Fastest-Growing Women-Led Companies

Posted on May 26, 2011 by Eric Bell

Women in America shed the secretary stereo type many decades ago, but despite the leaps and bounds our country has made with respect to equality in the workplace, there is still often a drought of women in top level, CEO positions. The stat often thrown around is that women still make, on average, only .77 cents for every $1 earned by men, but this stat can be misleading. Many successful fortune 500 companies, and small businesses alike, have risen to the top of their industries with women at the helm. Here's a look at a few such companies that have benefitted greatly from the strong leadership of their women CEOs.

BrightStar Franchising LLC
BrightStar is a fast moving company in the booming health-care industry. Founded in 2002 and focusing on senior care, child care and healthcare staffing, BrightStar has show exponential revenue growth over the years. With revenue climbing from 3.1 million in 2006 to nearly 100 million last year, BrightStar has capitalized on the ever expanding senior care industry as more and more baby boomers are reaching senior citizen age. Led by executives Shelly and JD Sun, BrightStar offers a world class franchise opportunity designed to help potential franchisees with little to no experience in the health care industry dive in and earn huge profits within the first 2 years.

Camp Bow Wow
With dog ownership outnumbering child population in many major metropolitan areas, CEO Heidi Ganahl has found a niche market in doggy day care and overnight boarding that has rapidly expanded in the last decade. With yearly revenue of 51 million (up from 36 million the previous year) Camp Bow Wow holds a prominent position in the high-end pet services market and there's still plenty of room for growth, with the pet supply and services market exceeding $56 billion dollars globally.

Fastsigns
CEO Catherine Monson has not only led her company to success through a strong product and franchising model, but was also recently names among the Dallas Business Journal's "Top 25 Industry Leaders". Fastsigns specializes in creating custom signs, graphics, banners, trade show exhibits and more, utilizing state-of-the-art computer technology to automate the once tedious process of manual sign creation. With over 500 locations worldwide, Fastsigns meets the need for quality, branded signage that every business has and through their streamlined system, provides the service at highly competitive prices. Monson also embraces the franchise model, saying recently, "I truly love what I do…I get to help franchise partners achieve the American Dream of business ownership, build wealth for their families, put their children through college and achieve their financial goals."

While the majority of CEOs are still men, companies all over the world from Pepsi to Xerox to Western Union are proving that women CEOs have what it takes to successfully run companies big and small.