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2001 St. Louis Regional
Fast 50 Technology awards
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2001
FAST 50 Winners
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Siboney Corporation
Educational software
Timothy J. Tegeler
Chairman and CEO
325 N. Kirkwood Rd., Suite 310
St. Louis, MO 63122
314/909-1670
www.siboney.com
A FAST 50 newcomer, Siboney started in 1955 to explore oil in Cuba.
After the 1960 revolution, the company evolved into owning coal
properties, plastics production and domestic oil exploration. That
all changed in 1968 when it purchased Gamco, Inc., a company manufacturing
and selling educational products. In 1985 after Tim Tegeler, current
chairman and CEO, joined Siboney, he shed all unprofitable businesses
and focused his energies on Gamco, which is now Siboney Learning
Group.
This wholly owned subsidiary is the company’s focus. “Orchard Teacher’s
Choice Software is the group’s flagship product,” says Bodie Marx,
president. Designed, manufactured, sold and distributed by Siboney,
the Orchard program allows teachers to offer writing, reading and
arithmetic lessons on the computer. “The programs are highly interactive
and engaging,” Marx states. The company is expanding the product
to include simulated state testing assessments. Siboney employs
almost 60 people at its Kirkwood headquarters, Hanley Industrial
Court fulfillment center and other offices throughout the United
States.
Software Plus
Software licensing
Patty Malashock
President
10880 Baur Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63132
314/692-7638
www.swpnet.com
Founded in 1984, Software Plus is a FAST 50 newcomer. The company
provides software licensing solutions to companies of all sizes.
Its more than 60 employees are located in 11 offices across the
United States. Software Plus specializes in licensing software to
corporations for server and workstation use to most efficiently
purchase their software. We also work hard to customize the way
we work with each client to suit the way they prefer to work. “We
work with all size companies, ranging from small businesses to Fortune
500 companies throughout the country. We have special teams that
work with academic institutions and government agencies,” says Patty
Malashock, president.
As the industry has changed so has Software Plus. “We are proud
to have maintained our leadership and cutting edge technology during
this turmoil in the computer software industry. One of the ways
we have expanded our business was by opening Gateway to the Web.
GTW provides our clients with web development, web hosting, consulting
and managed services, thus offering a more complete solution.” she
notes. In addition, all of the company’s clients have the ability
to manage all aspects of their account through Software Plus’ web
site.
Sonacom IT
Partners
IT consulting and integration
Michael S. McNeil
President
500 S. Ewing, Ste. A
St. Louis, MO 63103
314/781-1700
www.sonacom.com
A two-time FAST 50 winner, Sonacom IT Partners went through a few
changes in the last year. Mike McNeil, president and partner, purchased
the remainder of the company from Rick Oertli, founder. After the
deal was struck, Sonacom moved its 40 employees to the St. Louis
Business Center just east of downtown. “Where we’re not seeing changes,”
McNeil notes, “is that we’re profitable, and we’re still completely
conventionally financed.”
Even though Sonacom went through two major changes, employee turnover
remains low and morale high. “We have an open management style.
The employees are involved in what we do,” he states. “And we’ve
created an anti-IT culture. The company is very family oriented
and by 6 p.m. this place is dark. We have a relaxed atmosphere here;
it’s not a churn and burn operation.” Working primarily in the voice
and data networking and voice over IP convergence market, the company’s
clients are mostly in St. Louis.
Spartech Corp.
Thermoplastic materials, polymeric
compounds and molded and profile
product manufacturers
Bradley Buechler
Chairman, President and CEO
120 South Central Avenue, Ste. 1700
Clayton, MO 63105
314/721-4242
www.spartech.com
A five-time fast 50 winner, Spartech recorded its ninth consecutive
year of improved results in 2000. Sales were up 25 percent to more
than $960 million and earnings were up 16 percent to almost $50
million. The company completed two acquisitions, participated in
more than 50 product transformations and raised its quarterly cash
dividend. Spartech has more than 50 locations and 4,000 employees
around the world.
The company is a leading producer of engineered thermoplastic materials,
polymeric compounds, and molded and profile products. “Companies
are trying to differentiate their products and are looking to plastics’
unique characteristics, competitive price and low labor costs,”
notes Randy Martin, executive vice president and CFO. Spartech’s
products can be found in numerous applications—in the packaging
for the Swiffer Wet to the plastic lid for Kid’s Kitchen to manufactured
housing to pools and spas. “Serving diverse markets has helped during
the slowdown.” The company’s products are found in the packaging,
transportation, recreation and leisure, and building and construction
markets.
