The companies represented on this list testify to Tennessee’s diverse economy. Included are businesses that repair railroads, produce insurance pre-certification software, provide kidney dialysis and make pizzas. While features such as the Fast50 tend to attract new companies, a surprising number on the 2004 list are decades-old companies that successfully have kept their organizations invigorated and hungry for growth.

The following 50 businesses represent $1.4 billion in aggregate sales in the most recent year—a year in which the average Fast50 company’s sales doubled. (To be sure, one company’s 15-fold jump in revenue helped the average, which would have been a still-hearty 78% without the shooting star.)

Unlike most other content published in Business Tennessee, which is internally generated by our editorial staff, the Business Tennessee Fast50 depended on nominations. We contacted 100-plus Chambers of Commerce across the state, roughly a score of local economic development agencies, our regular monthly readers and members of the Tennessee chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business. The response was heartening.

To qualify, Fast50 nominees must have been in business for at least three years, generate more than $750,000 of revenue, employ five or more people, be independent and privately owned (not publicly traded or a subsidiary) and be headquartered in Tennessee.

The selection criteria then was based solely on average annual sales growth since 2001. KraftCPAs, an independent accounting firm with offices in Nashville, Columbia and Lebanon, kindly reviewed the nominations as they arrived.

The result as published over the next several pages is an elite list of businesses sure to hold some of the state’s best growth prospects. We applaud their accomplishments and look forward to examining their progress next year.

AMERICAN LEGAL SEARCH
Legal placement
Nashville • (615)251-9600
www.americanlegalsearch.com
Joe Freedman, CEO
Conceived by Joe Freedman, who earlier created Amicus Legal Staffing and then sold it to a NYSE company, American Legal Search specializes in attorney placement and law firm merger consulting. Profitable since the second month of business after its 2001 founding, the company was bootstrapped with $150,000 in capital from its founders. With partner Richard Brock, Freedman has expanded the firm to eight cities, including Nashville and Memphis, and expects to add three more cities in 2005.

AQUASHIELD
Storm water treatment products
Chattanooga • (423)870-8888
www.aquashieldinc.com
Kelly Williamson, president
Initially funded in 2000 with $150,000 of founder Kelly Williamson’s savings and a second mortgage on his house, AquaShield protects the environment from storm water pollutants and industrial run- off. Its three core products—Aqua-Filter, Aqua-Swirl and Aqua-Guard—are marketed in the United States to capture sediment, floating debris, free-oil, water-born hydrocarbons, heavy metals, nutrients and gross contaminants. Employing 21 people, AquaShield expects growth opportunities in such foreign markets as Korea, Australia and Canada.

AVONDALE PARTNERS
Investment banking
Nashville • (615)467-3500
www.avondaleonline.com
Patrick Shepherd, CEO
Founded in June 2001 by alumni of J.C. Bradford & Co. and SunTrust Equitable Securities who supplied $3 million of capital, Avondale provides investment banking services to middle market companies, both privately owned and publicly traded. Profitable since January 2004, Avondale expects an expansion in the number of public companies covered by its equity research unit to drive increases in institutional trading volume and investment banking opportunities. It also is eyeing an expansion into institutional asset management.

B&W WHOLESALE DISTRIBUTORS
Convenience store distribution
Murfreesboro • (615)893-8633
www.bwwholesale.com
Phil Watts, president
Fifty-eight years since its founding by William Becton and W.H. Westbrooks, B&W still grows by supplying convenience and grocery stores, schools and civic groups with candy, cigarettes, and health and beauty products. Phil Watts bought the company in 1985 and has enjoyed 76 consecutive profitable quarters. Currently providing same-day deliveries within a 150-mile radius of Murfreesboro and service to another 30 states, B&W expects future growth from expanding its line of products, marketing beyond its normal market and selling items via the Internet.

BEACON TECHNOLOGIES
Systems integration
Nashville • (615)724-2304
www.beacontech.net
Bill Hapner, CEO
With $80,000 in seed capital from Charles Blankenship, Beacon Technologies launched in 1998 to provide better cabling systems service to governmental units and businesses. School systems have been especially receptive clients for the company. Beacon employs 86 people and now is opening its fourth office (in Columbus, Ohio). Led by Bill Hapner, Tony Wakefield and Joe Culver, Beacon has expanded its systems integration services to include all kinds of cabling, security systems, IT services, telephone systems and A/V systems.

