Packaging Services Inc. of Tennessee Greeneville Scott Sallah GM & co-owner Packaging Services' two owners, including Doug McKee, were captains in the Airborne Division at Fort Bragg who wanted to start their own business. Corrugated manufacturing was the third idea they came up with, and the rest is history. The company, founded with $250,000 in private funding, now boasts over $25 million in annual revenues and 125 employees. Their customers are primarily other manufacturing industries.

Paradigm Group Nashville Bob Levy President Group insurance veteran Levy founded Paradigm Group in 1996 and now serves more than 130 employers. Licensed in 48 states, Paradigm Group manages plans covering local and nationally dispersed workforces that encompass 40,000 covered lives. More than $150 million in health care premiums or equivalent is currently under its management. Many employers continue to accept minimal broker/consultant support in an era of shrinking HR staffs and rapidly rising benefits cost. Paradigm Group's key growth strategy is to identify such employers and introduce its expertise and concierge level of service.

Paradigm Productions Memphis Charles T. Gaushell principal & managing partner Founded in 1992 by Gaushell and R. Scott Carter, who were working together at an architectural firm and who shared a strong desire to provide 3-D computer graphics and animation services, Paradigm Productions has steadily progressed as a specialist in marketing services throughout the country for real estate, design, aviation, manufacturing, and institutional clients with an emphasis on marketing services, 3-D illustrations, virtual tours, video production, and interactive multimedia.

PivotHealth Brentwood John Phillips Founder, co-owner & CEO Started in 2003, PivotHealth provides physician practice management services, from looking at billing to customer service to improving patient flow, which often involves providing the CEO/Administrator, CFO, COO (where applicable) and other executive staff to better manage operations and boost financial health. The company is currently in early stage operations of new business lines including patient, provider and employee surveys, coding and compliance services, hospital-physician strategy implementation, and medical group consulting.

Praxis Brentwood David Fox President The fact that U.S. companies surpass all other countries to develop more drugs with tens of billions of dollars spent on R&D alone is good news for Praxis, which should continue to grow as the demand for clinical trials on new drugs increases. A patient recruitment/clinical research studies company, Praxis provides patient profiling and market potential analysis among other services to accelerate the drug development process in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.

Prepak Systems Cookeville Robert Allen President & CEO A turnkey custom pharmaceutical packaging and re-packager company, Prepak opened its doors about five years ago with only one contract in a 10,000-square-foot building. Today the company works out of a facility eight times that size that is DEA approved and FDA regulated and which can handle any size complex project. Growth opportunities include exploring the rising pharmaceutical and nutraceutical market demand for powder and liquid packaging services.

Pro2Serve Oak Ridge Barry Goss Founder Founded in 1996, Pro2Serve is a technical and engineering services company predominantly serving the defense industry. Engineering News-Record has named the company among the top U.S. design firms and largest overall designers of manufacturing facilities. The first tenant at the nation's first high-tech park at a national lab, the Oak Ridge Science and Technology Park, Pro2Serve is also heavily involved in local education efforts, including as a partner in a local effort aimed at recruiting skilled science professionals to teach in public schools and to enhance the subject area expertise of current teachers.

PureSafety Nashville William A. Grana Jr. CEO PureSafety launched as a direct result of a fatal accident that occurred in 1998 at Thompson Machinery Commerce Corp., the first and only employee fatality in the company's 60-year history. Management seeded and launched an Internet-based application to more effectively deliver, track, manage and report on its compliance-based safety training initiatives for its eleven locations. About a year later, recognizing the application had broader commercial appeal beyond heavy equipment dealers, Thompson Machinery spun the technology into its own company, PureSafety. Last year PureSafety acquired PerDatum and its Prognos software application.

Quality Industries La Vergne Fred A. Appel President & CEO An aluminum and steel components parts fabricator for large U.S. companies including Peterbilt trucks (a charter account), Quality was founded by Robert Russell 34 years ago. Though Russell is now deceased, his wife and four daughters maintain ownership and direct the company. Under Appel, Quality's revenues have grown over the last five years by nearly 150%, and employment more than doubled to around 550, following a significant recapitalization of the business.

RadiansBartlett Mike Tutor President & CEO This designer, marketer and distributor of safety and hunting equipment (goggles, hard hats, boots, gloves, flashlights, hearing protection—its own and lines made by DeWalt and Remington—serves clients including Lowe's, Home Depot and Bass Pro Shops. The eight-year-old company with additional facilities in Michigan and Nevada started with two employees but now boasts around 60 and is blowing away the industry's average growth rate.

