMANITARIAN & PHILANTHROPIST
Dr. Daniels-Carter is an outstanding life coach and a generous humanitarian. Her business accomplishments can only be matched by her philanthropic efforts. This CEO stays grounded by engaging in local and international philanthropic projects. She has been the catalyst for many causes, several which included hosting multiple health and wellness clinics in small African villages. She created an initiative in conjunction with the Minority Franchise Association to build an “Educational Complex” for an orphanage in Kenya, Africa at Jubilee Orphanage Center. She created and built COGIC Medical Clinics in Bondo and Nairobi Kenya, where she tirelessly discovers ways to bring “state of the art” medical equipment to the communities in East Africa. Dr. Daniels-Carter started the Empowerment Initiative for Africa, Inc. where she acquired ninety-nine (99) acres of land in Accra, Ghana. In addition, she initiated 12 women into a program to start their own businesses whereby they would become self – sufficient. In four (4) years, this Female Entrepreneurship Program has grown to an astounding 910 women business owners. Dr. Daniels-Carter was instrumental in the drilling of a water well in Kenya, East Africa and surrounding communities which serves over 28,000 families. She has supported and mentored several entrepreneurs in the United States in the launching and/or expansion of their businesses.
RELIGIOUS COMMITMENT
In her home city and state, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Dr. Daniels-Carter and her family have built and developed a “state of the art” complex inclusive of her church, Holy Redeemer Institutional Church of God In Christ. Along the street “Mother Daniels Way” named after her esteemed mother, you will find a Boys and Girls Club, a Family Service Center, Three Schools, and a Loan Center. You will also find Buildings constructed as Community Meeting Facilities befittingly named “the Mother Kathryn Daniels Youth Center,” and “the Jeffrey Carter Family Center For Family Reunification” in memory of her mother and husband. In addition to her assistance with the newly innovative facility, Institute for the Preservation of African American Music and Arts “IPAMA”, Dr. Daniels-Carter has continued to offer her services and expertise to the Church of God In Christ locally, jurisdictionally (regionally) and nationally. In line with her passion and love of music, she faithfully serves as the Minister of Music at her church. Dr. Daniels-Carter has produced several projects with Gospel Music greatest artists and has been conducting choirs since the age of 10. Her newest music score, “Power To Win” demonstrates her creative talent as a composer.
PERSONAL COMMITMENT
Dr. Daniels-Carter is consistently recognized as an astute business woman – an achievement that bespeaks to her unyielding belief and connection to God, coupled with her commitment to honesty, excellence and hard work. She is a motivational speaker, as well as a flourishing author. Her entrepreneurial aptitude inspired her to author “Your Business Is His Business” and “Anointed Offering or Tainted Sacrifice”. Apart from being a successful business owner, Dr. Valerie Daniels-Carter is a devoted mother to Jeffrey Alan Carter II. She attributes her success to her relationship with God, her family, committed employees and true friends.
She is a national exemplar, but more importantly, she is a touchable and humble servant.
Valerie Daniels-Carter
President
Mrs. Valerie Daniels-Carter, along with her brother John started V & J Foods with a single Burger King restaurant in 1982. Within sixteen years, she nurtured the company into a 137-unit, multi-brand operation. First and foremost Mrs. Daniels-Carter is a God fearing woman. Her key beliefs include an insistence on: integrity, recognition, accountability, responsibility, respect, communication, commitment to excellence and passion. Mrs. Daniels- Carter has a hands-on approach. She focuses on the performance of each and every unit so that all are achieving positive results. Her corporate philosophy is “YATSE”: You are the Standard of Excellence. Mrs. Daniels-Carter laid the foundation for her successful career at Lincoln University where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. She later earned a Master’s of Science degree in Management from Cardinal Stritch University. Valerie Daniels-Carter is one of the best known fast-food operators in the United States.
In addition to owning and running successfully brands for two of the largest fast-food operations in the United States, she has teamed up with one of NBA’s most famous and valuable players, Shaquille O’Neal, to expand the horizons of Auntie Anne’s famous Pretzels. VJ & O’Neal Enterprises, LLC was
established in 2006 by V&J and O’Neal Franchise. VJ & O’ Neal rolled out its first Auntie Anne’s soft Pretzel Corporation into the Eastland Mall in Harper Wood, MI. The next location will open in Saginaw, MI at the Fashion Square Mall. By next year VJ & O’Neal Enterprises, LLC will have opened thirty new Auntie Anne’s locations nationally.