BOHAN ADVERTISING/MARKETING
Advertising, marketing
Nashville • (615)327-1189
www.bohanideas.com
David Bohan, chairman
The 15-year-old advertising and marketing agency is a creation of ad industry veteran David Bohan. From offices in “The Gulch” in Nashville, Bohan’s 60 employees provide advertising, marketing, public relations, account planning, research and creative services to local, regional and national accounts. Adding revenue at an 18-20% annual clip, the firm also counts among its leadership John Sharpe, president, and Kerry Oliver, Bohan’s executive creative director who has received numerous Clios and local and regional ADDY awards.

BONE MCALLESTER NORTON
Law firm
Nashville • (615)238-6300
www.bonelaw.com
Charles Bone, chairman
Spanning 19 attorneys and one lobbyist, the three-year-old law firm recombines Charles Bone, Sam McAllester and Mike Norton, who led a firm of the same name that merged into Baker Worthington in 1988. Most recently at Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, the three launched the new firm to work amid an entrepreneurial-based culture they see as essential to their practices. In its general civil practice, it has served such clients as Regions Bank, Fisk University and Nashville Superspeedway. Immigration law and representing new Americans are potential growth areas.

THE CFP GROUP
Architecture design
Nashville • (615)846-0222
www.cfp-group.com
Ira Chilton, CEO
Since starting his architecture design firm in 1999, Ira Chilton has created a robust national practice specializing in health care architecture. With a background as the first corporate architect at Surgical Care Affiliates, Chilton personally has designed more than 200 ambulatory surgery centers. Other CFP principals have designed specialty hospitals, hospital renovations, medical office buildings and ancillary service sites. More recently, The CFP Group has begun providing design services to surgery centers in the United Kingdom.

CROUCH ENGINEERING
Railway, general civil engineering
Brentwood • (615)791-9762
www.crouchengineering.com
Harvey Crouch, president
As national and regional railroads have downsized, they often have lost their railway engineering expertise. Since 1991, Harvey Crouch has led his firm in providing design, planning, surveying, layout, rehabilitation, and construction management of railroad tracks, bridges and related structures. Serving private railroads and governmental units, the 20-person firm expects to continue exploiting opportunities created from the spin-off of short-line railroads and the aging of their infrastructure.

CUMBERLAND PHARMACEUTICALS
Specialty pharmaceuticals
Nashville • (615)255-0068
www.cumberlandpharma.com,
A.J. Kazimi, CEO
With a focus on under-served health care segments, Cumberland Pharmaceuticals acquires and develops currently marketed and late-stage development pharmaceuticals. Using contract manufacturing and targeting drugs with revenue too small to be on the radar of Big Pharma, Cumberland broke into profitability in 2004, its fifth year in operation. Among its products are a treatment of liver damage from acetaminophen overdoses (Acetadote), an oral rehydration solution (CeraLyte) and a laxative prescribed by gastroenterologists (Kristalose).

CYBERA
Private broadband networking
Nashville • (615)301-2040
www.cybera.net
Cliff Duffey, chairman
Installing high-speed private networks since 2001, Cybera has developed a specialty in serving multiple-site companies. Among its customers are such recognized brands as Krispy Kreme, the PGA Tour, Captain D’s, Advance America, Dollar General and investment bank Morgan Joseph & Co. Cybera distinguishes itself with high levels of broadband reliability and security that result from avoiding the public Internet. Instead, the 35-person company combines ADSL, SDSL, T1, Frame Relay and Ethernet connectivity to form private networks.

DES-CASE CORP.
Contaminant control breathers
White House • (615)672-8800
www.des-case.com
Brian Gleason, general manager
Filtration engineer Jim Waller started Des-Case in 1983 to find a way to extend the life of lubricants. He invented a type of breather that uses filtration and desiccants to prevent water and particulate contaminants from entering hydraulic reservoirs, gearboxes and storage or process tanks. After 10 years, the company turned its first profit. Today, its best growth prospects are in private label agreements with Exxon- Mobile and ChevronTexaco and new product introductions. Des-Case uses 115 distributors worldwide and has a subsidiary in France.

