The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Fast Track 50 marks 25th anniversary
The annual Lake-Geauga Fast Track 50 business a wards ceremony always provides plenty to celebrate.
Whether it’s winning that first Fast Track 50 award, being announced as the No. 1 Emerging or Established company, or capturing one of the specialty awards such as Entrepreneur of the Year, the event has brought well-deserved recognition to many businesses and the people who own and them.
With a history of highlighting hard work, success and innovation, perhaps it’s only fitting that the 2017 gala will mark another key milestone — the 25th anniversary of the Lake-Geauga Fast Track 50 event itself.
The occasion should conjure up some fond memories for the many Lake and Geauga County businesses who have enjoyed the spotlight at the event since it kicked off in 1993.
One Fast Track 50 mainstay has been Then Design Architecture of Willoughby. Although Then Design wasn’t part of the inaugural Fast Track 50, the architectural firm has captured 16 FT50 awards in the event’s 24-year history.
“It’s our community. It’s where we live,” said Robert Fiala, Then Design founder and managing partner. “And to be recognized by the local community is something special.”
Meeting a need
Creating a business awards event infused with more local flavor is what the founders of Fast Track 50 had in mind when they began brainstorming ideas for such a program in the early 1990s. Area business leaders such as Peter Ferrante and Gregory J. Skoda had noticed that business awards programs at the time either seemed to focus more on Cleveland and Cuyahoga County businesses, or else invited entries from such a large number of Northeast Ohio counties that businesses from Lake and Geauga counties ended up receiving minimal recognition.
So in 1993, a group of sponsors, including The News-Herald, launched the Lake-Geauga Fast Track 50, an awards competitions strictly for businesses based in the two county area.
“I believed — and I still do — that growing companies in Lake and Geauga counties deserve to be recognized,” said Skoda, who is co-founder and chairman of Skoda Minotti CPAs, Business and Financial Advisors, a current Fast Track 50 sponsor. In 1993, the firm headed by Skoda was known as Skoda, Minotti, Reeves and Company Certified Public Accountants and served as one of the original co-sponsors of Fast Track 50. “(Since 1993), we’ve recognized hundreds of different companies in a diverse array of industries through the Fast Track 50 program. It’s become a true point of pride for award winners. These companies place their Fast Track 50 plaques on their walls, and employees and friends always attend a first-class event. The award is a positive reinforcement for all that the winning company has accomplished.”
Winning numbers
The method for calculating winners of the Fast Track 50 has remained
fairly constant from the beginning. Fast Track 50 award recipients in a given year are chosen, and ranked, based on a weighted average of 80 percent sales growth and 20 percent employment growth for the previous five-year period. For example, 2017 winners will be determined based on sales and employment increases from 2012 through 2016. To be eligible for the award, companies must be located within the two-county region, be organized as a forprofit business, and must have a sales profit for 2012 of at least $250,000.
To more fairly compare larger and smaller companies, the Fast Track 50 is divided into Established and Emerging categories.
For 2017, Established companies must report revenue of at least $2.75 million in 2012, the baseline year for all evaluations. Emerging companies are required to have 2012 sales of between $250,000 and $2.75 million. There are 25 companies on each list.
In the beginning
One thing that has changed over the course of 24 years are the sales figures required for Fast Track 50 eligibility. For 1993’s first-ever FT50, Established companies were required to have 1988 sales of $1 million, while Emerging companies listed sales of between $100,000 and $1 million.
In 1993, based on the number of applications received from companies falling into each group, sponsors chose 21 Emerging companies and 29 Established
firms, rather than the 25/25 split that became the standard of future Fast Track 50 lineups.
Capturing the title of No. 1 Established company in the 1993 Lake-Geauga Fast Track 50 was Cleveland Construction Inc. of Mentor. Another Mentorbased company, STERIS Corp. finished as the No. 1 Emerging business.
Both companies established themselves as perennial Fast Track 50 powerhouses, as Cleveland Construction earned FT50 awards for the first seven years of the event and STERIS made the winners list for six straight years. Then both companies followed the same path — they exited the Fast Track 50 and never returned.
Staying on track
Over the years, a number of other companies established themselves as Fast Track 50 regulars, wiping out the streaks set by FT50 pioneers Cleveland Construction and STERIS. For example, Chemsultants International of Mentor made the Fast Track 50 for 17 straight years, between 1993 and 2009. Ranpak Corp. of Concord Township is a 16-time FT50 award winner; while Chardonbased CPA firm NMS Inc. — formerly known as Neece, Malec Seifert and Vitaz — has garnered 15 straight FT50 awards since 2002.
In addition to featuring repeat winners, the LakeGeauga Fast Track 50 has never lacked when it comes to the variety of companies honored. Manufacturers have always flexed their muscles on the Fast Track 50, but they’ve shared space over the years with firms specializing in engineering, human resources, financial service, home health care, information technologies, home construction and remodeling, and landscaping and horticulture.
One person who’s tracked the composition of the Fast Track 50 since the beginning is Peter Ferrante, a cofounder and former sponsor of the event. He now serves as branch manager and senior vice president – investments, discretionary portfolio management at the Benjamin F. Edwards office in Mentor. The Benjamin F. Edwards Mentor office is one of the current FT50 sponsors.
Ferrante said he admires Fast Track 50 businesses for their disciplined approach to success.
“What impresses me the most about the winners seem to be their focus and drive,” he said. “They seem to narrow their world and charge forward, ignoring things that distract others.”
Ferrante’s colleague at Benjamin F. Edwards in Mentor, Scott Marn, is vice president of investments at the firm, and serves as Fast Track 50 trustee board president. Marn said FT50 winners are models for other organizations to follow.
“It is amazing to watch Fast Track 50 startup companies grow in both revenues and employee growth, year in and year out,” Marn said. “Not to mention outgrowing one location and moving into a bigger one, or growing into a new market.”
Keeping it fresh
Celebrating the success of these businesses is the centerpiece of the annual Fast Track 50 dinner and awards program, held each year, traditionally on a Thursday night in early November, at Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites at LaMalfa in Mentor. This year’s program is Nov. 2, with networking kicking off the evening at 5:30 p.m.
But Fast Track 50 is about more than awards. The Fast Track Board of Trustees has worked diligently at adding new features to the event in recent years, said trustee Gretchen Skok DiSanto.
“Like the businesses that we honor each year, the Fast Track 50 trustees recognize that we need to innovate to ensure a high quality product, which in our case is an annual special event program,” said DiSanto, who also serves as director of Lakeland Community College’s Entrepreneurship Center and assistant professor in the business management department at the college. “Over the past few years, the Fast Track 50 trustees have introduced videos to the program, additional networking and team/ company photos along with new awards such as the Nonprofit of the Year Award (new this year). We survey our attendees each year and have received positive feedback from businesses who have seen the event transition and innovate over time.”
Mission accomplished
As Ferrante reflects on Fast Track 50 approaching its 25th anniversary, he believes that the event has succeeded in celebrating the achievements of hardworking entrepreneurs in Lake and Geauga counties.
“The staying power (of Fast Track 50) has been quite remarkable, Ferrante said. “I think the effort of the sponsors has been remarkable. The program has adapted to keep people interested.”
Moving forward, DiSanto believes the LakeGeauga Fast Track 50 will continue to provide a level of recognition for local businesses that they might not get from larger regional awards programs.
“As the name states, the Lake-Geauga Fast Track 50 is focused on the success of small businesses in our two incredible counties,” she said. “Your success won’t get ‘lost in the crowd’ at the Fast Track 50 because we honor companies that are engaged and active in our community and keep those winners in the news all year long.”