Valerie Daniels-Carter has been widely recognized for her business judgment, having served on financial and corporate boards, and have led civic and business organizations. She is recognized by Essence Magazine as one of the 50 most admired African-Americans in the United States, joining the company of Oprah Winfrey and Colin Powell.
She began her career with First Wisconsin National Bank (now USbank) as a retail and commercial lender. She later accepted a position as an auditor for MGIC Investment Corporation in the financial underwriting division. Mrs. Daniels-Carter currently serves on numerous boards and committees. She has served as the President of Milwaukee World Festival, Inc.; President of the Minority Franchise Association of Burger King Corporation; Executive Board Member of the National Franchisee Association; Board Member of Firstar Bank; Auto Club Group, AAA of Michigan and Wisconsin. She is actively involved with her church both locally and nationally.
In addition to her being featured in several national magazines and publications, in 2006, Mrs. Daniels-Carter received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letter from Cardinal Stritch University. She has been awarded a number of distinguishing honors including the Business Woman of the Year (2006) Frazier Network; Northwood University, Distinguished Business Leader Award; Trailblazer Award from North Milwaukee State Bank; Entrepreneurial Spirit Award presented at the Multicultural Prism Awards; Essence magazine’s Top 10 Black Female Entrepreneurs; Black Enterprise magazine’s Women of the B.E. 100; The Heritage Award from Spiritual Perspective; and the Business Award given by the National Rainbow Coalition. Her company, V & J has received awards such as the Top 500 Women-Owned Businesses (Working Woman Magazine); Top 200 Restaurants in the U.S. (Restaurant Finance Monitor); and numerous other accolades, both locally and nationally.
ENTREPRENEUR
Dr. Valerie Daniels-Carter is one of the most preeminent business owners in the United States. In addition to auspiciously commandeering several restaurants branded operations in the United States, she has been widely recognized for her adroit business ingenuity. She is the President and CEO of V&J Foods, Holding Companies, Inc. (V&J Holdings), a multi-brand/multi-state operation. It is recognized as the largest female owned franchise organization in the country. Dr. Daniels-Carter’s quick-service restaurant empire operations are comprised of Auntie Anne’s Soft Pretzels, Burger King, Coffee Beanery, Nino’s Southern Sides, MyYoMy Frozen Yogurt, Pizza Hut and Captain D’s Seafood along with numerous Real Estate ventures. Prior to establishing V&J Holding Companies, Inc., she worked in banking and finance.
ACADEMIA
Valerie Daniels-Carter graduated from Lincoln University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. In 1984, she earned a Master’s degree in Business Management from Cardinal Stritch University. Dr. Daniels-Carter received Honorary Doctors of Humane Letters from Cardinal Stritch University in 2008 and Lincoln University in 2016. In 2019, she was inducted into the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame joining an elite group of successful African-Americans honored recipients.
PERSONAL COMMITMENT
Dr. Daniels-Carter is consistently recognized as an astute business woman – an achievement that bespeaks to her unyielding belief and connection to God, coupled with her commitment to honesty, excellence and hard work. She is a motivational speaker, as well as a flourishing author. Her entrepreneurial aptitude inspired her to author “Your Business Is His Business” and “Anointed Offering or Tainted Sacrifice”. Apart from being a successful business owner, Dr. Valerie Daniels-Carter is a devoted mother to Jeffrey Alan Carter II. She attributes her success to her relationship with God, her family, committed employees and true friends.
She is a national exemplar, but more importantly, she is a touchable and humble servant.
Valerie Daniels-Carter
Dr. Valerie Daniels-Carter is President and CEO of V&J Foods, Holding Companies, Inc. (V&J Holdings). V&J Holdings multi-brand/multi-state operation is the largest female owned franchise organization in the country. Dr. Daniels-Carter’s quick-service restaurant empire comprised of Auntie Anne’s Soft Pretzels, Burger King, Coffee Beanery, and Nino’s Southern Sides, MyYoMy Frozen Yogurt, Pizza Hut and the newest venture Captain D’s Seafood Kitchen.
