The late great St. Louis Cardinal’s Hall-of-Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean once reportedly said: “It ain’t braggin’ if ya’ can back it up.” Well, in this case I can back it up, so I hope it doesn’t come across as bragging.

I am excited because OxyGo® and the Applied Companies won a prestigious 2017 Weatherhead 100 Award this past November for the second consecutive year. It validates my belief we are on the right track in our efforts to enable you to serve the oxygen needs of your patients with the best and most reliable products to help them breath better and keep going.

Weatherhead awards are presented each year to the fastest growing 100 companies in Northeast Ohio. They were based in 2017 on five year revenue growth from 2012 through 2016. Companies on the list must have had sales of at least $100,000 in 2012 plus a minimum of 16-full time employees and more than $1 million in sales in 2016.

Much has changed since the Weatherhead 100 debuted in 1988 when Ronald Reagan was president. The Dow Jones closed that year at 2,168 and interest rates were close to 11%.

Progressive Insurance ranked 27th on the list with $1 billion in sales. The Mayfield Heights, OH based company did $23 billion in sales last year. Nordson was 89th on the list in 1988 and in 2011 built a new LEED-certified green headquarters near our Applied plant in Westlake. Nordson has raised its dividends for 54 straight years, one of the longest active streaks by a publicly traded company.

The Weatherhead Awards today have been divided into three distinct categories that recognize Northeast Ohio’s fastest growing companies: The Upstarts, The Weatherhead 100, The Centurions. Presented by the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, they are awarded at a black tie dinner attended by hundreds of Cleveland’s most prominent business leaders.

We were delighted in 2016 when OxyGo and the Applied companies ranked 21st on the Weatherhead 100. But we were even more thrilled when we moved up to the 14th ranked position in 2017. Our revenue growth, as cited by Weatherhead 100, had increased by over 380% since 2012.

Of course, we want to keep it going in 2018—and for that I need your help. Please call me directly at 440-788-4090 or email dmarquard@applied-inc.com with any ideas you have on how we can improve our service, our products, our marketing efforts, or our sales contact at your business. If there are any concerns, I want to know about them and I will reward you for your input.

Our commitment is to supply your DME/HME business operation with the industry’s top-rated portable oxygen concentrators, oxygen supplies and customer finance options to improve the lives and happiness of your patients. Always!