Summit Learning Services

Entrepreneur Ed Cwieka and public school teacher Jeanee Thompson met in 2006, opened their tutoring business in 2007 and plan to get married this year. Their Plantation-based Summit Learning Services has blossomed like their relationship. It made the Inc. 500 fastest-growing company list in 2012 at No. 488 and is budgeted to reach $4 million in revenue this year.  In a field dominated by names such as Sylvan and Huntington, the two sell their company and its franchises as a high-quality model: All tutors are at least state-certified as teachers. Summit has eight full-time employees but 1,500 tutors, nearly all teachers moonlighting for six or so hours a week. “We put out a high-quality product. Period,” Cwieka says. Thompson recently stepped aside as CEO to head Summit Community Learning, a non-profit that will go after federal grants to tutor students, and to found a for-profit preschool company, Summit Early Learning.

Tags: Southeast, Education