2003 growth leaders still climbing ladder

TODD KNAPP, left, president of Envision Technology Advisors, says his company is more of a business-consulting firm that specializes in technology than a traditional IT firm. With him is Mike Ando, right, a virtualization specialist. /
TODD KNAPP, left, president of Envision Technology Advisors, says his company is more of a business-consulting firm that specializes in technology than a traditional IT firm. With him is Mike Ando, right, a virtualization specialist. /

Companies that show rapid growth often flame out, but the Top 10 fastest-growing companies in Rhode Island in 2003 show no signs today of falling off their growth trajectories, even if the paths they have taken have diverged from the original ones.
For example, the fastest-growing company of 2003, Providence-based Guardent Inc., was acquired by VeriSign Inc. in December 2003. VeriSign, which provides infrastructure services for Internet and telecommunications networks, paid $135 million in cash and stock for the privately held, managed security-service provider that recorded $21 million in revenue in 2002. That revenue figure represented a growth rate of 425 percent over the company’s performance in 2000 (the time period for all the fastest-growing calculations).
Since the acquisition, VeriSign has maintained Guardent’s offices in Waltham, Mass., and Providence, with Guardent’s Security Operations Center (SOC) in Providence becoming one of VeriSign’s Managed Security Services (MSS) operations centers.
Second on the list of fastest growing companies for 2003 was Providence-based Advertising Ventures Inc., which had $3.9 million in revenue in 2002 and a growth rate of 290 percent. But it was on the cusp of even more expansion.
Since 2003, the company expanded into the South American market with a Miami Beach office and into Europe, with an office in Tallinn, Estonia, according to founder, president and CEO Stephen Rosa. And in 2007, the company registered $6.9 million in revenue. To support that growth, the company has added eight staff members since 2003, bringing the number of full-time employees in Providence to 25. The company also opened a new, larger headquarters on 117 Chapman St. in the Harborside District of Providence in July of this year.
“Our growth is largely word of mouth. It is the quality of our work that has really driven our growth,” Rosa said.
In another move to help it grow even more, the 19-year-old firm re-branded itself (add)ventures last March. Mary Sadlier, executive vice president of (add)ventures, said that though the name Advertising Ventures was well known in Rhode Island, the company needed to re-brand itself with a name that did not pigeonhole it as just an advertising agency.
Rosa added, “We were solving business issues for our clients beyond advertising. We have added so many strategic areas in addition to advertising, that we had outgrown the name.”

The third-fastest growing in 2003, Envision Technology Advisors, also continued to grow. In 2002, the company earned $1.2 million in revenue and had grown 242.86 percent over three years with only six employees. CEO Todd Knapp said Envision is now a $3 million company with 17 employees and is one of the top five IT providers in the state.
“Envision has been a very profitable company; we only implement the best technologies so customers see high-quality solutions and keep coming back to us,” Knapp said.
Founded in 1998, Envision is one of the rare tech companies to survive the dot.com bubble bust, and is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year, Knapp said. In addition to technology consultancy, Envision offers network engineering, Web development and hosting.
The company also solidified some strong partnerships to foster growth; one with virtualization-software provider VMware Inc. and another partnership with data management and storage company Network Appliance Inc.
“We started out as a network consultancy, and now we do a lot of server consolidation projects for VMware. This is an exciting time for us because 96 percent of the companies in Rhode Island have not implemented virtualization or centralized storage. There is a huge market for us here,” Knapp said.

Fourth on the list was Wickford-based MarketModels Inc., with $2.81 million in revenue in 2002 and a 186.84-percent growth rate. The marketing company was acquired by Atlanta-based Primis Marketing Group in October 2005.
In January 2007, Primis re-branded three of its companies, including MarketModels, which now operates in its Wickford location under the umbrella of AccuData Integrated Marketing.
Fifth on the list is Exeter-based telecommunications and data networking company Carousel Industries Inc., which has grown tremendously and now has offices in 15 locations throughout the country, according to Carousel spokesperson Joe Rog.
In 2002, the company earned $17 million in revenue with a growth rate of 183.33 percent. This year, Carousel is closing in on $150 million in revenue, up from $129.11 million in 2007, Rog said.
The company started as a communications integration provider and in recent years expanded to offer Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which is driving growth, Rog said.
“VoIP migrations have been a tremendous part of our business, and we have aggressively been riding that wave,” Rog said. “We also significantly expanded our portfolio and now work with 45 different partners.”

Swisher Restroom Hygene Service in Cranston was No. 6 on the list in 2003 with $1.3 million in 2002 revenue and a 141.42-percent growth rate. The franchise is now earning more than $1.6 million in revenue and has added about seven employees, bringing the number to 20, said John D’Antuono, who opened the Southern New England franchise in 1998.
“We have leveled off in terms of growth, not due to competition but due to the economy,” D’Antuono said.
Swisher Restroom Hygene Service supplements janitorial services for public and commercial restrooms with disease preventive and odor-control programs. Currently the company has about 1,000 accounts spanning from Norwich, Conn., to Cape Cod.

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Seventh on the Top 10 list in 2003, Pride Mortgage earned $4.68 million in 2002 and had grown 139.43 percent from 2000 to 2002. The company recently was acquired by Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

Johnston-based FM Global ranked eighth on the list with $3.29 billion in 2002 and a 135-percent growth rate. The company provides global commercial and industrial property insurance, underwriting and risk-management solutions, property-loss prevention research and claims handling.

Shivan S. Subramaniam is still the company chairman and CEO. FM Global reported net income of $928 million in 2007 – the largest in its history – up 26 percent from 2006, on revenue of $4.66 billion. It ranked 578 on Fortune magazine’s annual ranking of America’s largest corporations for 2007.

Coventry Credit Union (CCU), a state-chartered, member-owned cooperative, ranked ninth on the list with $2.02 million in revenue in 2002 and a 106.75-percent growth rate from 2000 to 2002.
Since then, CCU has added two new branches, bringing its total to seven. CCU is currently building a branch in North Kingstown, slated to open in November, but will be closing its Bristol branch at the end of August.
The company also has a new CEO, Richard Gingell, who took over in 2007 following the retirement of Richard Pennington, who served as CEO for 34 years.
This year, CCU hit a milestone number of assets, at $225 million, and projects a profit of $350,000 for 2008, Gingell said.

Tenth on the list of the fastest-growing companies of 2003 was Newport Collaborative Architects Inc. with $4.98 million in revenue in 2002 and 101.21 percent in growth.
The company celebrated its 25th year in business in 2006, with scant signs of slowing down. Revenue for 2007 totaled $7.3 million and the company now has 51 employees, as well as an office in Providence to supplement its Newport address. •

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