Valerie Daniels-Carter graduated from Lincoln University with a bachelor degree in Business Administration. In 1984, Dr. Valerie Daniels-Carter earned a Master’s degree in Business Management from Cardinal Stritch University. Dr. Daniels-Carter received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letter from Cardinal Stritch University in 2008 and Lincoln University 2016. Prior to establishing V&J Holding Companies, Inc., she worked in banking and finance.
Dr. Valerie Daniels-Carter is one of the most preeminent business owners in the United States. In addition to auspiciously commandeering two of the largest fast-food brand operations in the United States, she has been widely recognized for her adroit business ingenuity. As such, she is befittingly appointed to a dizzying array of financial and corporate boards. She has also chaired a cluster of boards spanning a multifarious arc of civic, corporate and non-profit organizations. Dr. Daniels-Carter is currently a board member of the Green Bay Packers and is a minority owner of the Milwaukee Bucks Basketball Team. In the spring of 2017, Automobile Association of America (AAA) appointed her as the First African-American Chair. Believing in her abilities to drive the association to improved platforms. She is consistently recognized as the largest female franchisee in the country – an achievement that bespeaks to her unyielding belief and connection to God coupled with her rare commitment to honesty and hard work.
Dr. Daniels-Carter is an outstanding life coach and a generous humanitarian. Her business accomplishments can only been matched by her philanthropic efforts. This CEO stays grounded by engaging in local and international philanthropic projects. On the campus of her church, Holy Redeemer, she along with the rest of her family opened a 160,000 square-foot center that houses a Boys & Girls Club, Family service center, two schools (K-12), loan center, medical facility, and a community meeting facilities “better known as” the Mother Kathryn Daniels Youth Center, developed in memory of her mother and husband. She has been the catalyst to the opening of three orphanages in Kenya and Ghana for children whose parents have died of AIDS. Her entrepreneurial aptitude inspired her to author “Your Business Is His Business” and “Anointed Offering or Tainted Sacrifice”. Dr. Daniels-Carter’s statement of YATSE and excellence is substantiated by her ability to encircle a strategic vision for the organization; this is executed by promoting consensus building, assessing transitional trends, accentuating positive perspectives and encouraging an integral environment”. She is a Native of Milwaukee, WI and a proud mother of Jeffrey Alan Carter.
Meet Valerie Daniels-Carter, the Woman Behind the Largest Female-Owned Franchise Organization in the U.S.
This minority owner of the Milwaukee Bucks has built a fast-food empire, but not just any fast-food empire — the largest female owned franchise organization in the country.
Valerie Daniels-Carter started at a young age and she is now reaping the rewards. Her journey began in 1982 when she and John Daniels Jr. founded V & J Foods, Inc., according to the company’s website.
V & J Holding Companies, Inc. (V&J) is not only the largest female-owned franchise organization in the U.S. but the largest minority-owned Pizza Hut franchisee in the U.S.
All of the restaurants combined make V & J one of the largest restaurant franchise companies in the country.
After taking out a sizable loan to get started, Black Enterprise reports Daniels-Carter was able to break ground on her first Burger King restaurant in 1984 and by 1998 V & J’s portfolio included 67 Pizza Huts and 32 Burger Kings.
For Daniels-Carter the road to becoming the head of the largest minority-owned franchise company in the country was no easy feat.
“I was not the typical franchisee when I started, and I had to challenge the status quo in the franchise industry,” said Daniels-Carter in an interview with The New York Times. “I met several unnecessary delays; it was a test of endurance. I wanted to help other African-American women have a chance. When I give motivational talks today, I tell people not to let anyone keep them from their dream.”
The Milwaukee Magazine reports that Daniels-Carter has always been quite the entrepreneur with her first gig being walking her neighbors’ younger children to school.
“For $1.25 per week, I would walk a kid to and from school every day,” said Daniels-Carter. “I told them there are dogs on the path and lots of other things their kids might be afraid of and I could make sure they got back and forth safely. Thankfully, no one ever tested the waters to see if I really could fight because I couldn’t.”
Today, V & J is a 38-store operation with 12 units located in Milwaukee and 26 in Detroit.
Milwaukee Bucks owner is a proud HBCU grad
Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Dr. Valerie Daniels-Carter is a proud graduate of Lincoln University of Missouri who knows that nurturing your passions can lead to big things.
