Flexial Cookeville Richard Larsen President Manufacturer Flexial's metallic bellows components are in the International Space Station, the world's deepest oil wells and most U.S. electrical power distribution stations. It's developing the first implant mechanism to derive energy from human muscle to drive a heart pump. Currently, the company is engineering components for the new Ares I rocket that will replace the space shuttle and for the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle that will carry astronauts to the ISS, the moon and Mars. It will have controls in the Mars Rover.

FormallAndersonville Gerd Krohn Owner & CEO The plastic products maker (kayak seats, golf cart paths) has since Krohn's 1993 purchase grown from a 35-employee, $4 million company to an approximately $45 million company with over 230 employees. A contractor for Florida-based Portable On Demand or PODS units, Krohn co-invented that company's new foldable storage units, which collapse for long distance hauling, capturing a long-term contract with PODS to manufacture the devices.

Gene Burton & Associates Franklin Suzan Logan President & CEO Most of America's 5,000 hospitals were built in the 1960s and 70s and are worn out. The oldest and largest medical equipment and technology planning firm in the United States, Gene Burton & Associates serves health care facilities, architects and contractors on health care construction projects. Founded in 1988 with personal funds from founder Gene D. Burton, the company has planned the medical equipment and/or the technology/communications infrastructure for more than 700 health care construction projects across the country.

Global Industrial Components Woodbury Gerald Toledo Founder After 25 years of sales and operations experience in the standard and specialty fasteners industry, Toledo started GIC in 1994 out of his garage as a small fastener business. Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) certified, Toledo is today one of Tennessee's largest distributors of specialty components to the automotive, health care, lawn and garden, marine and energy industries. Products also include castings, gaskets and filters and oils and lubricants. Toledo is a tireless advocate for MBE business growth.

Griffin Technologies Franklin Paul Griffin Founder Former electrical engineer Griffin started his company 15 years ago making adapters for Apple Macintosh computers, making them work on PCs, bringing his electronic know-how, distinctive design sense and innovative approach to the Macintosh community. Today, his company is one of the largest makers of peripheral products for all things Mac, including iPod. A global player in the development of world-class electronics and accessories for PC, gaming, audio, video and iPod, Griffin's name is synonymous with ingenious technological design in his industry.

HometownQuotes Franklin Hunter Ingram CEO Launched in 2003 by two former insurance agents intent on helping consumers comparison shop for insurance and give insurance agents opportunities to expand their businesses, the company has to date assisted more than 700,000 consumers. The online insurance-led generation industry is growing more popular as consumers increasingly turn to the Internet to quickly compare local insurance quotes and make purchases. HometownQuotes also forms strategic alliances with large insurance agencies and national insurance carriers.

IdleAire Technologies Knoxville Michael Crabtree President, CEO & chairman Founder A.C. Wilson's patented technologies includes external systems that deliver to a truck cab heat, air, even Internet, cable television and other creature comforts through a window console—without the noise, fumes, vibration, wear and tear of an idling rig (and saving fuel). Available at 8,200 parking spaces in 33 states, there is still plenty of room to grow, given federal rules requiring idling. The company's 1,500 investors are on the verge of an IPO.

Infrastructure Corporation of America Brentwood Howard H. (Butch) Eley CEO State road budgets are tight. State and federal gas taxes aren't keeping up. The federal transportation budget has been slashed. States including Tennessee are pushing toll roads as options. ICA pioneered outsourced management of highways, bridges and transportation asset management. Just seven years old and with over 200 employees working in four states (though not Tennessee), the company recently inked a five-year deal with North Carolina to maintain the interstates around Charlotte.

J.E. Crain & Son Nashville Lewis Rankin CEO Middle Tennessee is booming and this general contractor for commercial, industrial and institutional projects is seizing the opportunity. Nearly 75-year-old J.E. Crain projects include the Belle Meade Town Center, Baha'i of Nashville and Carothers Park Shoppes. It was recently announced as the builder on a new nine-story, 192-room, $20 million Hilton Garden Inn at the site of a former funeral home at Broadway and 18th Street in Nashville. The company recently completed a similar project in SoBro.

Kenco Logistic Services Chattanooga Jim Kennedy III Chairman & owner America's largest family-owned third-party logistics provider delivers complex supply chain solutions to Fortune 500 companies needing warehousing and distribution, transportation, technology, real estate management, and material handling equipment. Founded in 1950 with $25,000 and one warehouse by the fathers of the current owners, Kennedy and Sam Smart Jr., Kenco today is a 3,300-plus employee, $270 million company with over 90 facilities across 22 states and Canada, and over 21 million square feet of distribution space.

Lifeguard Medical Solutions Nashville Harvard Reynolds Co-founder Last July, an 85-year-old man collapsed near the front desk of the Fall Creek Falls Inn at the state park in Bledsoe County. State Sen. Bo Watson (R-Hixson), a physical therapist at Parkridge Medical Center, was on site and with others saved the man's life using an automated external defibrillator provided by LifeGuard, one of the nation's largest AED providers. Reynolds co-founded the company with Chet Frist in 1999 after Reynolds' father died of sudden cardiac arrest in the home. The availability of on-site cardiac care in public places is becoming the norm. CPR/AED training is another LifeGuard offering, including for corporate clients like the Department of Homeland Security, NASA and Macy's/Bloomingdale's.

