Enterprising Women

2006 Enterprising Women of the Year — Finalists

Issue: Vol. 7, No. 3

DEBBIE RIEGER is the founder of A-TEK, Inc., a government contractor providing information technology services and business application solutions, along with turnkey hardware, software and equipment nationwide and globally. Her 10-year-old Leesburg, VA firm had $35 million in 2005 sales, and she has her sights set on reaching $100 million in sales in the next five years.

Debbie is a member of the Enterprising Women National Advisory Board. Her father and grandmother served as role models for her. As an Hispanic single mother with only a third-grade education, her grandmother taught the family to work hard, be persistent, and always give 110 percent to everything you do.

Debbie Rieger
A-TEK, Inc.
Leesburg, VA

HANNAH KAIN has reinvented her company many times over, originally generating 55 percent of her revenue from floppy disk duplication. ALOM, her Fremont, CA firm, generated $18 million in 2005 revenues as a full-service assembly and fulfillment company. Focused on high-end quality and service, Hannah has made her company a fun, family-oriented, customer-focused place to work. ALOM employs a work group from HOPE, a team of people with special challenges in the workforce; most have Downs Syndrome.

Hannah is actively involved in the Silicon Valley NAWBO Chapter and participates in a mentoring program for girls and young women.

Hannah Kain
ALOM
Fremont, CA

Photo not available		ADRIENNE STONE is the Queen of Spas in Westlake Village, CA. Her company, Total Woman Gym and Atmosphere Day Spa, is a women’s gym and day spa with a full workout floor and equipment tailored to women. Each of her clubs has a Pilates studio, a full day spa with facials, massage and other beauty treatments, private trainers, yoga classes, babysitting, and retail and gift items. With $18 million in 2005 revenues, Adrienne has a staff of 550 and has been in business for 40 years. She is an active NAWBO member and was named the organization’s 2005 Woman Business Owner of the Year. Her company donates proceeds from aerobathons each year to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
Adrienne Stone Total Woman Gym and Atmosphere Day Spa Westlake Village, CA

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MANUELA MARCHEGGIANI is in the product development and distribution business, with a focus on the health and beauty industry. Her Toronto-based company, ISOMERS, provides private label consumer products and specializes in direct to consumer marketing. With $12 million in 2005 sales, ISOMERS is essentially a privately operated research and development lab and manufacturing site that formulates anti-aging skin care products, cosmetics, and nutritional supplements.

Manuela is an active member of the Women Presidents’ Organization and volunteers time and resources to the public schools, and the Girls and Boys Clubs of the inner city.

Manuela Marcheggiani
Isomers Laboratories
Toronto, Ontario

KATHY DURFEE has gained self-confidence in her leadership skills through her involvement in the Women Presidents’ Organization and NAWBO. Her Sarasota, FL-based company, TechHouse, provides strategic and high-end tactical technology consulting services to small and mid-market companies. With over a million in revenues, she plans to either grow her company into additional markets or franchise her model to empower others.

She considers her father her role model. When he retired, 1,500 employees formed a receiving line to thank him for the difference he had made in their lives. She hopes to make a similar difference in the lives of her employees.

Kathy Durfee
TechHouse
Sarasota, FL

NORMA POLCEK says her company makes promotional programs simple and easy on the budget. As a product broker for advertising specialties, the items she sells are used for corporate identification, employee incentives, trade shows, product launches, awards events, and incentive travel. No two orders are just alike, and no two days at work are ever alike. Samco, based in Machesney Park, IL, has a staff that prides itself in finding anything the client needs.

With over $1.2 million in 2005 revenues, Norma is actively involved in the Women Presidents’ Organization, the Rockford Area Chamber of Commerce, the Women’s Art Board of the Rockford Art Museum, and a number of other organizations.

Norma Polcek
Samco
Machesney Park, IL

DIANA RICHARDS funded the start up of her business in an unusual way. After searching for financing in more conventional ways 25 years ago, she finally borrowed $25,000 from a gentleman she met on a Cleveland Plains Dealer personal ad date. Eleven years later, her company, Vacuum Systems International, Inc., has reached 2005 revenues of $3.5 million and her client list includes the GAP, CVS, Dollar Tree, Payless, and Claire’s Boutiques, among others. Her company offers a vacuum hotline that services 66,000 vacuum cleaners and clothing steamers. The firm also remanufactures commercial units, saving
her clients time and money, and eliminating over 3 million pounds of metal waste from landfills since 1995.

Diana is an active NAWBO member, and her firm is WBENC-certified.

Diana Richards
Vacuum Systems International, Inc.
Cleveland, OH

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RACHEL R. HAYDEN is the founder of Hayden Consultants, Inc., a civil engineering design firm that specializes in transportation projects for local and state agencies. Her Dallas, TX-based company has designed highways, light rail facilities, street reconstruction, and water projects, among others. With $1.2 million in 2005 sales, she has grown from a one-woman firm to 10 employees and has plans to double her staff in the next five years.

Active in NAWBO, the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce, and several engineering associations, she credits her mother with providing her inspiration. As a single mom raising four children, her mother taught her never to give up in the face of adversity.

