Entrepreneur Selects EMCVenues as One "Top 50"

Fastest Growing Women-led Companies in North America

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. October 14, 2008

ANNAPOLIS, MD, January 30, 2008. Entrepreneur magazine, a leading resource to small and medium-size businesses throughout the United States and Canada, has selected EMCVenues as one of the "Top 50 Fastest Growing Women-led Companies in North America." EMCVenues ranks 17th on Entrepreneur's Top 50 list. Jody Wallace, co-founder, president and chief executive officer of EMCVenues, made the announcement.

"We are absolutely thrilled to receive this recognition by Entrepreneur magazine," said Ms. Wallace. "Seven years ago we launched EMCVenues solely as a meeting sourcing company. Our evolution has taken EMCVenues to new heights of providing comprehensive meeting management solutions."

The Top 50 List

In celebration of the growing power of women in business, Entrepreneur partnered with the Women Presidents Organization (WPO), a nonprofit peer advisory organization for independent women presidents and CEOs, to identify the Top 50 fastest-growing women-led companies in North America.

To do so, Entrepreneur and the WPO solicited applications from women-led businesses throughout North America and considered those that met the following criteria:

---|-The company must be a privately held, woman-led company in the U.S. or Canada.

---|-The company's sales in 2002 must be $50,000 or greater.

---|-Company sales in 2006 must be at least $1 million.

---|-Applicants for the Top 50 were ranked according to a sales growth formula that combines percentage and absolute growth -- with research conducted by WPO director of communications Caitlin Jenkins and a team of professionals that included editorial staff from Entrepreneur.

From this list, the Top 50 Woman-led businesses were selected.

EMCVenues' Journey to the Top 50

EMCVenues began operations in 2001 after Ms. Wallace identified a strong need for new solutions that would bring together mid-sized hotels and small group meetings business - a segment that often helps drive profitability for a property. She was sought out for her expertise in this area and soon determined this was a niche that hadn't been developed sufficiently. She quickly moved to fill it, co-founding EMCVenues. During the next seven years the privately-held meetings management company grew exponentially, with revenues nearly doubling every year.

"Looking back," continued Wallace, "Our biggest challenge was getting better before getting bigger. I made the mistake of growing too fast in the beginning, and it was overwhelming for my team and our customers. We quickly retooled to focus on delivery and customer service first and foremost. Growth soon followed."

When asked by Entrepreneur about the secret to her success over the last seven years, Wallace stated, "Passion. Passion is key. You must be energized by your own passion and be ready to bring on new ideas and find the solutions to overcome your challenges. I feel lucky that I have found my passion. I enjoy my work every minute of every day, even when the going gets tough." Wallace concluded with, "Equally important is the team of professionals you surround yourself with ^aEUR| and I've been so fortunate to have been able to assemble the very best!"

For the complete listing of Entrepreneur magazine's Top 50 Fastest-growing Women-led companies, visit http://www.entrepreneur.com/women50/index.html.