EONSTREAMS
Streaming media
Knoxville • (866)236-6366
www.eonstreams.com
Steve Newman, CEO
Chris Dotson was encoding and streaming content for HDTV when other companies asked that he do the same for them. Launched by Dotson and wife Rose in 1999, Eonstreams consults, digitizes, encodes, hosts, and manages media assets. Now led by CEO Steve Newman, the 10-person company is based in Knoxville, has an additional hosting center in Atlanta and a sales office in Paris, France. Eonstream can put church sermons online, create in-house training videos and sales presentations, and stream radio broadcasts.

ESSENT HEALTHCARE
Community hospitals
Nashville • (615)312-5100
www.essenthealthcare.com
Hudson Connery Jr., CEO
Six years after launch, Essent Healthcare’s methodical development has assembled five hospitals generating roughly $300 million in annual revenue and employing more than 2,300 people. Led by Hud Connery, who was chief operating officer of 110-hospital HealthTrust, the company acquires facilities in towns with little competition and often little familiarity with the for-profit hospital industry. Having reached operating profitability in 2003 from its group of “essential” hospitals, it expects future growth from acquisitions and same-store gains.

GTS REFRESHMENT SERVICES
Food vending, catering, water
Kingsport • (423)578-8188
www.gtsrefreshment.com
Ken Frohlich & Dan Provenzano, co-owners
Eight years after Ken Frohlich and Dan Provenzano partnered to launch a food vending service, GTS Refreshment Services has grown to include bottled water, office coffee and catering services for companies, health care facilities, schools and governmental units. Their curiosity in vending piqued by a brochure in the mail, they invested $200,000 and by 2002 had a nicely profitable business. They expect double-digit annual revenue growth “as long as the economy continues to improve and recover in our region.”

HOME HEALTHCARE LABORATORY OF AMERICA
Clinical laboratory
Franklin • (615)771-0301
www.hhla.com
Janet Azevedo, CEO
After seven years of steady growth, Home Healthcare Laboratory of America (HHLA) is goosing its growth rate. It has just signed a national contract with Aetna that will permit it to receive FedEx deliveries of health plan members’ blood samples, test the specimens and transmit the results electronically the next day. Until now, HHLA’s revenue has come just from its Lab-in-a-Box and Lab-in-an-Envelope products that let home health and disease management patients collect and send their own samples. Reaching break-even should come with a few months.

THE HR GROUP
HR and benefits services
Brentwood • (615)244-8484
www.hrgrp.com
Karen Saul, president
Spun out of KraftCPAs, The HR Group advises on employee benefits and human resources and provides outsourced talent in both areas. In 1999, the predecessor firm was acquired by Karen Saul, who was the original president of the KraftCPAs unit when it was created in 1990. Profitable every year since inception, company revenue doubled in 2003. The 15-person company has had more than 300 engagements, including with Corrections Corp. of America, Cat Financial and Cybera, a fellow 2004 Business Tennessee Fast50 company.

IASIS HEALTH CARE
Hospitals
Franklin • (615)844-2747
www.iasishealthcare.com
David White, chairman
Comfortably the largest Fast50 company with more than $1 billion of revenue in 2003, Iasis broke into profitability last year as well. It was formed in 1999 with the acquisition of 15 hospitals from Tenet and Paracelsus. In the six months ended March 31, 2004, Iasis earned $20 million on $674 million of revenue. In June, private equity firm Texas Pacific Group bought out much of the stake of Iasis’s initial lead investor, JLL Partners, in a $1.4 billion transaction.

INFORMATION INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATES
Information management services
Oak Ridge • (865)481-0388
www.iiaweb.com
Bonnie Carroll, president
With 182 employees in the United States and Europe, IIa provides a diverse array of information-related services to governmental bodies, industry, academic and international entities. It helps groups develop information policies and standards, manage libraries, integrate information systems and manage personnel databases. IIa operates several Air Force base libraries, manages Freedom of Infor- mation Act requests for information at the Department of Energy and provides access to documents pertaining to cleanup activities at Oak Ridge Reservation.

INFRASTRUCTURE CORP. OF AMERICA
Highway and facility maintenance
Brentwood • (615)377-4730
www.ica-onramp.com
Butch Eley, president
Six years ago, Corrections Corp. of America co-founder Tom Beasley and former Nashville mayoral chief of staff Butch Eley began Infrastructure Corp. of America to privatize certain road services traditionally performed by governments. Today, it provides “fence-to-fence” maintenance of highways and interstates through lump-sum fixed price contracts. The company keeps roads in good condition, repairs bridges, maintains rest areas and removes snow and ice. ICA turned profitable in 2002 and is looking to provide its services nationally.