Rachel R. Hayden
Hayden Consultants, Inc.
Dallas, TX

DEBRA J. GUZOV is an attorney who started her own New York City law firm, Guzov Ofsink, LLC, five years ago. She has doubled her revenues in the past two years, with $3 million in 2005 revenues and 16 employees. Her firm specializes in litigation and securities work, with a niche of bringing companies in China public in the United States. Immediately after starting her firm, her husband was killed in a car accident. With a son under two years old at the time, this tragedy was the impetus for her success when she realized her son’s future would rest on the success of her business, as well as her personal strength and integrity.

A member of the WPO and the Enterprising Women National Advisory Board, she is also involved in the Barnard Business and Professional Women’s Organization, the New York Chamber of Commerce, and other civic organizations.

Debra J. Guzov
Guzov Ofsink, LLC
New York, NY

KATHRYN G. ESHELMAN founded Grade A Notes 18 years ago to provide custom lecture notes to students in college classes. The company has since grown into a custom publishing company providing copyright clearance services and production of “course packs” of information to supplement textbooks. Her two offices are located near Ohio State University and Ohio University, but Kathryn has clients at universities across the country. A second business, PatrioticJewelry.com, provides political memorabilia and jewelry through a home-based Web site.

With $1.25 million in 2005 sales, she gives back through participation in the WPO, as well as the National Association of College Stores, the University Community Business Association, and other organizations.

Kathryn G. Eshelman
Grade A Notes & PatrioticJewelry.com
Columbus, OH

PATRICIA OWEN has faced the challenge of operating her business in a seasonal resort town for the past 22 years as the owner of Faces DaySpa on Hilton Head Island, SC. FACES began as a fashion store that also sold Estee Lauder cosmetics. Patricia converted one room of the store into a facial room in hopes of selling more cosmetics. It became apparent that the service end of her business was stronger than the retail business. When a jewelry store next door went out of business, she took over the space and tripled the size of her business. Today, 70 percent of her business is spa revenue, and her sales are in excess of a million dollars annually.

She gives back through NAWBO, NAFE, and the Chamber of Commerce, and does fundraising to benefit children’s charities in her area.

Patricia Owen
Faces DaySpa
Hilton Head Island, SC

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MARIA CRISTINA DE LA VEGA started her Miami-based translation company over 32 years ago and has grown it to over $4 million in annual revenues. The company provides translation services in over 100 languages for multinationals and Fortune 500 companies. In addition to the translation of manuals, technical and financial documents, Professional Translating Services, Inc. specializes in the translation of Web sites. It also provides simultaneous interpreting services and equipment for multilingual meetings.

Maria volunteers for HandsonMiami.org and does pro bono translating for the Daily Food Bank. A member of the WPO, her company is WBENC-certified.

Maria Cristina de la Vega
Professional Translating Services, Inc.
Miami, FL

BONI LONNSBURRY started her company with a $50 investment and has grown her business into a $3.8 million-a-year enterprise in five years. In Touch Today is a Broomfield, CO firm specializing in producing marketing materials for the mortgage and real estate industries. The company produces postcards, greeting cards, newsletters, digital products, magnets, wallet cards, and PowerPoint seminars. Boni's business has received Colorado Parent magazine’s “Top Family Friendly Companies” recognition for the past three years because of the value she places on employee satisfaction and retention.

A WPO member, Boni matches employee contributions to numerous charities, including Katrina and Tsunami Relief funds and many others.

Boni Lonnsburry
In Touch Today
Broomfield, CO

SHELLY SUN launched her medical homecare business, BrightStar Healthcare and BrightStar Franchising, just over three years ago and has already grown the business to revenues of nearly $3 million. The Chicago-based business has a goal of growing to 25 corporate-owned locations throughout Illinois and hopes to have 500 franchises in the next five years. Shelly faced an initial challenge accessing capital and had to change banks when the loan officer at her bank didn’t take the time to understand her business and turned her down for loan when she was ready to expand.

Shelly mentors in the Chicago inner city schools, works with Ronald McDonald House Charities, and is actively involved with the WPO, NAWBO, and WIPP.

Shelly Sun
BrightStar Healthcare and BrightStar Franchising
Chicago, IL

KATHLEENE DERRIG-PALUMBO, PhD, launched an innovative new company five years ago in the mental health industry. MyTherapyNet.com offers a new way to receive quality psychotherapy, life coaching, and mental wellness services through the Internet. The approach was initially met with resistance by therapists and the regulatory boards, but Kathleene made a convincing argument that there was an overwhelming need for mental health services by those who might not be in a position to attend face to face therapy sessions — domestic violence victims, new parents, rural residents, homebound patients, and even busy professionals. She was approached to author a book on online therapy and is now considered the leading expert on this topic. Her Woodland Hills, CA-based company had 2005 revenues of $1.7 million.

Kathleene Derrig-Palumbo, PhD
My TheraphyNet.com
Woodland Hills, CA

MICHELE McGOUGH launched her IT professional services company six years ago to provide network engineering for data, wireless, voice service, and network security services. Pittsburgh, PA-based solutions4networks now has 15 employees and had 2005 revenues of $2.3 million.

