OUTSTANDING ORGANIZATIONS
Our Top Workplaces 2026 winners stand out as employers of choice. See who the 89 honorees are and learn how they earn their employees’ loyalty.
THow the Top Workplaces Are Determined
op Workplaces don’t happen by accident. They are created through an intentional, people-first approach to workplace excellence.
For the 14th year, employee survey company Energage has partnered with Columbus CEO to honor the top places to work in the Columbus region.
The award is verified and earned through an employee survey process. Workplaces where employees offer positive feedback about their experience make the winners list.
Energage, an employee survey company based in suburban Philadelphia, analyzes feedback based on responses to 26 questions. The Top Workplaces survey asks employees for their opinions on factors such as pay and benefits, direction, leadership, meaningfulness and appreciation. Energage scores companies based on the responses.
The award cannot be bought; it is earned. There is no cost to employers to survey their employees. If they choose, organizations can purchase the survey data from Energage.
There is no obligation for winners to purchase any product or service.
For the 2026 winners list, 2,685 organizations nominated themselves or were invited to survey their employees, and 117 agreed to do so. Based on the survey feedback, 89 have earned recognition as Top Workplaces in the Columbus metropolitan area.
“Earning a Top Workplaces award is a celebration of excellence,” Energage CEO Eric Rubino says. “It serves as a reminder of the vital role a people-first workplace experience plays in achieving success.”
To qualify for Top Workplaces recognition, employers must have at least 50 workers in the region. Beginning this year, employers are grouped by the overall size of their organization, as well as the number of employees invited to survey, which might include employees outside the Columbus region. Employers are grouped into similar sizes to best compare similar employee experiences. They are ranked within those groups based on the strength of the survey feedback.
Employers earn Top Workplaces recognition if their aggregated employee feedback score exceeds national benchmarks. Energage has established those benchmarks based on feedback from about 30 million employees over 20 years.
Survey results are valid only if at least 35 percent of employees respond; employers with fewer than 85 employees have a higher response threshold, requiring responses from at least 30 employees.
Why might a particular employer not be on the list? Perhaps it chose not to participate, or perhaps it did and employee feedback scores were not strong enough. Energage also runs tests on survey feedback and in some cases may disqualify an organization if, for example, a high number of employees said they felt pressured to answer positively.
To participate in the 2027 Top Workplaces awards, or for more information about the program, go to the nominations page at columbusceo.com/nominate.
—Bob Helbig, Energage
LARGE ORGANIZATIONS (350 OR MORE EMPLOYEES INVITED TO TAKE THE SURVEY)
These 89 organizations are the 2026 Top Workplaces. They are listed by their rankings, which were determined by Columbus CEO research partner Energage, in three size categories. Categories are based on total number of employees and the number invited to take the survey. The Employees column represents region employees/ survey invitees. Data is current as of employee surveys from late 2025.
Thankyouemployees!
Founded in 2012, we not only offer you topnotch electricians but also project managers and support staff to ensure that your project goes without a hitch.
Special Awards
16 Winners Earn Extra Honors
Recipients of these 14 Special Awards were chosen based on standout scores for employee responses to specific survey statements. Employees rate these statements on a seven-point scale, from strongly disagree to strongly agree.
LEADERSHIP
I have confidence in the leadership team of this company.
I believe this company is going in the right direction.
New ideas are encouraged at this company.
about my concerns.
Senior managers understand what is really happening at this company.
Wilcox Communities
COMMUNICATION
I feel well-informed about important decisions at this company.
Boss Gal Beauty Bar
APPRECIATION
I feel genuinely appreciated at this company.
Renier Construction Corp.
WORK/LIFE FLEXIBILITY
I have the flexibility I need to balance my work and personal life.
Revolution Mortgage
WELL-BEING
This company does a great job of prioritizing employee well-being.
Thrive Companies
BENEFITS
I am very satisfied with my benefits package.
Hamilton Capital
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AWARD
My employer is socially responsible in the community.
The Richwood Banking Co.
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Maintaining Momentum
Whether they’re dishing up chicken fingers or helping to build an airport terminal, these repeat winners strive to inspire employees and deliver for their customers.
By PETER TONGUETTE
To be named a Top Workplace once is a feat, but to repeat the honor represents a significant accomplishment.
Just ask Michael Swepston, CEO of Atlas Butler Heating, Cooling and Plumbing, a 105-year-old Columbus-based company that employs 147 workers. Atlas Butler is a Midsize Organizations category winner for the second year in a row.
“I wish I had a secret answer,” Swepston says. “It’s even a little harder because so many of our guys take their vans home, get a call sent to them and they go to that customer’s house.”
Because 70 percent to 80 percent of Atlas Butler’s workforce does not make regular appearances in the office—some might come in as seldom as once a month—Swepston has to get creative about promoting company culture and communicating with employees. Atlas Butler brings everyone together at quarterly meetings and also holds a monthly breakfast with Swepston, the chief operating officer and 10 employees.
