Chris Nelson

Senior Vice President, Driven Lighting Group · Driven Lighting Group · Wheel Pros (Hoonigan)

Chris Nelson

Founder, Headlight Revolution. Co-founder, Driven Lighting Group.

Built the operating playbook and the team that took a portfolio of automotive lighting brands from a Bemidji, Minnesota startup through merger in 2019 and into a Clearlake Capital acquisition in 2021. Quintupled revenue and quadrupled EBITDA along the way. Based in Atlanta.

Chris Nelson

Referenced in

PR Newswire (2021)·Kian Capital (2021)·PE Professional (2021)·SEMA (2014, 2022)

Track Record

2025–2026
Senior Vice President, Driven Lighting Group at Hoonigan. Product, marketing, and B2C for the lighting portfolio.
2023–2024
Vice President of Performance Marketing across the Wheel Pros portfolio of 60+ aftermarket brands, later rebranded Hoonigan. Created one reporting and management system for paid, social, email, SMS, and affiliate across a portfolio assembled by acquisition.Hoonigan rebrand announcement
2022
SEMA FLN Member Spotlight as CMO of Driven Lighting Group.SEMA News
2021
Driven Lighting Group acquired by Clearlake Capital-backed Wheel Pros: 5x revenue, 4x EBITDA over Kian Capital’s 3.5-year hold.PR Newswire · Kian Capital exit announcement · PE Professional
2020
Co-founded Driven Lighting Group from the merged platform of lighting brands. Chief Marketing Officer.
2019
Sold Headlight Revolution and the other Top Line Group, LLC assets to the Kian Capital-backed platform in Atlanta. Merged with five sister brands. CMO of the combined portfolio, board seat through the 2021 sale.
2014
Named to SEMA 35 Under 35 as President of Top Line Group (Bemidji, Minnesota), at age 30.SEMA Magazine
2012
B.S. in Business, Bemidji State University, earned while running Top Line Group. Competed at the National Collegiate Sales Competition at Kennesaw State.
2009
Founded Headlight Revolution (part of Top Line Group, LLC). Its YouTube channel became, and remains, the largest in automotive lighting, and grew into the customer-acquisition flywheel for Driven Lighting Group.YouTube

Now

As Senior Vice President of Driven Lighting Group (a Hoonigan portfolio), the current focus is the next layer of the operating system: sharpening data and merchandising as AI compresses the path from consumer discovery to purchase; defending and growing margin in a tougher economic environment; and deepening the bench across product, marketing, and go-to-market so the playbook compounds at the next scale.

Contact

chris@chrisnelsonatl.com·LinkedIn·Atlanta, Georgia