Chris Nelson

Senior Vice President, Lighting · 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
Promoted to Senior Vice President of the Lighting business unit at Wheel Pros (Hoonigan). Owns product development, marketing, e-commerce and marketplace sales, and customer service for the Driven Lighting Group portfolio of consumer and B2B automotive aftermarket brands.
2023–2024
Vice President of Performance Marketing at Wheel Pros. Led strategy and optimization of paid advertising, social, email, and affiliate marketing across the company’s portfolio of 60+ aftermarket brands.
2022
SEMA FLN Member Spotlight on customer experience philosophy as CMO of Driven Lighting Group.SEMA News
2021
Driven Lighting Group acquired by Clearlake Capital-backed Wheel Pros. Quintupled revenue and quadrupled EBITDA during Kian Capital’s 3.5-year hold.PR Newswire · Kian Capital exit announcement · PE Professional
2020
Driven Lighting Group formed from the merged platform of automotive lighting brands. Named co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer.
2019
Sold Top Line Group, LLC startup to the Kian Capital-backed platform in Atlanta. Merged with five sister brands across the automotive lighting category. Assumed CMO position on the executive team and a seat on the board of directors until the 2021 sale.
2014
Named to SEMA 35 Under 35 as President of Top Line Group (Bemidji, Minnesota), at age 30.SEMA Magazine
2009
Founded Headlight Revolution, the consumer brand that later became the customer-acquisition flywheel for Driven Lighting Group and the world’s largest automotive lighting YouTube channel.YouTube

Now

As Senior Vice President of the Lighting business unit at Wheel Pros (Hoonigan), 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