NTERACTIVE SOLUTIONS
Videoconferencing sales and service
Memphis • (901)866-4201
www.isitn.com
Jay Myers, CEO
More than doubling revenue the past year, Interactive Solutions uses and sells various audio-visual products that provide videoconferencing services to customers. Sometimes, its services support distance learning programs; other times, it’s selling products like the Tandberg Health Care System III to health care professionals practicing telemedicine. Interactive Solutions has designed an integrated A/V auditorium for BancorpSouth and set up “smart” classrooms for distance learning at Jackson State. It has been profitable since its first year, 1996.

INVESTMENT SCORECARD
Investment performance reporting
Nashville • (615)665-1234
www.investmentscorecard.com
Joe Maxwell, chairman
Rising demand for transparent investment information and closer scrutiny of financial services bode well for Investment Scorecard. The nine-year-old company, profitable since 2003, prepares investment performance reports for hundreds of bank trust departments, independent trust companies and brokerages. It began penetrating a new group of customers this year under an agreement to supply services to investment advisory clients of Bear Stearns Global Clearing Services. (Business Tennessee’s majority owner, Solidus Co., is an investor in Investment Scorecard.)

IRIS NETWORKS
Broadband wholesaler
Nashville • (615)425-2300
www.iristransport.com
Ellen Bryson, chief manager
Eleven telephone companies pooled $5 million to form Iris in 1998 to provide broadband access for voice, video and data between the state’s rural and metro markets. Today, it supplies broadband to CLECs, wireless pro-viders, long distance companies and ISPs. A “dense wave division multiplexing” ring between Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga and Huntsville, Ala., was set up in 2003, generating $1.4 million of new revenue that year and roughly $5 million in 2004. Increases in wireless traffic are expected to fuel growth.

THE KING’S DAUGHTERS’ SCHOOL
Special education residential school
Columbia • (931)388-3810
www.tkds.org
Charlotte Battles, executive director
Inspired by a physician with a mentally retarded child he didn’t want to see institutionalized, the school was formed in 1955 in a former hospital by volunteers of The King’s Daughters and Sons. The school serves children, youths and adults. It has not sustained an annual deficit in 10 years and has expanded employment 40% during the past five years to a present employee count of 134. It will open a Center for Autism in 2005, the first such program in the state, which will add another 35 positions.

M&L SOUND
Audio/visual sales, service
Knoxville • (865)693-5058
www.mlsound.com
David Akers, president
Fifteen-year-old M&L Sound designs, rents, sells and installs professional audio/visual equipment for churches and performing arts theaters, and it provides rental services for festivals and events. It has provided production ser- vices for such events as the Smoky Mountain Jam in Knoxville and the National Prayer Conference USA in Cincinnati. Profitable since the late 1990s, the company and its 15 employees expect e-commerce and the opening of branch offices to provide future growth opportunities.

MAGAZINES.COM
Magazine subscription services
Franklin • (615)778-2100
www.magazines.com
Jay Clarke, CEO
Launched in 1996 by two Columbus, Ohio, investors, Magazines.com is the Internet’s oldest and largest subscription agent, providing subscribers 1,500 publication titles to review and purchase. Now jointly owned by Knoxville’s Anderson family (owners of Anderson News Co.), Time Inc. and Meredith Corp., it has been profitable since 2001. The company is growing through search engine marketing, affiliate marketing and brand building, and acquisitions—it acquired Subscription Network in 2003 and Magazine-of-the-Month Inc. this year.

MAILNET SERVICES
Direct marketing
Franklin • (615)261-7600
www.mailnetexpress.com
Don Leyrer, CEO
Specializing in Web-based direct marketing, Mailnet Services offers Mailnet Express (for bringing direct and electronic messaging through a secure Internet connection) and Listcleanup.com (for online list processing for the mailing and direct marketing industries). The idea behind Mailnet came from co-founder Bill Brennan, who recognized how the Internet could improve the mailing process. Originally funded with $600,000 from its co-founders, the company raised $8 million in venture capital in 2000. It is now pursuing the grocery and franchise industries, which market to millions of consumers, and is considering setting up a data warehouses for its clients.