SyllogisTeks
Software development, networking
technologies and staffing
Tom Smith
CEO
Maurie Smith
President
16401 Swingley Ridge Road
Chesterfield, MO 63017
636/736-2100
www.syllogisteks.com
www.realgalaxy.com
Returning to the list as a three-time FAST 50 winner (and twice
a Sprint), SyllogisTeks® still provides IT staffing and consulting,
and permanent placement services, but the company is very enthusiastic
about its web design services and its software product—Real Agent
Web Suite™. “We had a friend in the real estate business who wanted
a web site. We built it and realized that effective real estate
agents didn’t have time to change and update their sites,” notes
Tom Smith, CEO. The company created a proprietary “scripting language”
and “template library” that make possible personalized agent web
sites that always contain current listing information, freeing the
agents to meet with clients and show homes while avoiding additional
costs to maintain their web pages. “It allows real estate agents
and offices to have web sites that are both relevant and dynamic,”
says Maurie Smith, president. To host all the agents’ newly created
sites, the company started a hosting division called RealGalaxy.com.
The company employs more than 70 people and local clients include
Alliance BlueCross BlueShield, AG Edwards and Express Scripts.
SynApps Software
IT consulting and custom software development
Skip Martin
President
11854 Lackland Rd.
St. Louis, MO 63146
314/692-0202
www.synappsinc.com
A three-time winner, SynApps Software was previously known as PC
Innovators Consulting. “We moved exclusively into the life sciences
industry,” says Skip Martin, president. “We needed to change our
name to reflect the new focus and to be specifically medical and
scientific in nature.” The company spun off its staffing business
and now focuses on creating large scale bioinformatic products that
help in lab automation or genomic data research, for example. “The
bioinformatic software opportunities are huge, and we’re positioned
to take advantage of that,” he states. The company is looking to
fill a niche of creating customized software for large pharmaceutical
and agricultural companies that don’t want off-the-shelf products.
SynApps has approximately 15 employees and expects its revenues
to reach $10 million by 2004.
Talisen Technologies
Secure extranet solution provider
George Brill
President
12208 Missouri Bottom Road
Hazelwood, MO 63042
314/895-4555
www.aerotechsg.com
Talisen Technologies, formerly AeroTech Service Group, provides
secure communication platforms for collaboration between clients
and their supply chain communities. A four-time FAST 50 winner,
AeroTech changed its name to Talisen Technologies due to its expanding
presence in industries outside of aerospace as well as regions around
the globe.
The company offers a suite of software products: a secured proxy
gateway, data access system, electronic bidding system and remote
authorization services. Talisen Technologies’ customers are primarily
in the automotive, defense and heavy manufacturing industries, but
the 10-year-old company also works with health-care systems. “Hospitals
need secure access to patient records and a better way to communicate
electronically. Additionally, new legislation, known as HIPAA, is
creating technology and privacy challenges in health care. Our system
can solve many of those issues,” says George Brill, president.
Talisen Technologies has partnerships with companies in Finland,
England and Holland with new alliances scheduled for Spain and Australia.
The company, with 35 employees, has opened an office in Europe this
year, as well as Philadelphia and Long Beach.
TALX Corp.
ASP and software developer
William Canfield
President
1850 Borman Court
St. Louis, MO 63146
314/214-7000
www.talx.com
A two-time FAST 50 winner, TALX Corp. is a leading application service
provider (ASP) of HR, benefits and payroll employee services. The
company’s two main focuses are E-Choice, an end-to-end employee
benefits product and The Work Number, which allows new employers,
landlords and lenders to check employment records of applicants
through a 900 number, 800 number or the Internet. A feature of The
Work Number lets employees make online changes to their direct deposit
or W4 through E-Payroll.
The company employs more than 250 people across the United States.
It is the 24th fastest growing company on the Fortune 100 publicly
held list and was just added as a member of the Russell 3000 index.
More than 150 Fortune 500 companies use TALX’s services, including
Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, GE, American Express, Aetna and Wal-Mart.
The company has 50 million employee records as data and a challenge,
says Bill Canfield, president, is to find product ideas, such as
E-Payroll and W2 Express, that take advantage of that data base.
The company also plans to do more acquisitions that complement its
focus.
Telcom Services Installation, Inc. d/b/a TSI
Communications networking
Phil White
President
953 Harmsted Court
St. Charles, MO 63301
636/949-8889
www.tsi-inc.com
Founded in 1987, TSI is a FAST 50 newcomer. Phil White, president,
started the company when he saw an opportunity develop. “With the
divestiture of MaBell, it gave us the opportunity to build local
area networks. Back then, everyone was on a lease line from Bell
and after the divestiture people realized they could create their
own networks on their campuses,” White states. The company’s 80
employees build communications networks and connect voice and data
technologies for clients like SBC, Monsanto, Mallinckrodt, Lindenwood
University and St. Louis Public Schools.
