Grove Resource Solutions, Inc (GRSi)
GSRi has more than 200 employees around the globe working on projects, many with the highest national security clearances available. Housed in a former garage at founder Deborah Grove’s Frederick home, the company’s moved its 15 person headquarters to Westview Drive in 2011. THE FBI, NIH and Walter Reed are just a few of their clients.
In 2005, company's revenues were less than $8 million. In 2010, they achieved record revenues with well over 100% growth of the company in the prior 3 years. That has grown to around $20 million today. Their staff retention is 95 percent, virtually unheard of in many government contracting firms.
GRSi is has additional locations in SC and most recently in 2014, opened an office in VA. Their record success obtaining contracts and resulting operation's growth has led to the Charleston, SC office needing more space and they moved to an expanded location in April 2015.
Inc. magazine ranked GRSi on its annual Inc. 500|5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. GRSi was ranked #42 in growth for 2012 and the 38th fastest growing private engineering company in the country. In 2012 they were awarded the Gov’t Contracting Company of the Year by the Tech Council of MD. David Affeldt, President and CEO said, “As each year is built on the previous one, 2015 is looking bright and strong.”
South Mountain Creamery
After decades of struggles in dairy farming, Randy and Karen Sowers built Maryland’s first on the farm milk processing plant in 2001 at what is now known as South Mountain Creamery. The first home deliveries began in 2001 with only 13 customers and they delivered milk out of their Ford Explorer.
By 2004, they had grown to 1,000 customers all within a 50-mile radius of the farm. In 2007, South Mountain Creamery was featured in the New York Times and the Washington Post and had 7 milk trucks with 2,200 customers. They remodeled their facility that year and were proud to install new American-made equipment. By 2009, they expanded deliveries into Falls Church and Baltimore, had over 3,000 customers and added ice cream deliveries to their menu. In 2011, they expanded again into the Anne Arundel County and Annapolis markets and jumped to 7,000 customers. In 2013, Animal Planet television installed 11 cameras at the Creamery to feature live streaming video online of their chicks and calves with 100,000 people tuning in to see the project launch.
Today, South Mountain Creamery has 83 employees with 20 delivery trucks and over 8,500 customers. They host 2 large successful events annually which draw thousands of people to the Middletown area.
Southern Research Institute
Southern Research, a 501(c)3 medical research firm of scientists and engineers, is based in Birmingham, Ala., and has at six labs and offices across the country with 453 employees company-wide.
In July 2015, they landed a seven-year contract with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease with a ground-breaking federal grant worth up to $22 million which will allow researchers to develop assays, or tests, that can identify HIV that remains in the body after anti-HIV drugs. The Frederick lab, has a 24-year history in HIV drug discovery, employs 55 people, and will lead the work on the HIV contract that could develop the cure for HIV, addressing a key barrier towards eradicating HIV.
Southern Research has been around since 1941. They opened up their Frederick doors in 1992. The company states they do not often have positions available because they carefully plan for fluctuations and they have an very low turnover rate.
