FASTEST GROWING, RANKED BY INC. MAGAZINE THREE-YEAR PERCENTAGE GROWTH IN REVENUE
ARIZONA COMPANIES
Top 10 PLEXUS WORLDWIDE INC. 15649 N. Greenway Hayden Loop, Scottsdale, 85260 // 480-998-3490 // plexusworldwide.com THREE-YEAR GROWTH 16,458 percent PRINCIPAL Tarl Robinson, CEO HIGHEST-RANKING WOMAN MaryAnn Luciano, vice president of ambassador education BLUESQUARE RESOLUTIONS 15950 N. 76th St., First Floor, Scottsdale, 85260 // 602-732-4405 // getbluesquare.com THREE-YEAR GROWTH 11,489 percent PRINCIPAL Sabin Burrell, cofounder HIGHEST-RANKING WOMAN Tiffany Georskey, senior financial analyst BASE COMMERCE 1380 W. Auto Drive, Tempe, 85284 // 800-848-5826 // basecommerce. com THREE-YEAR GROWTH 10,186 percent PRINCIPAL John Hughes, president HIGHESTRANKING WOMAN Jennifer Doolittle, director of operations AMERICAN RETIREMENT ADVISORS 14861 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 101, Scottsdale, 85254 // 602-281-3898 // americanretirementadvisors. com THREE-YEAR GROWTH 7,758 percent PRINCIPAL David Schaeffer, retirement planner HIGHEST-RANKING WOMAN Monica Chipman, planner; Sharon Colbert-Groves, planner THE JOINT 16767 N. Perimeter Drive, Suite 240, Scottsdale, 85260 // 480-245-5960 // thejoint. com THREE-YEAR GROWTH 5,139 percent PRINCIPAL John B. Richards, CEO HIGHESTRANKING WOMAN Catherine Hall, chief marketing officer ETHOLOGY 6263 North Scottsdale Road, Suite 180, Scottsdale, 85250 // 602-840-6757 // ethology.com THREE-YEAR GROWTH 4,219 percent PRINCIPAL Jeff Pruitt, chairman and CEO HIGHEST-RANKING WOMAN Amy Simpson, senior vice president, operations TRAPP TECH 7360 E. Acoma Drive, Suite 2, Scottsdale, 85260 // 602-443-9145 // trapponline. com THREE-YEAR GROWTH 1,554 percent PRINCIPAL David Trapp, CEO HIGHESTRANKING WOMAN Ashley Capps, creative manager RIGID INDUSTRIES 779 N. Colorado St., Gilbert, 85233 // 480-655-0100 // rigidindustries. com THREE-YEAR GROWTH 1,464 percent PRINCIPAL Jason Christiansen, CEO HIGHESTRANKING WOMAN Miranda Fuller, director of marketing FLEXGROUND 11809 W. 4th St., Tempe, 85281 // 602-954-000 // flexground.com THREEYEAR GROWTH 1,322 percent PRINCIPALS Bill Stafford, Corey Hague, owners HIGHESTRANKING WOMAN Sandi Walsh, general manager, FlexGround California AMERICAN GROUP 25 S. Arizona Place, Suite 300/302, Chandler, 85225 // 480-406-6102 // shipag.com THREE-YEAR GROWTH 1,156 percent PRINCIPAL Daniel P. Krivickas, Jr., president, co-founder HIGHEST-RANKING WOMAN Kristina Hopkins, manager credit and collections
A REFRESHING APPROACH Usually, a call from a collection agent strikes fear in the heart of the recipient. But when Tina Hopkins calls, she wants to be your friend. “I took a different approach to it: How can I be helpful to this person?” says Hopkins, manager of credit and collections at shipping company American Group. Hopkins began her career working medical collections. “What I found was that people didn’t know how to use their insurance or used it incorrectly,” she says. “I would talk to them. I would try to find out if there was anything we could do to help get this taken care of.” Hopkins thinks men hold about half the jobs in collections, but she believes there’s a real advantage to being a woman. “I think women have a better ability to relate to people,” she says. “People are less intimidated. As soon as a man was on the phone, the client would be defensive. I could pick up the phone and talk to them on a more personal level and actually get to a place where we can negotiate and work on the bill.” Working collections was not part of her original career plans. “I started in this field on accident,” she says. “I had to put out so many re-
sumes and job applications, and one of my girlfriends said to come put it in over here [at a collections agency]. I told the guy interviewing me I didn’t want the job. And he said ‘Good. Start Monday.’” She held that job for more than a decade. With the changes in the medical field that came with the Affordable Care Act, Hopkins set her sights on another collections field. “I went out and tried to be a collector for credit cards and hated it,” she says. “I found I wasn’t as good at that.” Working for American Group, a company that ships packages that are too big for traditional carriers, turns out to have been the right choice for Hopkins. “In this position, I’m back to doing what I like to do,” she says, “working with people, trying to help them out. For the most part, there’s no confrontation. I can be mean if I have to be, but why?” As much as she loves working for American Group, there is one thing she doesn’t like. “They won’t let me work from home,” she says. “If they would, I’d be everywhere. I’d probably get a motor home and just travel across the United States. A laptop and a cellphone. I’d be good to go.”
KRISTINA HOPKINS MANAGER OF CREDIT AND COLLECTIONS BY CHRISTOPHER GEOFFREY MCPHERSON
2015 // WHO’S WHO IN BUSINESS 23
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