RadiusPoint Memphis Sharon Watkins Founder & CEO Founded in 1986 using $10,000 deriving from a real estate sale, RadiusPoint (formerly TSG Enterprises) uses proprietary software to manage invoices from telecom, wireless or utility providers and ensure on behalf of clients that there are no mistakes or extra charges in the bills. Clients include Cleveland-based Check Into Cash (1,250 locations) and Shelby County Schools. Earlier this year, Watkins set up shop in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, at the World Trade Center to service European clients. The company is also now offering the licensing of its software.

RIVR Media Knoxville Dee Bagwell Haslam CEO Knoxville is the nation's fifth largest cable television production market, largely due to Ross Bagwell Sr., founder of the studios that became both Scripps Howard and RIVR Media. Today, Bagwell's daughter, along with her business partner Rob Lundgren, runs one of America's largest independent production companies, with particular expertise in the reality, how-to, home improvement, lifestyle and documentary genres—all red hot forms of entertainment. Future growth is being fueled by a push into broadband interactive content.

RM Technologies Group Knoxville Paul Sponcia CEO Co-founded by Jimmy Rodefer in 1998, this company has grown 301%, according to Inc. magazine. (Rodefer is the man behind Rodefer Moss & Co, a full-service tax, accounting and business consulting firm located in Knoxville.) Combining Sponcia's knowledge of IT infrastructure, custom applications, and technical communications with Rodefer's knowledge of professional services organizations and consulting, RM Technologies has grown into one of the largest IT infrastructure solutions providers in the region.

Saratoga Technologies Johnson City David Temple President One of America's fastest-growing IT companies, Saratoga has customers of all sizes throughout North America, Europe and Africa. Originated as a subsidiary of Saratoga Software, which is headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, as a software development house for packaged business software, Saratoga now specializes in information and communications technology solutions and has acquired numerous companies since 2001. As large international firms send jobs overseas to cut costs, Saratoga is bringing jobs to the local market.

SeeMore Putter Co. Franklin Jim Grundberg Co-owner Consumers crave the next great golf product to help them lower their handicap. SeeMore Putter's new owners, including Jason Poulliot, had planned to revive the company patiently when they bought it last September. Instead, eight months later, PGA golfer Zach Johnson won the Masters golf tournament using a SeeMore. The repeated closeups of the Tennessee product put the company's revitalization plan into overdrive as they try to leverage all that free publicity.

Selective Structures Athens Marsha Cole Founder Lighted message boards and flip-screen billboards canvass the roadways. Government-funded electronic message boards flash traffic and Amber alerts on highways and bi-ways. Traffic congestion is increasing commute times in America's largest cities. It's all good news for the outdoor advertising industry, and for Cole's business, the nation's largest maker of outdoor support structures.

ShortBarkIndustries Tellico Plains Lisa Held Janke Founder, president & CEO Janke, then a 25-year-old fashion college graduate, founded SBI in 1991, re-starting her deceased father's camouflage clothing manufacturer with eight of his former employees. First-year sales, achieved out of Janke's garage, reached $250,000. In 2002, Janke foresaw the near complete migration of cut-and-sew apparel operations to offshore locations and began seeking out alternative opportunities. She landed her first purchase order for automotive seat covers serving the heavy duty truck market—a product with much better margins—in 2003. Soon, SBI was substantially transformed from apparel to automotive supplier. Today, Janke employs over 350 people, and while a decline in heavy duty truck manufacturing could damper profits, marine, military and Department of Defense growth opportunities are substantial.

Siskind Susser Bland Memphis Greg Siskind Shareholder Legal immigrants have hurdles of their own, and Siskind Susser Bland, one of America's largest and best-known immigration law firms, helps them through the obstacle course of immigration services. With 80% revenue growth since last year, Siskind Susser clients include International Paper, Cirque du Soleil, Prada, Community Health Systems, and the British Broadcasting Corporation. In 2006, the firm acquired the Eric Bland law firm in New York, further expanding its presence in the arts/sports/fashion immigration law arena. If Congress passes immigration reform legislation currently under consideration, it would have a major positive impact on the market for immigration legal services.

Smart Furniture Chattanooga Stephen Culp CEO During a 1995 visit to the Yahoo! corporate digs, Culp decided to rid the world of Dilbert-like office cubes, and thus gave birth to a business that lets people design, order and receive attractive furniture for home or office—all within a five-day span. (The pieces are made in and shipped from Chattanooga, not China.) Capitalizing on 132% annual growth, Culp and company are starting SmartFixtures.com.

SMS Holdings Corp. Nashville Keith Wolken CEO Since 1988, this family-run company has grown from one employee to nearly 14,000 within its four subsidiaries. Demand for beefed-up airport safety and streamlined services fueled growth for the housekeeping, security and facility services management company, spurring recent contracts at hubs like Jacksonville and Orlando, along with deals at more than 60 airports around the world. With annual revenue approaching $300 million, the company also plans to expand into the hospitality and health care markets.

