Their Gift That Kept On Giving

Tom and Barbara Hughes

Tom Hughes (1939-1919) was a career entrepreneur with a history of starting, developing, and eventually selling companies. Learning many of his entrepreneurial skills from the late Eugene Stone, the founder of Stone Manufacturing in Greenville, South Carolina, Tom either founded or cofounded seven different companies including: > National Electronic Attachment, Inc., the largest dental electronic claims attachments clearing house > Medical Electronic Attachment, Inc., Electronic Claims and Funding, Inc., the largest dental electronic claims clearinghouse > Pioneer Business Group

From 1988 to 1997, he owned Premier Systems Corporation, one of the largest dental practice management systems.Tom was involved with the Entrepreneur Group of Georgia, a major entrepreneurial educational group and Gathering of Angels, a network of angel investors in the Atlanta metro area.

Barbara Hughes, his wife of more than 51 years, worked by Tom’s side in his entrepreneurial endeavors. As an entrepreneur in her own right before joining ranks with her husband, Barbara was an owner/operator of a retail store in Dunwoody, Georgia.

In 2014, through a donation to Kennesaw State University’s Coles College of Business, the Hughes Leadership and Career Center was created. The Hughes Leadership and Career Program consists of three career success courses that business students are required to complete throughout their sophomore, junior, and senior years.

Tom and Barbara Hughes valued education and believed it is a building block for all people to excel in life. They were happy to be generous patrons to the EDGE over the years for their work in the community and were deeply touched by the Business Impact Award named in their honor.