Sometimes, though, the best approach is simply reaching out informally as opportunities arise—especially with a workforce that has chosen this line of work because they don’t want a meeting-heavy job. “We
Atlas Butler Heating, Cooling and Plumbing’s 2025 Top Performers were recognized at the company’s quarterly meeting.
Atlas Butler and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium celebrate the organizations’ new partnership.
TOP WORK PLACES
COLUMBUS CEO
tend to get a lot better feedback when you just meet someone in the hallway or you’re at an event and you’re just casually talking to them about it as opposed to a set meeting, [where] you need to come with eight bullet points,” Swepston says. “I can’t fix stuff if I don’t know it’s broken, so I encourage people on a very regular basis to let me know what their thoughts are.”
Employee-initiated suggestions have led to the company making birthdays paid days off, as well as the implementation of paid parental leave and increased bereavement days.
One reason leaders have been receptive to implementing such ideas is because so many worked their way up the ladder, Swepston says. “A lot of us came up working in warehouses,” he says. “The whole leadership team does their best they can to say, ‘All right, if I was in that role, what would I want?’ ”
Although 2025 saw increases in the costs of both materials and insurance, Swepston points to consistent company growth and the ability to regularly increase employee pay and benefits as pluses. It’s the sort of work environment that encourages employee retention. “We actually had a guy who just spent 50 years with us,” he says.
Longtime workers become the company’s best recruiting tool. “I would say a majority of our new hires come from recommendations from someone who already
Columbus for the third straight year—is based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, its founding city.
Key to its success is its designation of all crew members, managers and executives as “fry cooks and cashiers.” Even if their day-to-day responsibilities seldom include in-restaurant work, they still receive such training.
“Our founder is the original fry cook and cashier,” says Brian Stegall, division leader of restaurants, who is based in Cincinnati. “When he was starting the business, he did it by being inside the four walls of the restaurant, working with his crew, helping them to execute the shifts, helping them to serve the perfect box. That has been a foundational part of our culture.”
This mentality has resulted in an atmosphere in which every employee, no matter how senior, knows what it takes to run a restaurant. “There are a lot of organizations out there that train whatever level of leadership that gets them exposure to the restaurant,” Stegall says, but Raising Cane’s ensures that everyone from a restaurant operator to a financial analyst knows what it takes to fry chicken fingers and take orders. “When I go into the restaurants, the first thing that I am is a fry cook and cashier, and I am working side by side, hip to hip, with our crew members,” he says. “We are never separated from our one true purpose.”
Working alongside restaurant workers allows company leaders to recognize good work while demonstrating opportunity for advancement. “We also have a really strong internal development and internal growth pathway that our crew members can take,” Stegall says. “That gives them the ability to know that they can have a very clear path to a long-term career with Cane’s.”
works here, saying, ‘Hey, you should probably work here, too,’ ” Swepston says.
Building on the Basics
A similarly inclusive, democratic ethos governs Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, which employs more than 85,000 people across nearly 1,000 restaurants in the U.S. and some international destinations, including the Middle East. The 30-year-old company—a Top Workplaces winner in
An emphasis on managing work-life balance is engrained in the company’s values. Raising Cane’s shuts down on eight major holidays, Stegall says, including some not generally observed by other restaurants, like Memorial Day and Independence Day. “We recognize the hard work that our teams go through,” he says.
The Top Workplace ranking is significant to the company because it reflects the sentiments of its employees. “We take a lot of pride in being able to say that, ‘Hey, we’re one of the Top Workplaces,’ ” Stegall says. The achievement also aids in recruiting, he adds, which is especially important given its plans to expand to London, England, this year.
Raising Cane’s participants in the 2025 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon include restaurant leader Neil Lokey and restaurant partner Michael McClaskey.
Local Raising Cane’s leaders present Pets Without Parents a donation from a 2025 Plush Puppy campaign.
Watching out for Workers
Greif, with 14,000 workers around the globe, emerged as a Top Workplaces winner for the seventh consecutive year. Called “one of Columbus’ best-kept secrets” by Bala Sathyanarayanan, Greif’s executive vice president and chief human resources officer, the company produces a variety of industrial packaging, including bottles, drums and bulk containers. More than 250 people work at its Delaware headquarters.
“We have almost 250 manufacturing facilities in these 40-plus countries,” says Sathyanarayanan, adding Greif is known for its expertise and its high-quality products. “When Pfizer came out with the vaccine during COVID, they looked for a partner who could safely transport their most valuable product at that point in time in the world then—the vaccine—to places like Africa, who were starved of those vaccines.”
With such a large workforce, Greif, like other companies of its size, is tasked with promoting its values across a broad geographic footprint. “We look at that challenge as an opportunity,” Sathyanarayanan says.
