Trendsetters: Information Technology, Medicine

| 2/1/2009

Terry Hedden
Infinity Business Systems
CEO, Tampa

Quote: “We live and breathe by Christian principles. We practice that in all we do.”

Education: Bachelor’s, management information systems, 1996, University of Florida; executive MBA, 2005, UF

[Photo: Mark Wemple]

Terry Hedden, CEO of Tampa information technology outsourcing company Infinity Business Systems, has done well by avoiding competing on price. The company ranks 94th on Inc. magazine’s list of the fastest-growing IT companies (659th overall). He expects revenue this year to top $6.5 million.

A Dunedin native, Hedden, 33, worked as an Ernst & Young consultant and for private companies in Atlanta before returning to Tampa in 2003 to launch Infinity. He focused on providing small and medium-sized businesses with quality and service comparable to in-house IT. “It’s a pretty compelling value proposition,” he says. Instead of charging by the hour, he offers unlimited service for a fixed monthly fee, saving clients 20% to 40% over in-house staff.

He expects to hire 15 to 20 this year, wants to make an acquisition per quarter and open offices in Fort Lauderdale and another city to add to those in Atlanta, Orlando and Sarasota, part of a plan to grow by 40% annually for 10 years. Says Hedden, “100% year-over-year isn’t out of the question. I would be very disappointed in anything less than 40% regardless of the economy.”

‘Breaking Down Taboos’

The problem for people with a health issue in the internet age is too much information — from crackpot cures to anxiety-inducing information. Through his website, prostatecancerinfolink.net , prostate cancer specialist Dr. Arnon Krongrad, 49, of Aventura, offers an authoritative solution he hopes will bridge the gulf between patients and doctors. With healthcare communicator Michael Scott, of Vox Medica in Philadelphia, he founded The “New” Prostate Cancer Infolink. The commercial-free site has social networking along with solid information delivered by a volunteer scientific advisory board. “We’re breaking down taboos,” says Krongrad, a pioneer in minimally invasive prostate surgery and founder of The Krongrad Institute for Minimally Invasive Prostate Surgery in Aventura.

Tags: Trendsetters

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