Agile’s CEO Tricia Dempsey named Small Business Person of the Year
The Greater North Fulton Chamber announced Agile CEO and Founder, Tricia Dempsey, as this year’s Small Business Person of the Year on August 26, 2014 at the Eggs & Enterprise Breakfast.
The North Fulton Chamber of Commerce recognizes successful North Fulton small business leaders annually at their annual Eggs & Enterprise breakfast. All applicants were nominated and completed applications. The selection committee, many of who are previous award winnners, narrowed down the applications to four finalists. Interviews were conducted with the committee and four finalists and one winner is selected. The criteria for this year’s award included: Staying power – a substantiated history as an established business, growth in number of employees, innovation of product/services offered, response to adversity and contributions to community-oriented projects.
“This award marks the culmination of over 10 years of hard work by my team and I to make Agile the company it is today and I am so proud and humbled to be recognized. I realize it has taken a village of advocates to get me where I am today,” says Dempsey.
In her acceptance speech, Dempsey thanked her professional coaches, Jim Huling and Bill McDermott, Women in Technology (WIT) and Susan G. Komen, Agile’s clients, consultants, staff, and her family, especially her husband Jeff and daughter Catherine.
Tricia also described the themes that she believes has made the biggest difference in Agile’s success:
- Don’t base your strategy on the things you can’t control (and there are a lot of them)…base them on the things you can control. We give a nod to the economy, rate pressure, mergers and acquisitions, etc…but we don’t revolve our strategy around these. We can’t control them and never will.
- Get Stuff Done – At Agile, we have a team of professional get-er-done-a-ti-tions who know how to get stuff done, every day. Hire doers – It’s easier to educate a doer than it is to energize a thinker.
- Trust is everything – we have worked so hard to establish a culture of high trust and high accountability. Character matters just as much as competency. When trust is high…things get things done faster!
- Always leave people better than you found them. I say this frequently, but we should always strive to help others, whether we can profit from the help we provide or not. People don’t remember what you say or what you did, but they remember the way you made them feel.
2013 Small Business Person of the Year recipient, Mark Wyssbord sat on the panel for this year’s running. Wyssbrod describes Dempsey as “the neighbor and professional you want to live next door to and work with. She inspires everyone she touches as her desire is to make an impact. She challenges herself to be broad and deep in all aspects. She creatively implemented solutions and navigated horrifying economic landscape as unemployment sky rocketed 30 percent during the Great Recession/Small Business Depression. Tricia steps up to the plate when she sees a challenge; prepared, focused, confident. She does what local heroes do: lift others up as they succeed while improving our community.”
About Agile
Agile is an innovative IT staffing and consulting firm that speeds time to talent by matching great people to great opportunities, enabling our clients to drive business results and create competitive advantage. Agile has consistently been recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in the U.S. by Inc. Magazine, Staffing Industry Analysts and the Atlanta Business Chronicle. In 2014, Agile received the City of Alpharetta’s Business of Excellence Award. In 2012 and 2013, Agile was named as one of the fastest growing staffing firms in the nation by Staffing Industry Analysts. Agile was recognized with a 2013 Pacesetter Award and ranked # 8 in the Top Ten Fastest Growing Women-Owned Firms in Atlanta by The Atlanta Business Chronicle.
Founded by Tricia Dempsey in 2003, Agile is a values-driven organization committed to community involvement and charitable causes. Through Agile on the Green, the firm’s annual golf tournament, Agile has raised more than $270,000 for Komen for the Cure – Greater Atlanta Affiliate. Agile is a certified woman-owned business (WBENC). For more information, visit www.GoToAgile.com or call 866.513.4703
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