A particular emphasis, he says, is on assuring safe working environments across sites and continents. “Walk into a Greif facility in Columbus, Ohio, or in Chennai, India, or in China, or in Chile, you will experience the same level of sophisticated safety culture,” Sathyanarayanan says.
“Every manufacturer says, ‘I keep my employees safe.’ … We go over and above. Beyond providing them with equipment, we actually train them on how to use it and also provide them with ways … to express their focus and passions, not just
Voted a Top
Workplace
by the people who matter most: our team
Greif President and CEO Ole Rosgaard (in the yellow safety vest) visits the company’s facility in Warminster, Pennsylvania.
Greif employees raised more than $200,000 for Pelotonia in 2025.
for safety but bringing their enthusiasm and involvement in the day-to-day job.”
Greif prefers the term work-life integration to work-life balance because, Sathyanarayanan says, “there is nothing called ‘work’ outside life. You are working when you are living.”
At the corporate office in Delaware, the company does not require in-person work but encourages employees to be on-site for the amenities it offers. “The company makes lunch available for any colleague who walks into the organization. There is free Starbucks, there is free soft drinks, there is a free gym, there is a free haircut, too,” he says, as well as a company pool. “We do not mandate people to show up; we enable people to show up.”
Business conditions were challenging last year due to tariffs, Sathyanarayanan says, and 2026 may offer more of the same. “But manufacturing companies are finding ways to work inside the constraints of what challenges tariffs can throw at us,” he says. Such a can-do corporate attitude may be one reason for Greif’s continued success as a Top Workplace, he adds. “We earn this award because this is what you are seeing from our colleagues.”
Engaging Employees
Though it has experienced significant growth this decade, Elford Inc. strives to maintain a personal connection with its workforce.
The Columbus-based construction company, founded in 1910, was named a Top Workplaces winner for the ninth
straight year. Elford’s portfolio includes projects in the education, health care, multifamily housing, retail and industrial sectors. “We’ve been around for a while,” says Erick Piscopo, chief talent officer of the company, which also has an office in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Economic growth in its core markets has resulted in a major increase in Elford’s employee headcount, from about 270 workers in 2020 to almost 450 in early March—410 of whom are in the Columbus region. Despite the size, Piscopo says Elford endeavors to “make everything as personal as possible.”
“The bigger you get, the harder it is to maintain that culture,” he says. “We still have folks who occasionally say, ‘I wish we still had that small company feel.’ And you just can’t do that when you’re that big with that many people.”
Nonetheless, Elford works overtime to engage with its people, no matter what they do or where on the org chart they fall. “This isn’t the kind of place where the C-suite is like an ivory tower and nobody ever sees them,” Piscopo says. “One of the things that I’ve been told by folks that work for us is they love the fact that they’re just walking down the hall one day and they might bump into the chairman of our board, our CEO, our CFO [or] myself as the chief talent officer, and we know their names. … We put a lot of effort into getting to know our folks personally.”
In knitting together such a large workforce, Piscopo has found certain common denominators among employees. “They’re
good builders,” he says. “They want to build something that has an impact on their community and where they live, and seeing something that they’re involved in go from design and construction to completion.”
An egoless workplace is encouraged, as is flexibility with schedules. The latter is particularly important in an environment where workweeks might amount to 50 or 60 hours. “We work more than we have free time. … But we also understand. ‘You know what? Take off—it’s 1:30 on a Thursday afternoon,’ and they’ve been overwhelmed,” Piscopo says. “We try to be flexible as best we can.”
Elford works in tandem with the Builders Exchange of Central Ohio to offer workforce development and leadership programs, going beyond those the company provides internally, to build its bench of future leaders. “Several of our vice presidents that lead different market sectors … started out here as maybe a project engineer or a project manager,” Piscopo says.
Several years ago, the company developed an employee resource group called the Women Builders of Elford, which has 45 to 50 participants. “This has become something that sets us apart as far as becoming an attractive place to work, especially for women,” Piscopo says.
In the “unprecedented” year that lies ahead, the company is on the ground floor of a number of major projects, including the new passenger terminal at John Glenn Columbus International Airport. That means more work for more workers. “People want to be here,” Piscopo says.
Peter Tonguette is a freelance writer.
Elford Inc. team members volunteer at the Mid-Ohio Food Collective.
Elford field operations team members work at a jobsite.
PHOTOS
FIRST- TIME WINNERS
Seventeen of our 2026 Top Workplaces are being honored for the first time.
LARGE
EisnerAmper
Gifthealth
Graybar Greenix
Morgan Properties
SAM
Sonesta International Hotels Corp.
Towne Properties
VITAS Healthcare
Woda Cooper Companies Inc.
