SBDC at UCF Clients Named to 2012 Inc. Magazine 500/5000 List
Small Business Development Center at UCF
October 31, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Hal Thayer, Communications Director, SBDC at UCF, 407.420.4850 or hthayer@bus.ucf.edu
Orlando, FL – Six (6) clients of the Small Business Development Center at University of Central Florida (SBDC At UCF) have been named to Inc. magazine’s respected 2012 Inc. 500/5000 list, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The list, representing the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy —America’s independent entrepreneurs – measures revenue growth from 2008 to 2011.
The 2012 Inc. 500, unveiled in the September issue of Inc. (available on newsstands until November 15 and on Inc.com), is the most competitive crop in the list’s history. To make the cut, companies had to have achieved a staggering minimum of 770% in sales growth. The Inc. 500’s aggregate revenue is $15.7 billion, with a median three-year growth rate of 1,431 percent. The companies on this year’s Inc. 500 employ more than 48,000 people and generated over 40,000 jobs in the past three years.
The six SBDC at UCF clients named on this year’s Inc. 500/5000 list include:
- TreeFrog Data Solutions, Deborah DeLeo, President – Ranked #476 with 808% three-year sales growth. TreeFrog provides medical claims and processing, medical claim coding and auditing, quality assurance and health care administrative assistance to the Department of Defense Medical Treatment Facilities and the Veterans Administration. www.TreeFrogData.com
- EnRep, Jennifer Dickerson, President – Ranked #517 with 742% three-year sales growth. EnRep provides environmental and safety consulting services to environmental management and remediation companies and government programs. www.EnRep.com
- Dignitas Technologies, Elizabeth Burch, President and CEO – Ranked #633 with 571% three-year sales growth. Dignitas Technologies provides system and software engineering services for the Modeling and Simulation industry. www.dignitastechnologies.com
- Hooah LLC, Jorge Suria, President – Ranked #1469 with 204% three-year sales growth. This is Hooah’s third consecutive year being named to the Inc.5000 list. Hooah LLC is an interactive communications firm that bridges the gap between design and technology. Hooah produces measurable ROI strategies for clients’ marketing challenges. www.hooah.cc
- SPS Industrial, Steve Sarno, President – Ranked #1539 with 193% three-year sales growth. SPS provides maintenance, repair and operational supplies and equipment to federal agencies, the Department of Defense, businesses and contractors, focusing on supplying specialty parts, vending machine security equipment and facility maintenance materials. www.SPSIndustrial.com
- Innovative Data Solutions, Joshua Brown, CEO – Ranked #1,801 with 147% three-year sales growth. Innovative Data Solutions, Inc. (IDS), provider of document management solution PowerDMS™ serving a wide range of industries. www.powerdms.com
“We are gratified and very proud that so many of our clients have been recognized by Inc. magazine for their consistent year-over-year revenue growth. With revenue growth come jobs, both new hires and retained positions. We at the SBDC at UCF are pleased to have played a role in our clients’ success and their contribution to the Central Florida economy,” remarked Eunice Choi, Regional Director of the SBDC at UCF.
As SBDC clients, these Central Florida businesses can attribute some part of their success to the services they received from the SBDC at UCF, including business counseling, training, and government procurement assistance, as well as certain of its special programs.
Several of these businesses participated in the SBDC at UCF’s award-winning program, the Advisory Board Council. The Advisory Board Council aims to facilitate business growth through the use of advisory boards for established Orange County companies. The program acts as a matchmaker between established businesses and professionals who volunteer their expertise as members of a ‘custom-fit’ advisory board.
Other of the companies took advantage of the Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) at the SBDC at UCF. This program helps Florida businesses understand the government procurement process and provides free consulting services to business entities with primary or branch offices in Florida that are seeking to sell their goods/services to federal, state or local governments; this includes assistance with identifying government projects, proposal writing guidance, small business program application assistance (M/WBE, DBE, SDVOSB, 8a, HUBZone) etc.
These local companies utilized the support of the SBDC at UCF to grow their businesses in other ways, as well. Today, two of the company presidents are participating in the SBDC at UCF’s CEO XChange program. The CEO XChange is an executive roundtable program launched in 2010 designed for second-stage companies, offering a confidential setting for top executives where they can benefit from peer-to-peer coaching and networking, and discuss vital issues, opportunities and trends.
–UCF–
With its main office in the National Entrepreneur Center (formerly the Disney Entrepreneur Center) now located at the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando, the Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (SBDC at UCF) is part of the UCF College of Business Administration and the Florida Small Business Development Center Network, providing business seminars and no-cost, one-on-one business consultation to small business owners. The SBDC at UCF serves an eight-county area that includes Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties and maintains seven satellite service centers. In 2011, the SBDC at UCF helped entrepreneurs create or retain 1,517 jobs, win contract awards worth $28.9 million, acquire $17.7 million in capital formation, and increase sales by $51.9 million. The SBDC at UCF is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.
SBDC at UCF | 3201 E. Colonial Drive | Orlando, FL 32801 | p 407.420.4850 | f 407.420.4862