At a young age growing up on 44th and Hampton Streets on Milwaukee’s north side, she had a love for entrepreneurship, sports and her community. All have paid off handsomely for her.
The payoffs
In business, she now helms a four-state conglomerate of over 100 multi-brand restaurant franchises – Burger Kings, Pizza Huts, Aunti Anne’s Soft Pretzels, Captain D’s Seafood, among others – that is amongst the largest in the nation. Hers is the largest female-owned franchise organization in the U. S.
NBA Hall of Fame big man Shaquille O’Neal, a titan of his own in more ways than one, is one of her business partners.
In sports, she owns a minority stake in the Milwaukee Bucks franchise, the 2021 Eastern Division champion now playing in the NBA Finals vs. the Phoenix Suns. Daniels-Carter also sits on the board of directors of her beloved Green Bay Packers, her state’s NFL franchise.
Her community and philanthropic efforts have run even deeper, reaching from her Midwestern roots into Africa. She has developed a host of community youth and empowerment centers, built housing, educational, art and health complexes both here and on the continent. She has been a stalwart in her Christian community. Daniels-Carter is widely known as a motivational speaker, life coach and humanitarian.
She has volunteered for and chaired numerous organizations and boards and in 2017 was appointed the first female African-American president of the American Automobile Association (AAA) with its 60 million members. She was inducted into the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame in 2019.
“I’m God-made,” she told a local Milwaukee TV station, WTMJ-4. “I have been blessed to work all of my life. When I started this journey, I had a mission, and I have been able to achieve it.
Valerie Daniels-Carter’s Roots
Growing up Valerie Daniels in Milwaukee in a family with seven other children created a lot of opportunities. She took advantage of one to start her first business shepherding kids safely to school for a nominal fee.
“I told them (parents) there are dogs on the path and lots of other things their kids might be afraid of and I could make sure they got back and forth safely,” she told Black Enterprise Magazine earlier this year. “Thankfully, no one every tested the waters to see if I really could fight because I coundn’t.”
It was also in her youth that she developed a passion for sports, playing on the high school basketball team at nearby Rufus King High School before going on to Lincoln, an Historically Black College in Jefferson City, Missouri.
Lincoln helped grow all those youthful passions and helped her and them grow into the fruitful outlets they have become. At Lincoln, she graduated with a bachelor of science degree in business administration in 1978. She also played a starring role on the Lady Blue Tigers basketball team. So outstanding was her prowess as a hooper that she was drafted by the Milwaukee Does of the fledgling Women’s Professional Basketball League (WPBL).
“Sports, I love it,” she told the local TV station. “I have been basketball since I was a young girl. So from the Does to the Bucks, here I am,” she said.
A focus on business
But basketball, at least then, was not in her future. Just after graduating from college, she quickly embarked on a series of jobs that educated her on the finer points of banking, accounting, auditing and finance. After only a short time, Daniels-Carter joined with her bother, attorney John Daniels, to look for business opportunities.
“I really wanted to focus on things that would be long term,” she told Black Enterprise in an earlier interview. They settled on franchising, a subject she studied profusely. After several moves and a hefty loan, they opened their first Burger King restaurant in 1984.
As the owner and operator of V&J Holding Co. Inc., she now sits at the vortex of a collection of some 38 Burger King stores including 12 in her native Milwaukee area and 26 more in Detroit. Through other subsidiaries such as V&J Foods and V&J United Enterprises 60 Pizza Hut locations in New York and western Massachusetts are operated. The company has over 3,000 employees.
Bucks for the Bucks
In 2014, Daniels-Carter helped form Partners for Community Impact, a group of diverse community investors that purchased a minority stake in the Bucks. They joined a majority group that purchased the team that year. She routinely sends messages to the team before each game.
“I am so excited about this season,” she said of her team that trails the Suns 2-0 in their best of seven NBA Finals series. Game Three is scheduled for Sunday night in Milwaukee. The Bucks are hoping for their first title since the 1971 team that featured Norfolk State’s Bobby Dandridge.
“We are going to take it one game at a time. We are going to press forward one day at a time and we are going to bring a championship home to Milwaukee.”
Valerie Daniels-Carter to receive Lifetime Achievement Award at virtual BizExpo
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 Baumgartern, 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.