MIDSIZE
Modern Office Methods
Sarnova
SMALL
Advanced Technology Products
Dynotec
Famous Supply
SMACT Works
Synergy Electrical
WINNINGIST HONOREES
These are the 2026 Top Workplaces winners with the most honors throughout the program’s 14-year history.
14 years
Worthington Enterprises (12 as Worthington Industries)
13 years
KPMG LLP
The Richwood Banking Co.
12 years
Fifth Third Bank
Lake Shore Cryotronics Inc.
Manifest Solutions Corp.
10 years
Lindsay Automotive Romanoff Group
Customer Centric
At Fifth Third Bank, communication is key to an engaged workforce and satisfied clients.
By TIM FERAN
Photos by TIM JOHNSON
When the news broke last year that Fifth Third Bancorp. would acquire Comerica Inc. and become the nation’s ninth-largest bank, Francie Henry remembered something a CEO had told her years ago.
“He said, ‘Bigger isn’t always better. Better is better,’ ” says Henry, Fifth Third’s regional president since 2018.
In Henry’s 40-year career with the Cincinnati-based bank, Fifth Third has gone from $3 billion in assets to nearly $300 billion. But that doesn’t mean Fifth Third has become a big, impersonal organization treating its customers like numbers in a ledger. “We believe in a decentralized model. My job as regional president is to make sure to find the right people,” she says—ones who operate local branches with the same spirit as a small, community bank: “Client first.”
“Our goal is to have our people know that they are part of something bigger than themselves.”
FRANCIE HENRY, Fifth Third Bank regional president
“We’re in a service industry,” she says. “Our goal is to have our people know that they are part of something bigger than themselves. The financial part is part and parcel of the dream—that there are people, places and things that you’re responsible for.”
Fifth Third’s emphasis on showing employees that their jobs are more than dollars and cents, and that they make a meaningful contribution to their community, is at the heart of why the bank is a 12time Top Workplaces winner in Columbus.
Elizabeth Boyuk, vice president of regional marketing and communications at Fifth Third, says the bank does many things to help employees feel connected and appreciated. “Internal communication is a big part of that,” Boyuk says. “We have quarterly ‘Cascade’ meetings in which information cascades from the top. That is an opportunity to make sure we all stay connected.”
The bank fosters a sense of belonging through a host of initiatives, particularly its volunteer programs, but other examples abound.
Fifth Third’s Business Resource Groups, for example, are designed to bring together people with common interests to develop a variety of projects. “We have a women’s group, African American group, LGBT group, young professionals group, a military group,” among others, says Boyuk, the
regional BRG adviser.
The company’s Spirit of the Pin award is a peer-to-peer recognition program in which employees can praise one another for their efforts in areas ranging from volunteer work to “bringing a project over the finish line,” Boyuk says. “It provides instant recognition to a peer.” The name refers to the ubiquitous “5/3” pins worn by the bank’s employees.
“We also have a mentoring program that’s in its fourth year,” Boyuk says. “It provides an opportunity for an employee to go from one line of business into another line. The program not only provides career advice but also helps employees learn about other businesses. That’s why we say you can have multiple careers at Fifth Third.”
And that applies to both men and women.
In the past, the banking industry was something of an old boys’ club—particularly in the executive ranks—so the fact that Fifth Third’s Central Ohio leaders are women is notable.
“I’ve been fortunate to be with an organization that values me as a person and doesn’t look through a gender lens,” says Boyuk, a 15-year veteran of Fifth Third. “I would be lying, though, if I did not say that there’s a little chip on my shoulder, wanting to prove that the people who have backed me were right.
Fifth Third Bank employees (from left) Peyman Salehi, regional president Francie Henry, Elizabeth Boyuk, Tina Byrd, Sandra Lopez and Jeremy Gutierrez
“I was one of the few females when I walked into a room. That never worked against me, but I was very cognizant of it. … Every time I’ve moved on, I’ve prepared someone else to follow me.”
Regardless of an employee’s identity, the ultimate goal is to show them they are “part of something bigger than ourselves, that this is not just a job,” Boyuk says.
“It’s something we never take for granted,” Henry says. “When your people feel good, it’s better for your clients.”
Clients do notice that good feeling. Henry says that one client commented, “It feels different here. You all get along.” That’s especially important when “60 percent of our workforce is in retail, the rest is wholesale and wealth management.”
The fact that Fifth Third not only offers conventional retail banking, but also provides other financial services sometimes leaves clients pleasantly surprised, Henry says. One new client remarked, “You brought in people from your wealth department? Well, that’s different,” Henry says.
The emphasis on serving clients face to face is one reason Fifth Third was
one of the first organizations to come back into the office after the pandemic shutdown. “Our CEO at the time talked about it, that we can survive remotely but we can’t thrive remotely,” Henry says. “To be our best selves, we can’t do it at my house. It wasn’t easy, of course. We had all the masks, the desks separated, all the safety precautions.”
