Cardella & Associates is tops in Iowa on Inc.'s 'fastest growing' list

(Modified 8/25/11 to correct omission of Raining Rose Inc. in paragraph 7).

A high rate of growth provides affirmation that your clients are getting satisfaction, according to the leader of Iowa's top company in the 2011 installment the Inc. magazine 'fastest growing' list.

Thomas L. Cardella & Associates of Cedar Rapids was the top company on the Inc. 500 fastest-growing companies list, at 285. It was the first year the company qualified to be on the list because it had been in business over three full years. The business process outsourcing company's revenue had increased 1,148 percent over the three years.

Founder and CEO Tom Cardella said it's a team honor for the company's 900 employees in five contact centers.

"Because we're a privately held company with no outside investors, the growth is just about client satisfaction," Cardella said. "If you keep the clients happy, you're going to experience more growth."

The company opened its fifth contact center in El Paso, Texas, this spring. The other four are in Iowa.

Clickstop of Urbana, EdgeCore of Cedar Falls and Computer Consultants International of Des Moines were all in Inc.'s list of 1,000 fastest-growing companies. EdgeCore had the most growth among them, at 527 percent, while Computer Consultants had 517 percent growth, and Clickstop ahd 334 percent growth.

TMOne of Iowa City and MobileDemand of Cedar Rapids also made the Inc. list.

Cedar Rapids companies on the list included Raining Rose Inc., RuffaloCODY, TrueNorth Companies, Geonetric, Hybrid Transit Systems, Circle Computer Resources and GreatAmerica Leasing.

Several of the companies had been on the list previously, but were glad to be back.

"It's definitely an honor, but we hope to be on the Inc. 500 list next year," said Maureen Szlemp, who handles marketing at rugged tablet computer supplier MobileDemand. The company was 2,978th on the Inc. list, but expects strong 2012 growth with a new laptop-to-tablet convertible computer, and deals tosupply the nation's second largest Anheuser-Busch distributor and a large fleet management company with computers for truck cabs.

Szlemp said MobileDemand likes to be on the list because it gives customers confidence that the company is on a growth trajectory, and will be here to stay.

A total of 28 Iowa companies made the list.