Fast 25

Studio M Architecture and Planning does a lot of mixed-use work—apartments, garages, offices, retail, entertainment venues and government buildings.

Lucid SG provides staffing services in the technology, engineering and life sciences businesses, which means spending a lot of time trying to find the IT talent its customers need.

Rangeline helps its clients upgrade and modernize their supply chain to be as efficient as possible and to help clients’ employees use their software most effectively.

Under the Prolific umbrella are three subsidiaries: Conquer, a stand-alone media agency; JDA Worldwide, a stand-alone ad agency; and South Carolina-based Chernoff Newman, which specializes in public relations and issues management.

Thomas Rector founded ScreenBroidery, which does screen printing and embroidery and makes promotional merchandise, in his living room 14 years ago.

The company provides fixed-fee, outsourced IT services, usually to companies that aren’t big enough to have their own tech departments.

Stay Dry Roofing CEO John Olinger said that “doing good, clean business and getting referrals from our clients” is fueling his company’s growth.

We asked this year’s Fast 25, almost all of which are in some form of hiring mode, how they’re recruiting employees.

BAM buys and manages apartments in suburban communities that offer diverse employment opportunities and good school districts.

Sharpen Technologies Inc. provides what it calls an “agent-focused omnichannel contact center platform,” which is another way of saying the company’s software is designed to make customer service departments more efficient and give customers better experiences.

GenTech is a management consulting firm and licensed CPA firm focused on government contractors. It provides accounting services, training, IT and accounting-systems support.

InTek moves freight all over North America. It doesn’t own any assets; it buys capacity—trucks and railroad space to haul freight—from Union Pacific railroad and numerous trucking companies. Clients include Guitar Center, Keen shoes and Molson Coors.

Gemco has worked in 42 states since 2014 and currently has ongoing projects in 20-25 states.

The company uses its technology platform to transition faith-based organizations from group insurance plans to individual insurance plans that qualify for tax credits.

As of August, Garrett Cos. had 23 projects in development and 25 in the pipeline. That’s double what it did in 2020.

Since 2017, Compass has built more than 11 million square feet of large warehouse buildings, “which is more than we imagined,” CEO Bill McCarthy said.

As much growth as GDI has experienced in the last four years, Cardwell said he anticipates similar success for the next few years.

Formstack, which helps customers build online forms and automate workflow, has been a Fast 25 company five of the past six years (the exception being 2019).

Cornerstone still specializes in asphalt, concrete and erosion-control work. But it also has expanded to do interior construction and project-management work that will keep the company busy during the winter months.

Speedread Technologies LLC provides two products: a radio frequency automated meter-reading system to remotely read water, gas or electric meters; and its newest innovation, a cellular automated meter-reading system that can read any brand of meters.