One hundred Aggie business owners came back to Aggieland Friday to be recognized for success in their business.
For 10 years, the Aggie 100 has recognized the top 100 Aggie-owned or run businesses in the world with a luncheon where the full rankings are revealed. To be considered, a business must be at least 50 percent Aggie-owned or operated at the corporate level, been in business for five years, have a net worth of at least $250,000 and have net growth that has compounded over the past three years.
From engineering firms to athletic-based businesses, Jimmy McCord, Class of 1969 and first-time Aggie 100 honoree, said earning an invitation to the prestigious event in the Bethancourt Ballroom serves as a badge of honor and pride.
“It’s exciting,” McCord said. “We’re very excited. It’s great to be an Aggie and it’s an honor to be considered one of the fastest growing Aggie businesses.”
While McCord’s business, McCord Engineering, was just honored for the first time, its employees have brought their expertise to utility companies across Texas for quite some time.
“We’re particularly pleased because we’ve been doing this type of work for 45 years, and we aren’t a startup company,” McCord said. “We’ve been doing it for a long time, and it’s very rewarding to be included.”
Even for repeat honorees such as Cody Catalena, Class of 1997, of the NetNearU WiFi software firm, the Aggie 100 gives a tangible representation of a job well done.
“It’s a great honor,” Catalena said. “It’s really a testament to each of our employee’s hard work, and everybody in our company that has help it grow year after year, allowing us to make the Aggie 100 two years in a row.”
Catalena said working closely with fellow Aggies in the business world brings great benefits.
“Everywhere you go, you run into Aggies and we’ve found that in companies that we’ve met to do business with as well,” Catalena said. “If you’re negotiating with a company and you have an Aggie across the table from you it can make things go a lot easier. You can have a common thread and we find that everywhere.”
With 100 Aggie businesses honored, and many more to come, the Aggie 100 will continue to celebrate the leaders in business produced by Texas A&M.