ROCKINGHAM — Winning awards is nothing new for employee-owned Chroma Technology of Bellows Falls. For the second year in a row, it has made Inc. Magazine's 500/5000 list of the country's fastest-growing private companies.
Chroma ranks No. 213 in manufacturing.
This year, the Inc. 5000 were chosen on the basis of their growth over three years. Even during the long recession, Chroma showed a 1 percent three-year growth and a stable number of employees.
In 2009, Chroma was on the list of Inc.'s 500/5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America for the first time. This June, for the second year in a row, it made WorldBlu's global List of Most Democratic Workplaces. Also this year, it was one of Inc. Magazine and Winning Workplaces' “Top Small Company Workplaces.”
“The past decade has seen a national tragedy, two wars, and a financial meltdown,” said Inc.'s Leigh Buchanan. “And yet through optimism and creativity, entrepreneurs were still able to look with hope to the future.”
Chroma, which manufactures optical microscope filters and coatings for laboratories all over the world, was founded in 1991. It had revenues of $18.6 million in 2009 and employs 90 people.
Chroma CEO Paul Millman said that these awards are “fun” to win.
“We're showing that we can grow and increase productivity and profits without laying off people,” Millman said. “We're doing it without shirking our social responsibility to pay taxes to support the social programs that are really needed during this greatest of recessions. In addition, we provide excellent wages and benefits to each of the people who work here. It's fun showing that a commitment to employees and to customers works so well.”
Now in its fourth year, the Inc. 5000 is the most comprehensive portrait of fast-growing private companies assembled anywhere. Many firms are innovators with little coverage elsewhere; many others are using their cutting-edge savvy to grow their market share in traditional products and services, and are similarly underreported by the rest of the business media.
The Inc. 5000 profiles are available at www.Inc.com.