Sommet Group Franklin Brian Whitfield Co-founder & managing partner Formed in 2003, this outsourced business services outfit (HR administration, payroll processing, IT consulting, etc.) quietly went about its business until it recently became naming rights partner with the Nashville Predators professional hockey club on Nashville's downtown arena. The constant marketing buzz created through the newly christened Sommet Center, as its name enters the vernacular of Nashvillians attending Preds games and Hannah Montana concerts alike, is expected to yield dividends.

Southern Land Co. Franklin Timothy Downey Founder & CEO SLC has been designing and building distinct communities for two decades, embracing the detail, architecture, horticulture, streetscapes and general character of the best-loved neighborhoods in the United States. Now with well over 300 employees, $100 million in revenues and $1 billion in active projects, the company is expanding into five Texas markets and creating a mortgage company. A slowdown in the housing market could slow SLC's rapid revenue growth.

Spheris Franklin Steven E. Simpson President & CEO With over 6,000 employees (250 local), and over $200 million in revenue, Spheris was recently listed as the 22nd largest health care technology company in the U.S. by Healthcare Informatics magazine. The provider of outsourced medical transcription services and clinical documentation technology to more than 500 health systems, hospitals and group practices nationwide offers 24-hour, 365-days-a-year customer support via 5,500 skilled medical language specialists, including at locations in India.

Staffmark Brentwood David Bartholomew CEO Among the top 25 staffing companies nationally, with operations in nearly 30 states, over 850 employees, and over 250 offices (including 30 stretching across Tennessee), Staffmark gets pigeonholed as an Arkansas company because CEO Bartholomew's financial partners and the company's back office functions are located in Little Rock. However, Bartholomew, the immediate past chairman of the American Staffing Association, is located at the company's corporate offices in Brentwood. An average of 25,000 people per week go to work via Staffmark.

Telesensors Knoxville William Milam President First, there were sensors. Then, in 2003, Milam started making smart sensors, which are low-cost, wireless, and can detect nuclear, chemical and biological agents. Naturally, clients in the business of homeland security, biomedical, automotive and industrial process control are very interested in what his shop produces next.

The Bun Companies Nashville/Dickson Cordia Harrington Founder & CEO President George W. Bush visited "The Bun Lady" Harrington's Nashville operation in July. It's proof of how conspicuous Harrington's business has become. The maker of baked goods (namely sandwich buns) for food chains such as McDonalds is a well-known local entrepreneurial success story, including her roll out of cold storage and transport divisions in recent years. Harrington's latest coups are winning a contract to supply 112 Puerto Rico McDonald's locations and her takeover of dough manufacturing for O'Charley's restaurants through her newest company, Cornerstone.

The Lampo Group Brentwood Dave Ramsey Founder & CEO Radio personality Dave Ramsey has built a multi-media empire around the dispensing of financial advice. Helping people pull themselves up by the financial bootstraps has had a reciprocal effect. Ramsey's Lampo Group now employs around 200 people and has been growing at a rapid clip. That's sure to increase even more in light of Ramsey's new primetime television program on the new FOX Business News cable channel. (See cover story, page 32.)

The Southwestern Co. Nashville Henry Bedford CEO America's oldest direct selling company began giving college students the opportunity to run their own businesses and forge their own life skills as salespeople in 1868. Today, the $264 million company markets family-oriented, educational and reference books and CD-ROMs through a sales force of 3,000 college students each summer from over 400 colleges and universities around the world. Southwestern Investment Services, a corporated business in the Southwestern/Great American family of companies, is also fast growing.

Unarco Material Handling Springfield Gary Slater President Unarco's April purchase of Texas-based KingwayInca-Clymer Material Handling made the company the nation's second largest pallet rack maker—the devices used in warehouses to hold pallets of goods. Around since the 1950s, the company is known for offering the most diverse warehouse storage product line in the industry. Satellite offices are located in Detroit and Chicago.

Unistar-Sparco Computers Millington Soo-Tsong Lim Co-founder & president Founded in 1994 by two Mississippi State students (including Mubashir Cheema) in their dorm room long before the e-commerce boom began, the online IT hardware and software equipment sales company boasts several federal government contracts and an increasing international presence. Doing business as Sparco.com, the company moved to Millington in 2003, smartly setting up shop across the street from Ingram Micro, the world's largest computer distributor.

United Enertech Chattanooga Bill Tate CEO Tate studied his father's engineering schoolbooks until he could recite them verbatim. After graduating from UT-Chattanooga, he started United Air Products. In 1988, he formed United Enertech Corp. and completed his patented personalized control system, Private Aire. United Enertech manufactured this wireless remote-controlled temperature zone control system until the patent was sold. In 1998, Tate sold United Air Products to focus on United Enertech. The manufacturer of HVAC products now employs 100 people.