MEGAN AND ME INVESTMENT CORP.
Pizza carryout
Kingsport • (423)349-6204
No Web Site
Kenneth Bates, president
Kenneth and Anita Bates began their Little Caesars operation in 1989 with $26,000 from Ken’s retirement account. Selling pizza, Crazy Bread, wings and other related items, the company has 21 full-time employees and 225 part-time workers. The owners expect to open more locations, as many as nine over the next three years. Megan and Me is a franchise of Detroit-based Little Caesars, a worldwide chain of more than 3,000 stores led by Detroit businessman Mike Illitch, owner of the Detroit Tigers.

NATIONAL RENAL ALLIANCE
Kidney dialysis centers
Franklin • (615)771-4424
www.nationalrenal.com
Joe Cashia, CEO
As a co-founder of Renal Care Group and an executive with Ren Corp., Joe Cashia became eager to provide top quality dialysis services to underserved areas. National Renal Alliance was started in 2002 to do just that. A portfolio company of New Canaan, Conn.-based private equity firm Warwick Group, it has raised $23 million in equity and debt. Today, it operates in such towns as Crossville, Tenn., Roanoke, Ala., and Princeton, Ky., is expanding into five more states and expects additional partnerships with teaching hospitals.

NEWQUEST HEALTH SOLUTIONS
HMOs, IPA organizations
Nashville • (615)401-4522
www.myhealthspring.com
Herb Fritch, president
Begun in 2000 by Herb Fritch with $2.8 million from angel investors, NewQuest now operates HMOs and independent practice associations employing 607 people in Tennessee, Alabama, Texas and Illinois. Soon it will be expanding into Mississippi, and it expects to start a new plan in the Chicago area. Seventy percent of company revenue comes from its Medicare Advantage membership, which is half of NewQuest’s total membership. New- Quest has been profitable since the beginning of 2001.

OUTPATIENT IMAGING AFFILIATES
Diagnostic imaging, PET centers
Nashville • (615)846-7733
www.oiarad.com
Frank Kyle, CEO
Partnering with hospitals, physician groups and academic medical schools, Outpatient Imaging Affiliates develops and manages diagnostic imaging centers. Led by Frank Kyle, who as early as 1982 was creating a pioneering outpatient diagnostic imaging company, OIA was founded in October 2000 and reached profitability three years later. Future growth opportunities for the 130-person company are expected from finding additional joint-venture partners to develop imaging centers and from acquisitions.

PARADIGM GROUP
Group insurance, employee benefits
Nashville • (615)356-7865
www.paradigmgroup.net
Bob Levy, president
Years working for large insurance companies gave Bob Levy the insight in 1996 to create Paradigm Group, which now employs 15 people in Nashville and Orlando, Fla. Funded out-of-pocket and immediately profitable, Paradigm’s specialty areas include health, dental, life and disability insurance, reinsurance, 401(k) plans, group auto and homeowners insurance and long-term care insurance. Outsourcing is stripping in-house expertise from companies, creating for Paradigm more opportunities to manage and communicate benefits.

PASSPORT HEALTH COMMUNICATIONS
Health care information technology
Franklin • (615)661-5657
www.passporthealth.com
Jim Lackey, CEO
Fifteen years after building an electronic claim submission product for his physician-father to use with Medicare, Dan Proctor grasped how the Internet could connect “the islands of health care.” By 1996, he had founded Passport, which uses Internet-based and batch file processes to improve the administrative and financial performance of hospitals, physicians, and alternate-site health care providers. Now it is focusing on making patient registration more accurate and claims submissions more efficient to accelerate clients’ revenue cycles.

PEOPLETECH
Audio/video support, equipment
Nashville • (615)333-3939
www.peopletechevents.com
Clay Sifford, CEO
Created in 1991 as Audio Visual Resources, PeopleTech adopted a new name earlier this year to better distinguish it from competitors. The company provides audio/visual equipment and technical support to conventions and corporate meetings across the country. Clay Sifford acquired sole ownership in 1998 and quickly changed its near-exclusive focus on Middle Tennessee to out-of-state events. PeopleTech’s 40 employees now are active with large meetings held in such cities as Chicago, Las Vegas, Orlando and New York.

PRO2SERVE PROFESSIONAL PROJECT SERVICES
Technical and engineering services
Oak Ridge • (865)483-2030
www.p2s.com
Barry Goss, chairman
Pro2Serve is finding no shortage of work designing and engineering facilities critical to the nation’s security. The firm, which earlier focused mostly on smaller, private sector contracts, has since 9/11 been busy on federal projects with such entities as BWXT Y12, Oak Ridge National Lab and the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Pro2Serve was founded in 1996 with $500,000 from a four-person group including Barry Goss, who started the company in response to the trend toward downsizing and project work.