Michele is a member of the WPO, WIPP, the CEO Forum of Pittsburgh, and a number of other organizations. She participates in a mentoring program through the Girl Scouts with its summer camp for girls who want to be entrepreneurs. She also serves on the board of HEARTH, a non-profit that provides support for single mothers that have gone back to school to be self-sufficient.

Michele McGough
solutions4networks
Pittsburgh, PA

CYNTHIA WILSON has a meeting and event management business that survived the downturn in her industry post 9/11. With 90 percent of her business cancelled, she was forced to lay off 80 percent of her workforce, but by the end of 2002, she had reassembled her team and was back to nearly full capacity. Wilsonwest, Inc., is based in San Francisco, but has clients around the country. The company has given back by producing World AIDS Day for the past seven years, as well as donating to a number of local schools and charities.

Cynthia is a member of the WPO, NAWBO, WIPP, and Emily’s List. Her company had 2005 revenues of $4.7 million.

Cynthia Wilson
Wilsonwest, Inc.
San Francisco, CA

TERRI EDELMAN is the founder of The Edelman Group (TEG), an award-winning, full-service marketing communications firm based in New York City’s financial district. Clients include MetLife, ADP, Lipper, and Thomson Financial among others. With more than a million dollars in 2005 revenues, the company has received accolades from The Art Directors Club, The American Advertising Foundation, the Printing Industry of America, and four ACE Awards from the Business Marketing Association.

Terri runs an extensive internship program at her firm to mentor young women interested in sales, marketing, and graphic design, and also participates in a mentoring program through the New York Public Schools.

Terri Edelman
The Edelman Group
New York, NY

LAURA POSEY has built an organization that teaches entrepreneurs and salespeople how to grow their income while maintaining balance in their lives. Starting with a blank sheet of paper, her firm produced a 200-page textbook and a new way of integrity-based selling called sales magnetism. With a goal of having 20 licensees throughout the country operating with her firm’s model, Dancing Elephants Achievement Group is on its way to reaching its first million in revenue, with 2005 sales approaching $500,000.

Laura is actively involved in NAWBO, the American Business Women’s Association, and a number of other organizations. She is also involved in a mentoring program through Business Network International.

Laura Posey
Dancing Elephants Achievement Group
Richmond, VA

EILEEN UNGER launched her company, Emergency Preparedness Partnerships, five years ago to provide crisis management consulting. More than doubling her sales in the past year, she had $750,000 in 2005 revenues. Her goal is to be recognized as the experts in emergency response and crisis management within the utility industry in the next five years.

Eileen actively volunteers with the March of Dimes, the Red Cross, the American Heart Association, and several associations in her industry. Through her involvement in NAWBO, she is helping to develop a mentoring program with the Girls Scouts.

Eileen Unger
Emergency Preparedness Partnerships
Hammonton, NJ

MARYANN PIAZZA started her business in 1992 as a hobby with the purchase of a $50 gum ball machine. Ten years later, she has built her company, Majestic Vending & Services, Inc., into a full-time endeavor. Making the transition from a home-based business, she purchased a warehouse in 1999 with an SBA loan and began growing the company. Her New York City-based business weathered the economic downturn after 9/11 and expanded with its own bottled water product.

She actively volunteers in her community and mentors young women through the Borough College of Manhattan and frequent speaking engagements. She was a recipient of the Business Leadership Award by the Smart Business Center on Staten Island.

Maryann Piazza
Majestic Vending & Services, Inc., Staten Island, NY

CYNTHIA McCOY has built three businesses around her love of pets. Aunt Cynthia’s Bed and Biscuit Inn is a Loomis, CA day care for dogs that offers cage-free boarding. Her second business, A Pet’s World Pet Sitting Services, was started five years ago and has grown to over 500 clients. Believing there was a need to train others, Cynthia developed a nationwide program, A Pet’s World Academy for Pet Sitters. She offers online teleclasses based on her program at www.apetsworldacademy.com.

Cynthia is an active NAWBO member, and the organization named her its outstanding business leader in 2002.

Cynthia McCoy
Aunt Cynthia’s Bed and Biscuit Inn
Loomis, CA

PATRICIA MAY is the founder of Precision Language Services, a WBENC-certified firm that provides document translation and typesetting services for government agencies, corporate clients, and individuals. Based in Lakeville, MN, the company began with a translation base of 15 languages, but has expanded to offer services in more than 90 languages. Patricia’s client base is North America, Asia and Europe, but she has plans to expand into Africa and further into Asia in the next five years.

Fluent in Russian and German, she holds a black belt in Shotokan karate and teaches self defense courses to women and teenagers in her area. Patricia received the 2005 NAWBO Wise Woman Award and recently joined the Enterprising Women National Advisory Board.

Patricia May
Precision Language Services
Lakeville, MN

(This article is reprinted from the 2006 Enterprising Women of the Year edition (Vol. 7, No. 3) of Enterprising Women magazine. Copyright 2006, Enterprising Women Inc. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited, except by express permission of the publisher.)

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