White credits the company success and overcoming hardships (it lost
almost everything in the Chesterfield Valley flood of 1993) to its
employees. “We have a philosophy that we surround ourselves with
success. Without the foundation of our employees, we wouldn’t be
where we are today,” White says. TSI was just named Employer of
the Year in the Manufacturing/Industrial category by the City of
St. Charles.
The Trinity
Companies, LLC
Total information systems solutions
Frank Foster
Russell Bryant
Patricia Beseda
Partners
714 Spirit 40 Park Dr., Suite 150
Chesterfield, MO 63005
636/530-2000
www.trinitycos.com
A two-time FAST 50 winner founded in 1994, Trinity’s goal is to
solve business problems using technology. The approach is customer
centric, focusing on the customer’s vision and requirements not
on a prepackaged solution. Managed by three partners, Pat Beseda,
Russ Bryant and Frank Foster, the company provides services in three
key areas: network infrastructure, operations and applications.
In today’s economic environment it is important that solutions are
designed to enable the customer to make informed decisions quickly,
focusing on low costs and high value for their information technology
investment. The partners at Trinity believe their consultants are
the key to their success. Providing their employees with a corporate
culture that encourages growth as well as stability, Trinity has
an exceptionally high retention rate. In fact, after seven years
their very first employee is still with them. Trinity is headquartered
in Chesterfield and has an office in Houston.
Ungerboeck
Systems, Inc.
Event business management system
Dieter K. Ungerboeck
President
87 Hubble
St. Charles, MO 63304
636/688-2000
www.ungerboeck.com
A three-time FAST 50 winner, Ungerboeck still markets its industry
leading software product, Event Business Management System (EBMS),
which allows organizations to completely manage a mass assembly
event, that is used by thousands of venues and events on five continents.
Ungerboeck released version 10.2 this January with more than 160
improvements to the software package. EBMS allows venues to manage
the administration of the event, the attendance, sales and marketing,
and operations.
The company’s product is used in five of the 10 busiest venues in
the world: EXCEL in London, the Los Angeles Convention Center, the
Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Center, the RAI International
Exhibition and Congress Center in Amsterdam, and the Singapore Expo.
Ungerboeck has offices in St. Charles, Sydney, London and Hong Kong,
the latter of which opened this May.
Above:
FAST 50 newcomer, Shari Peterson, president & CEO, Webster Group.
Webster Group International, Inc.
Web site marketing strategies
Shari Peterson
President and CEO
3221 McKelvey, Suite 100
Bridgeton, MO 63044
314/209-1005
www.wgi.com
A FAST 50 newcomer, Shari Peterson, president and CEO, founded Webster
Group International in 1995. “I had two small kids and wanted to
start a business at home. I thought the Internet was exciting and
I knew how to promote,” she says. Peterson didn’t have design experience
so she focused on search engine optimization, building traffic on
sites and online marketing. The company’s client list includes Bissinger
French Confections, Scottrade, Gundaker Realtors, Washington University,
Taylor Morley Homes, Maritz, New York University, Bayer Aspirin,
and Paul McCartney.
Webster Group has 20 employees and guarantees its clients a particular
ranking with search engines over a set period of time. “We can promote
the home page or each sub page on the site for our clients,” she
says. Niche areas include health care, tourism and travel, finance
and real estate. The company can work on 100 regional campaigns
for clients at one time.
Peterson and her father, Tom Carroll, now deceased, developed SitePromoter.
“It was the first software in the world developed for site promotion,”
she states. The company distributes the do-it-yourself site promotion
product online.
Above: World
Wide Technology, Inc. (WWT)
Marketer of integrated technology
solutions
David L. Steward
Chairman and CEO
127 Weldon Parkway
St. Louis, MO 63043
314/919-1401
www.wwt.com
A five-time FAST 50 winner and the largest African-American owned
corporation in the United States, World Wide Technology employs
almost 600 people in offices and distribution centers located in
St. Louis, McLean Va., Aberdeen, Md., Dallas, San Diego, and Silicon
Valley. The company is the leading electronic Procurement and Logistics
(e-PL) company in the information technology industry. Partnered
with the largest technology companies in the world including, Sun
Microsystems, CISCO and Dell, WWT specializes in helping its federal
and commercial customers to rapidly build and deploy their IT infrastructure
in an on-time and cost-effective manner. WWT’s e-PL capabilities
include web-based purchasing, product distribution, just-in-time
staging, warehousing, asset tagging, auditing and integration of
information technology equipment. Revenues grew last year to more
than $800 million.
The key, says Dave Steward, chairman and CEO, “is a team of solid,
committed people who work with you in the organization. They go
the extra mile for the customers and use the technological tools
that give us a competitive edge.” Steward, named to Civic Progress
last year, founded the company in 1990.
Liese L. Hutchison is an assistant professor in the department of
communication at Saint Louis University and a free-lance writer.
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