Ingrams July 2023

Corporate Report100

BARR Advisory

2 nd Year

Gross Revenue: Growth: 529.21%

2022: $9,565,265

2019: $1,520,202

Average Annual Growth Rate: 176.40%

EDZ Systems Gross Revenue: Growth: 460.21% Full-time employees: 10 EDZ Systems snares a second straight Top 10 finish, and to keep it growing, CEO Elizabeth DeZeeuw has repositioned her leadership ranks to meet the challenge of providing IT staffing and services. “As our business grew and expanded, as leaders, our own ers and management team created the right structure and secured resources to support the business,” she says. “The more we grew, the more important it was to have capable division leaders support ing the organization in order to mature all our business processes, from HR and recruiting to finance and administration.” That meant focusing on building the business at the top, while “trusting that we hired capable and eager employees to foster the continuing growth.” A continuing challenge, she says, is “finding individuals who want to work daily in an office as a team.” With this level of growth, “there are no shortcuts,” she advises. “Look at your business and have the tenacity to pursue current goals but allow flexibility to evolve as the business grows,” she says. Full-time employees: 12 Technological advancements have made it possible to track and store more data than ever before, but companies still need a transla tor to make sense of that data and turn it into something actionable, says Playfair Data founder Ryan Sleeper. “Visual analytics is that translator.” His team helps companies, irrespective of size or sector, move data analysis away from outdated spreadsheet format with visual solutions that facilitate better decisions. So having the right product is vital. So is having the right team—and keeping them. “Our Kansas City team has a zero percent employee turnover rate,” Sleeper says. In addition to the core services of visual analytics con sulting, data dashboard development, and Tableau training, Playfair is releasing so many products that it has become challenging to raise awareness of everything available, Sleeper says. To manage the growth, it brought in a full-time marketing manager, upgraded its project management software daily, and increased investment in its local marketing partner. Full-time employees: 65 Compliance, cybersecurity, HIPAA, technical manuals—there is seemingly no end to the regulatory, operational, or technological hoops through which businesses must jump to succeed. Less than a decade after Brad Theis opened it as a small consultancy, BARR Advisory now has clients in more than 20 countries scattered across every continent save Antarctica. The firm serves companies of almost every size, from high-growth startups to Fortune 1000 companies, and helps them navigate processes in highly regulated industries, including technol ogy, financial services, health-care, and government. Competency has been a key to growth: the firm is one of just nine in the U.S. eligible to perform audits against ISO/IEC 27001, SOC 2, HITRUST, the three highest-regarded business-certification standards, and its associates hold more than 100 industry certifications. That Thies, a University of Kansas accounting graduate isn’t an accountant today is simple: “I didn’t like accounting,” he wryly admits. He spent nearly 15 years with KPMG, then Reciprocity, honing his skills in IT advisory services and compliance. Playfair Data Gross Revenue: Growth: 470.18% 2 nd Year 2022: $3,679,326 2019: $645,297 Average Annual Growth Rate: 156.73% 3 rd Year 2022: $8,458,617 2019: $1,509,899 Average Annual Growth Rate: 153.40%

(Back row, l-r): Brad Thies, Founder and President; Whitney Lindsey, Head of People & Culture; Adam Jones, Director of Finance; Kyle Helles, Head of Attest Services. (Front row, l-r): Jonnae Hill, Director of Associate Experience & Community Engagement; Michelle Carson, Head of Brand, Marketing & Strategic Communications; Vince Maduri, Head of Business Development.

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(l-r): Maddie Dierkes, Manager, Decision Science; Ethan Lang, Director, Analytics Engineering; Dan Bunker, Senior Visual Analytics Associate; Felicia Styer, Associate Director, Analytics Solutions.

Seated: Daryl Hubbard, CFO; Elizabeth DeZeeuw, CEO. Standing (l-r): Paula DeZeeuw, Market Research Analyst; Jon Sitter, Chief Technology Officer; Cody Gatson, Sr. IT Recruiter; Alex DeZeeuw, Supplier Diversity Account Manager; Carla King, Executive Administrative Assistant; Alexandra Bauman, Director of Business Development; Jill Sanchez, Sr. IT Recruiter.

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July 2023

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