QUALITY SYSTEMS
Resurfacing products
Nashville • (615)331-9200
www.permacrete.com
George Henderson, CEO
Frustrated in his efforts to find a product to resurface the area around his swimming pool, construction industry veteran George Henderson invested $250,000 of personal funds to engage chemists to find a solution. Two years later, in 1992, they invented PermaCrete, an acrylic polymer cement. Today, more than 1,000 dealers worldwide sell the product for resurfacing walls, driveways, patios and floors. The durable compound is bound to gain greater international notice as the PermaCrete dealer network grows 40% a year.

R.K. BARNES & ASSOCIATES
Real estate appraisal services
Brentwood • (615)369-0670
www.rkbarnes.com
Ken Barnes, president
Started in 1999 with $10,000 of personal funds of Robert K. (Ken) Barnes, R.K. Barnes & Associates has been profitable since its first year of operation. Currently with eight employees, the company provides real estate appraisal services, especially in the fast-growing suburban areas south of Nashville. Barnes expects some future growth opportunities to be realized by diversifying its services and expanding its geographic area of trade.

RENTECH
Managed data hosting
Nashville • (615)254-8324
www.rentech.net
Ken Nelson, president
Ken Nelson and Lep Andrews formed RenTech in 1998 with $45,000 from friends and family. Originally providing just IT consulting services, the group then began building Web-based applications for clients. By 1999, RenTech customers were asking for a secure redundant site to house their mission-critical Web applications, and the core product line of RenTech was launched. Companies increasingly are outsourcing their data hosting, which aids RenTech, as do recent disasters that create demand for reliable, off-site data storage.

RMR INVESTMENT CO.
Property developer, owner
Memphis • (901)681-0155
No Web Site
Robert Rogers, chief manager
Robert Rogers learned shopping center development at the side of the master—Jay Solomon, chairman of Arlen Shopping Centers and administrator of the General Services Administration in the 1970s. As a sole proprietor since 1984 and under the RMR Investment Co. aegis for the past 10 years, Rogers has developed or owned 71 properties throughout Tennessee and six other states. The company’s future growth is assured through plans for additional hotel development in Texas, Virginia, Tennessee and Washington, D.C.

RUNNING PONY PRODUCTIONS
Film, video, digital production
Memphis • (901)683-6693
www.runningpony.com
Gary Blankenship, Jonathan Epstein
& Rod Starns, owners
Co-founders Gary Blankenship and Jonathan Epstein spotted businesses’ need for broadcast-quality video during their stints in television broadcasting, including at WMC-TV, where Rod Starns also worked. Launched in 1994 with a $25,000 loan from a friend, Running Pony produces corporate image videos, sales and marketing presentations, video news releases, media training, commercials and public service announcements. Its clients include broadcast and cable networks, corporations, advertising and PR firms, and local businesses and nonprofit organizations.

SAFET SYSTEMS
Electronic systems
Knoxville • (865)693-0095
www.safetsystems.com
Heather Luttrell, general manager
Created in 2000 as a burglar alarm sales and installation firm, SafeT Systems now provides comprehensive protection and electronic systems services. Majority-owned by co-founder Heather Luttrell, the company is growing quickly due to industry expansion, greater security demands at governmental buildings, greater demand for fire alarm systems at health care facilities and schools, and the construction of up-scale, Knoxville-area homes needing integrated networks. SafeT Systems reached profitability in 2003.

SMS HOLDINGS CORP.
Facility maintenance services
Nashville • (615)399-1839
www.smsholdings.com
Keith Wolken, chairman
Founded in 1988 by the late Bill Coakley, SMS Holdings began as Service Management Systems, a company unit that now provides housekeeping and maintenance for 150 shopping malls in 32 states. Another unit, Valor Security Services, was started in 1991 to provide shopping mall security. SMS’s PrimeFlight Aviation Services is in 60 airports, while SMS’s FirstLine Transportation Security has a $35 million contract to handle screening at Kansas City International airport. SMS expects to hit $300 million in annualized revenue in 2005.