Magazines.com Franklin Jay Clarke President & CEO In the late 1990s, the Internet was white hot, "dot-com" meant "millionaire" and the magazine market was uncharted territory begging for a shot in cyberspace. The result: Magazines.com—an online magazine newsstand where customers can subscribe to one or several of about 1,600 magazine titles. With the backing of major investors Anderson Media and Time Inc. and a lucrative, commission-based business model, Magazines.com has grown at a compounded annual rate of more than 70% over the last seven years.

MedSolutions Franklin Curt Thorne CEO This 650-employee company works in concert with health plans to reign in costs associated with radiology or medical imaging services by helping doctors choose appropriate exams and avoid unnecessary, costly procedures. MedSolutions has been growing between 50% and 70% per year over the past six years. As imaging technology continues to improve and correct use remains a cost issue, MedSolutions stands to benefit.

Merit Construction Knoxville Bruce A. Bosse President Now in its 25th year in commercial and industrial construction, the over 100-employee company has annual revenues in excess of $100 million. Initially formed as the open shop subsidiary of a larger construction company, Merit became independent in 1990. One avenue of future growth is its relationship with fellow Hot100 company, Idleaire, for whom Merit has built many new service centers, including ones in Knoxville, Dallas, West Memphis, Ark., The Bronx and Syracuse, N.Y.

Nashville Mixed Martial Arts/Gameness Nashville Shane Messer President Having acquired a stake in the company that trains full-contact fighters and distributes clothing for the martial arts industry, Messer's Incubator Group is lobbying the Tennessee legislature to help promote mixed martial arts events in Tennessee. But the 31-year-old serial entrepreneur (who left the corporate world shortly after being named CIO of Nashville's Aladdin Industries at age 24), also has a hand in real estate, IT and nonprofit ventures here and overseas.

National Print Group Chattanooga Phil Harris CEO The over 50-year-old retail signage specialist counts among its clients Coca-Cola, Target and McKee Foods. It recently made a $12 million investment in what is the largest litho press in North America, a 600,000-pound, 81-inch, seven-color sheet-fed press that required the aid of 35 flat bed trucks to deliver. More recently, the company announced plans to consolidate all eastern U.S operations in Chattanooga.

National Service Associates Knoxville Charles R. West CEO Banks, retail stores, convenience stores, restaurant chains and other companies turn to NSA when they need speedy change in the physical presentation of their image to their customers and vendors. Masters in the art of corporate field services solutions, NSA once completed a 45-day project visiting 10,500 locations across all 50 states to assist Cardtronics—the nation's largest ATM operator—in a re-branding effort. Other clients have included BP, BankOne, Chase Bank and American Express.

NationLink Wireless Franklin Andy Bailey President With special attention to GPS location solutions and RIM BlackBerry applications, along with paging and wireless messaging services, NationLink currently ranks as Tennessee's largest provider and as the 7th largest distributor in its category nationwide. Founded in 1993 with $6,000 from Andy and Nicole Bailey's savings account and the purchase of 100 pagers, NationLink has steadily ridden the technology wave, anticipating new products and constantly evolving to meet its clients' wireless needs.

Navarro Research and Engineering Oak Ridge Susana Navarro-Valenti President & founder The 29th fastest growing Hispanic-owned business in the nation, according to Hispanic Business magazine, Navarro contracts with the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration to provide safety analysis, engineering services, IT and emergency management to government agencies. Navarro has 14 offices, over 300 employees and 23 projects currently, including a $20 million joint venture for solid waste management at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

Nucsafe Oak Ridge Rick Seymour CEO The demand for effective homeland security products will continue for the foreseeable future. Nucsafe, a Department of Defense contractor, designs and makes state-of-the-art radiation detectors and monitors (some backpack-sized) for sniffing out contraband bomb-grade uranium, among other items. The company, with about 100 shareholders, formed in 1999 with a $150,000 private investment.

Onyx Medical Memphis Laraine Gilmore Co-founder & president Amid the rich landscape of orthopedic and musculoskeletal-related companies in the Bluff City is Onyx, founded in 1990 by Gilmore and her husband Roger, who are the makers of thousands of wires, guide pins, half pins, drills and screws purchased by nearly all the world's largest orthopedic companies to assist the orthopedic trauma industry in putting people back together again after traumatic accidents like car wrecks.

Ozburn-Hessey Logistics Brentwood Scott McWilliams CEO Frank Ozburn and Kenneth Hessey started the company in 1951 with less than $10,000, mostly debt. Today the 4,000-employee, $670 million company is one of the largest privately held third party logistics companies in the United States, ranked #46 on the top 50 Global 3PLs list by Armstrong & Associates, as reported in Logistics Management magazine. The provider of supply chain management solutions including international and domestic transportation, warehousing, customs brokerage, freight forwarding, and import and export consulting services, operates over 100 distribution centers serving the food service consolidation, industrial, electronic and high tech, health and beauty, and consumer products industries, among others.