UT-Batelle Oak Ridge Thom Mason Director While not a typical privately held company, UT-Batelle, manager of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Department of Energy, is a 50-50 LLC between the University of Tennessee and Batelle Memorial Institute of Columbus, Ohio, created in 1999 and headquartered in Tennessee for the sole purpose of managing ORNL. With 4,200 employees and $1.2 billion in revenue (up from $1.02 the previous year and up from $560 million in 2000), it is America's fastest-growing lab. With a business plan focused on nuclear power, bioenergy, climate and high performance computing, the future appears bright.

Vaco Nashville Jerry Bostelman Founder Vaco means "to free oneself from a Master," in Latin. Each of the company's offices, which stretch from Tampa to Los Angeles, is its own LLC run by a stakeholder who is encouraged to creatively run their own office. Recently named the 33rd fastest-growing company in America by Inc. magazine, Vaco is a consulting and executive placement firm serving the finance, accounting, technology and administration fields. Started by UT graduate and Gulf War veteran Bostelman with a $200 investment in software less than five years ago, Vaco is now an over $60 million company. No wonder Ernst & Young named Bostelman an entrepreneur of the year in 2007 for the Alabama/Georgia/Tennessee region. Other founding partners were Brian Waller and Jay Hollomon.

Video Gaming Technologies Smyrna Jon Yarbrough CEO A $185 million designer and manufacturer of casino gaming equipment that leases its machines for a percentage of the revenue to more than 100 facilities in Oklahoma, Texas, California and Mexico, VGT moved its corporate headquarters from South Carolina in 2006. But efforts to relocate more of its operation to Middle Tennessee were thwarted because state law prohibited VGT from producing the software that's incorporated in its gambling devices. Significant engineering investment and new technologies hitting the expanding casino gaming market are expected to fuel future growth.

Vindex Pharmaceuticals Memphis Jeff King President & CEO Founded in 2002, this specialty pharmaceutical company markets branded, prescription pharmaceuticals in the respiratory, women's heath care, and pain management therapeutic areas and currently employs 40 people. Working to become a national pharmaceutical company, Vindex's revenue growth is in the top quartile of peer companies. Growth could come through future strategic partnerships with other companies and/or licensing agreements allowing the company to bring new products and technologies to market, and through internal development of new products.

Vireo Systems Madison Mark Faulkner President We've learned that amino acids are the building blocks of life, but most of us weren't told you can build a business with them, too. Mark Faulkner's Vireo Systems develops specialty amino acids for athletic performance nutrition, such as the compounds contained in Con-Cret, a legal athletic performance enhancement compound. Con-Cret is on the shelves at all GNC retail outlets in the Unites States. The customers of Vireo products are not the only ones getting bulked up. Vireo's revenue forecast predicts strong growth; Faulkner says he has four other products in various stages of development or launch.

Walden Security Chattanooga Amy S. Walden Co-founder, chairman & CEO A Certified Women's Business Enterprise (WBE), and a family business (Walden's husband Michael is a co-founder), Walden's growth is well above industry average and has boosted it from the nation's 33rd largest security company to #24. Now in 16 states, the $33 million revenue, 1,600-employee company provides security guards to commercial, residential and government properties, from gated communities to hospitals.

WireMasters Columbia David C. Hill President & CEO The company was founded in 1988 in Franklin to support the aviation, aerospace and military defense markets with military specification wire, cable, connectors and other parts used in the manufacture of electronic cable controls in planes, missiles, helicopters, tanks, ships, even space shuttles and satellites. Hill exercised an employee buyout of the company in 2001 using $4 million in leveraged asset bank financing. Today, the 80-employee, $39 million-plus company is bidding on the largest defense retrofit in recent history and working to help develop more sophisticated weapons and support devices for the fight against world terrorism.

World Testing Mt. Juliet Robert O'Neal President Founded in 1979 by Vernon L. O'Neal Sr., this subcontractor for construction and engineering firms nationwide tests building materials like structural steel, castings and piping for integrity, compliance with codes and customer specifications in fabrications and welding operations. O'Neal, Sr. passed away in 2002 leaving his two sons, Bob and Vernon L. O'Neal Jr. (corporate secretary) to run the company. Recent clients include Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, Stonecrest Hospital and Schermerhorn Symphony Center. World Testing has a Millington satellite office.

Wunderlich Securities Memphis Gary Wunderlich Jr. Founder & CEO This investment business launched in 1996 after Wunderlich and others bought Crisler Tipton & Co., a longtime Memphis entity. Within a few years, the eight-person company, including partner and president Philip Zanone Jr., had expanded to Houston, Chicago and St. Louis. Earlier this year Wunderlich bought Capital Securities of America, expanding to Orlando, Phoenix, Portland and Seattle among other cities. The full-service brokerage firm with $3.5 billion in assets under management also has three New York offices (a total of 160 brokers) and operates other major business lines including private client services, institutional fixed-income trading and investment banking.