SPHERIS
Medical transcription services
Franklin • (615)261-1500
www.spheris.com
Steven Simpson, CEO
Spheris was formed from the 2003 merger of its predecessor Total eMed with EdiX. Both companies were pioneering improved ways of converting doctors’ recorded notes into usable transcriptions. The result: a merged company with 3,000 medical transcriptionists scattered across the United States and Canada, typically sending their completed work back over the Internet. Currently serving more than 300 health care systems, hospitals and clinics, Spheris sees future opportunities in such advanced technologies as voice recognition and dictation templates.

STATEMENT RENDERING SOLUTIONS
Print and mail document processing
Nashville • (615)269-4566
www.statementrendering.com
Gary Semanchik, CEO
After selling his business forms company in 1998, Gary Semanchik promptly started Statement Rendering Solutions to make document processing and mailing more efficient. An outsource provider for print and mail products, the 37-employee company started with $100,000 of Semanchik’s and a $500,00 loan from Cumberland Bank South. Selling through forms and printing distributors, SRS has adopted the USPS confirm service and Planet Codes, barcodes that allow mail to be tracked through the system.

TLC MEDICAL OXYGEN & HOSPITAL EQUIPMENT
Home medical equipment
Franklin • (615)591-1988
No Web Site
Monty Lankford, CEO
This durable medical equipment company was started by Monty Lankford in 1996 using some of the proceeds from the sale of his stake in an earlier business. Profitable after one year of operation, TLC supplies to patients in their homes such items as wheelchairs, nebulizers and Cpap (continuous positive airway pressure) devices used to treat sleep apnea. TLC targets annual revenue of $15 million by 2010, or much sooner if it makes acquisitions.

TOYOS VISION
Eye care services
Memphis • (901)683-7255
www.toyosvision.com
Dr. Rolando Toyos
Begun three years ago with $500,00 supplied by ophthalmologist Rolando Toyos, Toyos Vision offers Lasik and retina surgery, and it diagnoses and treats cataracts and glaucoma. The Toyos Vision Aesthetic Clinic performs microdermabrasion, permanent hair reduction, laser vein treatment, Botox and laser skin resurfacing. The company has clinics in Union City, Brownsville, Bolivar, McKenzie, Paris, Jackson and Martin, in addition to Memphis. Future growth is expected from expansion of the refractive surgery market and the aesthetics practice.

TSG ENTERPRISES
Auditing of utility expenses
Cordova • (901)388-3106
www.tsgenterprises.com
Sharon Watkins, CEO
TSG Enterprises was started 12 years ago by Sharon Watkins. It helps companies save money by providing audit services for telecom and utility invoices. The company also offers expense management using pre-payment audits that correct errors before payments are made. In October, TSG launched a new program geared for small companies, which traditionally have been overlooked by expense management services. The 20-person firm has been profitable since its second year.

VALOCITY
Real estate appraisal services
Germantown • (901)758-8644
www.valocity.com
Shawn McGowan, CEO
Founded six years ago as Appraisal Forum by Bethany and Carsten Kaaz, the company took the name Valocity in April 2004. Its Instant Access product is a Web-based appraisal and data storage system that enables clients to order, track, receive and store residential property information and valuation reports. Valocity employs 71 people, including staff appraisers, and has a network of more than 1,800 independent contract appraisers nationwide. In 2003, at the urging of private equity investor Delta Capital, Valocity recruited CEO Shawn McGowan from San Diego.

THE WHITE STONE GROUP
Computer software
Knoxville • (865)531-4545
www.voicert.com
Guille Cruze, CEO
Although it was formed in 1991, The White Stone Group didn’t begin marketing its current core product until 1998. Since then, the company’s VoiCert software has been licensed to more than 230 hospitals, which use it to automate and document the insurance authorization process with some 90 managed care organizations. The voice-based computer telephony system reduces medical providers’ time in the insurance authorization process by as much as 90%. Clients include HCA, Tenet and Methodist Healthchoice of Memphis.

WILLS HANDYMAN
Handyman repair services
Nashville • (615)352-1228
www.willshandyman.com
Wendell Harmer, owner
From fixing rotten fascia, columns and door jams, to plumbing, painting and plastering, Wills Handyman has operated profitably since 2000, the year it started. An affiliate of The Wills Co., which pro- vides residential renovation services in Nashville, the company benefits from the smaller “honey do” needs of Wills’ renovation clients. Wills Handyman has nine employees and expects future growth fueled by the lack of professional handyman services that can handle as comprehensive a range of home repairs.

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