Annual business award winners show strong growth in multiple sectors

Laudan Properties LLC, a multi-faceted residential and commercial building services firm based in Twinsburg, earned the coveted No. 1 ranking in the prestigious 2013 Weatherhead 100 list of fastest-growing companies headquartered in Northeast Ohio. The ranking, based on the most recent five years of revenue growth, has been released annually since 1988 by Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management to celebrate Northeast Ohio’s spirit of entrepreneurship. In addition to property management and maintenance, inspections and preservation, Laudan Properties is an industry leader in residential remodeling. Laudan’s revenue grew 1,659 percent from 2008 to 2012 to lead all Weatherhead 100 companies. Slate Rock Safety LLC, a Medina firm that provides safety apparel for the oil and gas, utility, public safety and industrial markets, ranked second (1,658 percent revenue growth), while Westlake-based ECHO Health Inc., a health care payment provider, ranked third (1,573 percent). The rankings were announced at a black-tie dinner Tuesday, Dec. 3, at Executive Caterers at Landerhaven in Mayfield Heights. The full Weatherhead 100 rankings are available online at weatherhead.case.edu/weatherhead100/winners. “While still producing some of the world’s best manufacturers, it’s amazing to see Northeast Ohio’s economic shift to innovations in professional services, healthcare, technology and software,” said Robert Widing, dean of the Weatherhead School. “We are proud to be associated with firms across all sectors who are leading the way for our region.” The winning companies were ranked in three categories:

• Weatherhead 100: 100 companies with net sales of at least $100,000 in 2008 and more than $1 million in 2012 with at least 16 full-time employees in 2012.
• Weatherhead Upstarts: 20 companies that otherwise qualify, but have no more than 15 employees and/or less than $1 million in net sales in 2012.
• Weatherhead Centurion: 12 companies with 100 percent or more sales growth (or equal to the 100th company’s growth percentage if less than 100 percent) from 2008 through 2012 and net sales of at least $100 million in 2012.

In the Upstart category, US Freight LLC, of Cleveland, received the highest ranking (growth rate 1,856 percent), while the top-ranked Centurion company was Mazzella Holding Co. in Cleveland (252 percent). Through a turbulent, uncertain economy, Northeast Ohio’s Weatherhead 100 businesses still managed a five-year average revenue growth of 174 percent. The Weatherhead 100 list provides a snapshot of the region’s strongest economic sectors. The list is dominated by professional service companies (29 percent), followed by technology/software (17 percent), manufacturing/distribution (16 percent) and real estate/construction (14 percent). To be considered for the Weatherhead 100, applying companies must be headquartered in Ashland, Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie, Geauga, Huron, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Richland, Stark, Summit, Trumbull or Wayne counties. The businesses cannot have been a subsidiary of another company during the last five years, an individual franchise operation or a nonprofit organization.