NIGHTLIGHT PEDIATRIC

sugarland, texas

founders: dr. anastasia gentles, Zawadi bryant, ceo (left), connie cazares revenue: $7 million

employees: 71 ten years ago, dr. anastasia gentles spent hours seeing children with fevers and ear infections who wound up in an emergency room for lack of other options in those after-school hours when primary-care doctors were gone for the day. so dr. gentles came up with the idea of an urgent-care center just for kids and enlisted a friend from church, Zawadi bryant, who was then an executive at bp and is now nightlight’s ceo. today, the women (along with partner connie cazares) have five locations in texas, with two more in the works, and the centers see more than 50,000 patients a year. with health insurance in flux, nightlight is looking into a membership program, where people would sign up for a monthly subscription. the company has shunned outside investors but is now talking with private equity firms. “we probably have three to four years until the bigger players start to consolidate,” bryant says. “we want to be one of those larger players.”