No. 1 in Government Services Luke & Associates 16,636.6% Three-Year Growth Revenue: $37.5 Million Employees: 588 CEO: James Barfield Founded: 2004 Overall RANK: No. 3 Merritt Island, Fla. lukeassoc.com James Barfield spent his early career decked out in protective breathing gear, checking the air inside spacecraft... 

No. 1 in Food and Beverage Signature Foods 2,023.7% Three-Year Growth Revenue: $28 Million Employees: 155 CEO: Chuck McAtee Founded: 2004 Overall RANK: No. 127 Pendergrass, Ga. signaturefood.com As vice president of business development for ConAgra, Chuck McAtee was constantly turning down opportunities that didn’t... 

DUBAI — Union Bank of India, or UBI, plans to open a branch in Dubai to meet the funding needs of Indian corporates in the Middle East and further boost UAE-India trade, the bank’s chairman and managing director said. See the rest here:  Business : UBI to help boost UAE, India trade | Yahoo! News Search Results... 

No. 1 in Financial Services Debt Free Associates 12,376.2% Three-Year Growth Revenue: $26.2 Million Employees: 46 CEO: Bradley Smith Founded: 2006 Overall RANK: No. 7 Oklahoma City debtfreeassociates.com Back in 2005, Bradley Smith gathered up a bunch of his smartest friends, all of whom worked in the financial services... 

No. 1 in Environmental Services CleanScapes 1,119.3% Three-Year Growth Revenue: $38.6 Million Employees: 260 President: Chris Martin Founded: 1997 Overall RANK: No. 274 Seattle cleanscapes.com In the mid-’90s, Chris Martin was working at an ad agency in Seattle and living in the downtown Pioneer Square district.... 

Karren Brady, assistant to Lord Sugar on TV’s The Apprentice, will deliver a keynote address at a free event for small business owners in Telford next week. Read the original here: Lord Sugar’s right-hand woman to headline small business event | Yahoo! News Search Results for start-up business  Read More →

No. 1 in Engineering Appareo Systems 1,751.9% Three-Year Growth Revenue: $5.5 Million Employees: 57 CEO: Barry Batcheller Founded: 2003 Overall RANK: No. 159 Fargo, N.D. appareo.com Barry Batcheller’s childhood heroes were astronauts, several of whom he met through his father, a flight instructor for NASA. When... 

No. 1 in Education FortuneBuilders 3,648.2% Three-Year Growth Revenue: $10.1 Million Employees: 17 CEO: Than Merrill Founded: 2005 Overall RANK: No. 62 San Diego fortunebuilders.com Than Merrill’s career with the Chicago Bears was cut short by injury. His next gig, as the owner of a restaurant near the campus... 

No. 1 in Consumer Products and Services Scentsy 8,094.1% Three-Year Growth Revenue: $178.4 Million Employees: 424 CEO: Orville Thompson Founded: 2004 Overall RANK: No. 19 Meridian, Idaho scentsy.net Scentsy was Orville and Heidi Thompson’s last-ditch effort to avoid bankruptcy. To save their family’s specialty... 

CAIRO — There are glimmers of hope in this tough economy. One of them is in Alexander County where a business is expanding. Owner Gabrielle Harris says it’s the first time something like this has happened in that community in a decade. Here is the original: New Business Brings New Opportunities | Yahoo!...