The pandemic had one unusual effect at Fifth Third: Work-life balance actually improved. “The pandemic changed a lot—we were working smarter and better,” Boyuk says. “So, even though we were back in the office, we realized that some things ebb and flow,” and didn’t require working extended hours.
The pandemic was just one unpredictable event that banks have dealt with in recent times.
“When things are going smoothly, I get nervous now,” Henry says. “I think about 2007 [during the Great Recession] to now, and how many crises at financial institutions we’ve faced. It’s almost like being an ER doctor—we’re not sure what’s coming in the door next.”
Tim Feran is a freelance writer.
At Worthington Enterprises, we design and manufacture products essential to everyday life — for cooking, cooling, heating, drinking, celebrating and more. What don’t we manufacture? Our people-first culture. That’s authentically lived every day by our employees, who put Our Philosophy into action and have once again earned us a top workplaces designation.
Tina Byrd, Fifth Third’s North Columbus retail regional manager, meets with colleagues Justin Walter (center) and Michael Shumate at the Perimeter Drive branch in Dublin.
Pictured: Noah Brislen
Investing in Innovation
By SHANNON SHELTON MILLER
Photos by TIM JOHNSON
Michael Swartz likes to say his family-owned company began as a basement startup only because it’s too cold in Columbus to run a business in a garage.
In that basement in Minerva Park, John Swartz, a professor of electrical engineering at Ohio State University who studied semiconductor physics, began making devices that could work as cryogenic temperature sensors. His brother, David Swartz, sold the products from his home outside Buffalo, New York. It was 1968, and the venture often required John Swartz to rent time on a PDP-11 computer at Ohio State at 2 or 3 a.m.
Those were the origins of what would become Lake Shore Cryotronics Inc., which is approaching 60 years providing scientists and engineers with physics and materials science tools and systems. Lake Shore offers cryogenics, magnetics and other solutions that support cutting-edge research, groundbreaking discoveries and
Lake Shore Cryotronics Inc.
“I think our employees get behind our mission because we’re developing products to advance science.”
MICHAEL SWARTZ, Lakeshore Cryotronics president and CEO
scientific advances around the world, with a focus on electronics, clean energy, nanotechnology and more.
John Swartz’s children started working for the company when they were in high school. Michael Swartz began working full time for Lake Shore in 1986 and became president and CEO in 2003. Karen (Swartz) Lint was appointed chief operating officer in 2003.
That family legacy has been the foundation of success for Lake Shore, a 12-time Top Workplaces winner, which has its corporate headquarters and a manufacturing facility in Westerville.
The company’s approach to workplace culture has long been based on the idea that by investing in its people, Lake Shore can advance science and technology for the betterment of humanity. Michael Swartz says his management and leadership strategy emphasizes employee autonomy, encouraging decision-making at all levels across the organization. No matter their position, employees gain a sense of purpose and feel encouraged to make sound decisions for the good of the organization and all co-workers. The idea that collaboration is vital to decision-making is at the heart of his leadership approach.
“I really value W. Edwards Deming’s management philosophy,” Swartz says. “One of the key points in his management
philosophy is to drive out fear. That gives people the comfortability and the confidence to make decisions and go forward and get things done.”
Building a solid company culture also comes from making employees feel valued. Happy hours take place every few months, and during a January event, Swartz recognized employee accomplishments from the past year. For workers celebrating milestone service anniversaries, leaders gave gift cards and created a presentation that highlighted those employees, including photographs of them at company events.
Work-life balance is also important to company leaders. Because of the nature of their hands-on assembly jobs, most employees work on-site, but there is flexibility for remote work when needed. Lint says a number of employees choose to complete more hours on-site Monday through Thursday and work half days on Friday, or remotely if their duties allow.
Lake Shore employees also give back to the community, contributing their time to robotics and STEM program sponsorships, annual food drives, holiday giving trees and support for nonprofit organizations. Paid employee volunteer time is offered to support these efforts.
“I feel what makes our company culture so valuable is that it’s employee driven,” Lint says. “People want to do work that
Chief Operating Officer Karen Lint and President and CEO Michael Swartz at Lake Shore Cryotronics Inc.
matters. It’s important to create an environment where people can grow and feel valued, and feel listened to, respected and trusted. When everyone connects to that shared purpose, great things can happen.”
Lake Shore didn’t get through 2025 without challenges. The uncertainty around tariffs became an obstacle from an operations standpoint, since about 50 percent of the company’s revenues are international. The uncertainty affected the top line, and paperwork for existing orders had to be redone when the tariffs kicked in. “We learned to roll with the punches,” Lint says.
The future, however, is bright. The company moved its Massachusetts manufacturing operations to Westerville, a shift Lint says will create more local jobs.
Lake Shore also nearly doubled the size of its manufacturing facility, and new product developments have the company poised for growth.
“We’re optimistic because some of our products are in important areas of the future,” Swartz says. “Historically we’ve sold a lot into research, but now we’re selling more in the industry, potentially in supporting fusion. There’s new technology making fusion more practical, and more startups in
that area. That’s one area we’re investing in.” Lake Shore supplies key components for dilution refrigerators, which are needed for quantum computing. That’s also a growth area, even though practical quantum computers might be a few years away from viability, Swartz says. Still, the company is getting ahead of the curve by supplying equipment for product developers—a future-focused decision that’s been the foundation for company growth since Swartz’s father began
making devices in his basement.
“I think our employees get behind our mission because we’re developing products to advance science, and our mission statement is focused on supporting research that can improve humanity, both in science and industry,” Swartz says. “A lot of our employees get excited about that.”
Air flows because of vents. Water flows because of pipes. Our culture flows because of our people.
Systems only work when what’s essential is present. For us, our people are essential. Thank you for making Atlas Butler a Top Workplace 2026. Your engagement, honesty, and pride in your work keep our culture strong and moving forward.
Shannon Shelton Miller is a freelance writer.
Steve Steele uses an illuminated magnifier to solder a part.
Growth Mindset
SMACT Works finds success in the crowded IT arena by looking to the future.
By SHANNON SHELTON MILLER
Photos by TIM JOHNSON
In 2013, Ranjith Yengoti saw the future of IT and embraced it.
Big tech corporations like Amazon, Oracle, Google and Microsoft were launching their cloud platforms and infrastructure. Yengoti knew public- and privatesector organizations would need to navigate this growing digital landscape and decided to focus his startup on providing Oracle cloud consulting and support.
Today, Dublin-based SMACT Works has more than 150 employees and consultants across the U.S., offices in North America and India, and clients spanning the higher education, health care, government and commercial sectors.
SMACT Works’ name is derived from an industry acronym—(S)ocial, (M)obile, (A)nalytics, (C)loud and (T)echnology, or the internet of (T)hings—and the company now is an Oracle-preferred partner. In 2025, Oracle recognized SMACT Works for innovation in PeopleSoft applications, and more than 95 percent
“As long as we are striving for excellence and doing things with integrity, the results will come automatically.”
RANJITH YENGOTI, founder and CEO of SMACT Works
of employees have earned Oracle certifications.
SMACT Works is a first-time Top Workplaces winner, and Yengoti is the recipient of the Special Award for Leadership in the Small Organizations category.
From the start, Yengoti identified excellence, integrity and a platform of growth as the core principles he wanted the company and employees to embrace. They’re rooted in his immigrant background: Yengoti arrived in the United States from India in 2004 to pursue a graduate degree in electrical engineering at the University of Texas. After completing his studies, he found employment in tech consulting and became a U.S. citizen. In 2010, his wife landed a job in Columbus, and the family moved to Central Ohio.
“Things have worked out very well for me,” Yengoti says. “With the U.S. being a place for opportunities, I had the opportunity to start a company. In the interim, I saw I could provide employment opportunities for many others like me. I see SMACT Works as more than just a revenue-making mission. It gives me the opportunity to help others.”
Within the company, that means operating with a people-first, growth-oriented mindset. “We don’t have pressure here
that we need to continuously grow and grow,” Yengoti says. “Our motto is to do your best. As long as we are striving for excellence and doing things with integrity, the results will come automatically.”
Recent achievements have validated that approach. SMACT Works is a four-time entrant on the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private companies list. Over four consecutive years, SMACT Works moved from No. 4,651 in 2022 to No. 2,957 on the 2025 list based on revenue growth. For the 2025 list, the company’s three-year growth was 139 percent.
Employees are encouraged to participate in community service and social responsibility projects outside the office. SMACT Works’ Attitude of Gratitude initiative encourages and matches employee volunteer time and contributions to organizations such as Toys for Tots, Mid-Ohio Food Collective, LifeCare Alliance and a homeless shelter. Yengoti is the executive director of Sponsor Kids, a nonprofit helping underprivileged children through education and care programs, and has an advisory role at HoloPundits, where he supports integration of augmented and virtual reality technologies to enhance K-12 learning.
Rae Scherrer says SMACT Works’ emphasis on trust, accountability and
Founder and CEO Ranjith Yengoti, Rae Scherrer, Harry the corgi and Cecelia Glackin-Hunt at the SMACT Works office
flexibility for employees has kept her at the organization for more than two years.
“There’s a long-term thought process here, not just immediate gratification,” Scherrer says. “I like challenging and collaborative environments, and that’s one of the reasons I’ve stayed. I’ve never been at a job before where I wake up and want to continue coming each day.”
Scherrer did not plan a career in tech. An English and theater major at Ohio Wesleyan University, Scherrer was pursuing a master of fine arts in acting in New York before the pandemic made her rethink her plans. She returned to Columbus, where her partner lived, and looked for jobs where her left brain and right brain could be equally engaged, she says.
She landed an operations administrative position at SMACT Works and became operations manager within three months. Now a proposal manager, Scherrer gets to employ her communications skills to talk technology with potential customers and detail how SMACT Works’ offerings would work within their organizations.
Scherrer also recruited another key team member to the company: her dog, Harry. A corgi in training to become a service
dog, Harry visits the office to learn how to navigate social situations. A “Happy Hour Harry” program takes place weekly, and Yengoti even gave Harry an official CEO title: chief emotional officer. Other employees have embraced Harry and offer to take him for walks outside during their breaks.
“There are so many different people impacting how this dog is going to grow and become an effective member of society,” Scherrer says. “It’s led to beautiful conversations about developmental stages from adolescence to getting older and how it all works.”
That’s the kind of growth Yengoti envisioned when he launched the company: skills and lifestyle growth for employees while building a better community through public service. Physical growth has naturally followed, and in early 2026, SMACT Works moved to a larger Dublin facility. The company continues to embrace cutting-edge digital technology, adding augmented reality, virtual reality and cloud AI services to its portfolio.
“It takes time to grow and create success, but that type of success will last much longer,” he says. “You can have an overnight success, but at the same time
you can have an overnight failure, so I’m looking for a steady growth perspective that’s a lifelong activity.”
Harry the corgi, who is training to become a service dog, is a fixture at the company’s weekly happy hour.
Shannon Shelton Miller is a freelance writer.
Creating a Culture
Four organizations discuss how they rely on principles such as collaboration, innovation, inclusivity and values to foster environments that workers seek.
By PETER TONGUETTE
At health care products and services company Sarnova, leaders assure that teams work together harmoniously by starting where many organizations finish.
“We start with the desired outcome, and then with multiple departments in mind, reverse-engineer the steps that they need to take together to make sure that at the end of the process, not only is the result achieved, but they all felt like they checked the right boxes,” says Jim McGannon, senior vice president of human resources.
This emphasis on achieving specific goals through conscientious teamwork is knitted into the company culture. “We bring teams together on a regular basis just to talk through things, to see how the person on the other end of the transaction is receiving the efforts of one department versus another,” McGannon says.
Employee satisfaction with interdepartmental cooperation is one of the metrics Top Workplaces in Columbus felt more positive about than last year.
Surveyed employees were asked to rank a series of metrics on a seven-point scale, and the statements that saw the greatest increase in positivity were interdepartmental cooperation (a 2.6 percent increase over 2025), fair compensation (up 10.7 percent) and workplace efficiency (a 3.1 percent increase). Those areas are strong points for Sarnova, too.
Founded in Dublin in 2008, Sarnova employs 1,800 domestic workers and several hundred more overseas. The company goes to market in the form of four primary business units: Bound Tree Medical, Cardio Partners, Digitech and Tri-anim Health Services. Achieving efficiency in a multidimensional, still-growing organization is key.
“As we grew, things became more complex, and we knew that we really had to really put some muscle behind cross-functional collaboration and streamlining processes, and making sure that cross-functional teams had an easy time working together,” McGannon says. “One of our strategic imperatives is that we accelerate innovation, and the infusing of innovation
Sarnova’s sales and marketing team at the American Association for Respiratory Care conference
PHOTOS COURTESY SARNOVA (2)
Sarnova’s inside sales team volunteers at Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio.
into how we work has really made life a lot simpler for our teams to work together.”
The Importance of Employee Experience
McGannon says Sarnova keeps its compensation competitive and at or above market rates through external research. Some Top Workplaces find that while wages are important to employees, they needn’t be paid at the top of their field to feel fairly compensated.
Olentangy Local School District has neither the highest nor lowest pay scale among Central Ohio districts, which is a conscious decision by its board of education, says Nancy Freese, chief human resources officer. Why, then, do teachers seek out the district years before a job opening emerges? “I do believe that, even though we’re not the highest paid like some of the elite districts … it’s attributed to the experience that [employees] have,” Freese says. “As long as they’re fairly compensated, they will take living and working in this environment over getting paid more for an environment that is less supportive and less desirable.”
While the district works with its unions to make cost-of-living adjustments each year, Freese says, it’s the atmosphere of inclusivity that makes Olentangy most appealing to its staff.
Indeed, feeling included was among the four metrics that employees of this year’s Top Workplaces in Columbus felt most positively about: 79.9% of respondents felt included at their organization.
That’s a big task in a school district adding 400 to 500 students and over 200 new employees annually. The district, one of the fastest-growing in Ohio, has more than 3,000 full-time workers.
“It’s easy for a district our size to lose sight of our mission and our values and
“The intentionality comes from constantly driving the work around our mission statement, which is to facilitate maximum learning for every student.”
NANCY FREESE, chief human resources officer of Olentangy Local School District
our priorities,” Freese says. “So with that, the intentionality comes from constantly driving the work around our mission statement, which is to facilitate maximum learning for every student.”
Olentangy has implemented seemingly small things that have made a large impact, including giving teachers half-hour uninterrupted lunch breaks, as well as a period incorporated in the school day for collaboration. “From the teacher’s lens, I felt very valued with the fact that they were saying, ‘In order for us to continue with
our academic success, teachers need time, and the time shouldn’t always need to happen outside of their school day,’ ” says Freese, who began her career as a teacher and was promoted to assistant principal and principal before moving into HR.
This year, the highest-ranked Top Workplaces metric showed 82.1 percent of respondents feel their organization operates according to strong values.
That certainly motivates the workforce at T-Cetra, a Hilliard-founded technology company now based in Dublin. The business’ 160 employees devote themselves to facilitating wireless carrier transactions tailored to the underbanked population, who hold bank accounts but may not have a credit card. “We’re trying to help them gain the access that the banked population has today,” says co-founder and Chief Information Officer Gus Hashem. “I like to serve that demographic. It’s very important for me to make sure that I have the product available for [the] environment that we support, … the minority areas, the immigrants that need help.”
T-Cetra prides itself on promoting a red-tape-free environment at work. “An engineer can come to me and have an idea, and we can work with them on whatever the idea is if it makes sense for the company,” Hashem says. “We don’t have the hierarchy that you usually find in the larger company. We’re dynamic.”
Supporting Company Staff
The remaining top-four metrics are closely intertwined: 81.7 percent of respondents feel their manager cares about their concerns, and 79.7 percent say their manager helps them learn and grow.
Administrators Ebone Ford (left) and Monica Brown cheer on staff members at Olentangy Local School District’s 2025 back-to-school convocation.
Heritage Elementary School educators are welcomed back to school at Olentangy’s annual convocation.
Hashem says T-Cetra tries to stay attuned to its employees’ needs as they seek to learn new skills and advance within the organization. “We go through an evaluation that makes them comfortable in their career path, to see what’s needed, what would make them go to the next step,” he says. “We do have our leadership program for developing leaders and managers. … We have resources that are available for development on the management side, and also on the employee level, we use the Ohio TechCred for training our employees with technologies.”
Westerville-headquartered event venue company BTTS Holdings also places a priority on supporting its workforce, which encompasses a staff of about 90 and a parttime roster around 350.
“We work very hard to make sure that our employees feel like they are part of something that is bigger than themselves,” says human resources director Jennifer Rasar, who points to a give-back program that offers workers one day a year to volunteer. “We also curate a give-back week where we all volunteer together [in]
different organizations throughout Central Ohio,” she says.
Also notable is BTTS’ Hunt the Good initiative, begun two years ago as an easy way for employees to compliment one another. “You just scan this little QR code and you nominate your co-worker,” Rasar says. “They get a little postcard in the mail that says, ‘Hey, you’ve been caught doing good.’”
BTTS—which, in addition to owning and operating eight venues, also runs inhouse catering and floral operations—has initiated programs to simplify interdepartmental communication. An initiative called Followed By All offers an overview of internal processes and procedures in a single, shareable document. “[We] can look right at this document and say, ‘OK, this is who I go to for this. This is who I go to for that,’ ” Rasar explains.
Additionally, while in the past staff were split up at different locations, they now work together on a 25,000-square-foot campus in Westerville. “It provides this great experience for our teams to be in one location, but also for our clients and our
couples,” she says.
Employees who felt empowered at their organizations and by their managers were consistent themes in workplaces that did well in the positivity metrics.
“We set large company goals, and then cascade those down through different business units, and then through different functions within those business units, all the way down to the individual contributor level,” says Sarnova’s McGannon. “People feel like their work is meaningful and that it really does matter.”
And leaders at these organizations believe their employees matter, too. Freese points to the willingness of Olentangy Local School District supervisors to accommodate staff when personal needs present themselves.
“It could be that I need two hours to go to doughnuts for dad, [or] I need to take a day to be with my mom,” Freese says. “The human side of that always prevails. … Any time we can support a true need, the answer is going to be yes, and we’ll walk side by side with them, for sure.”
Peter Tonguette is a freelance writer.
The BTTS Holdings team volunteers at Flying Horse Farms.
BTTS Holdings donated 120 Thanksgiving meals to the Center of Hope for the sixth year in 2025.
PHOTOS
T-Cetra supported Scottish Corners Elementary School’s purchase of Pocketalk devices to help English language learners.
PHOTOS COURTESY T-CETRA (2)
T-Cetra walking club members logged more than 500,000 steps in 2025.