Pacific Coast Business Times: The Story Behind The 101 One Hundred

By Henry Dubroff
April 2002

Highway 101 is more than just a corridor for moving people up and down our region. It is in fact the economic backbone of our area, providing countless opportunities for trade, commerce and innovation.

The highway links our neighborhoods with our downtowns. It links our distributions centers with our retailers. It links financial sources with customers. It links travel destinations with tourists. And, perhaps most important, Highway 101 links our major universities with the regional economy, allowing entrepreneurship to flourish.

For more than two years, the Pacific Coast business times has been working toward a single goal – telling the wonderful story of the world class companies along the Highway 101 business corridor.

With the publications of this inaugural issue of the 101 One Hundred, we take a big step forward in reaching that goal.

We have stepped back from our weekly focus on news and the latest developments to provide a perspective on corporate leadership in the tri-county region.

Over time, the 101 One Hundred will do for the region what the Fortune 500 has done for the national economy. It will provide a comprehensive and in-depth guide to the increasingly powerful corporate community of the Tri-Counties.

Membership in the 101 One Hundred will be the mark of success for up-and-coming companies and rankings on the 101 One Hundred will become powerful ways for local companies to build their regional brands.

Launching the 101 One Hundred took many hours of planning and analysis.

Using our successful Top 25 list methodology, we analyzed our corporate community using four standards:

Publicly traded companies. We ranked the largest publicly traded companies based in the region using market capitalization as the key measure. We then compiled additional data about the financial performance on each company.
Privately held companies. We listed the largest privately held companies based within the region, ranked by their employment in the Tri-Counties. We also have gathered for the first time information about their revenues, total employment and other benchmarks.
Major employers based outside the region. We conducted a thorough analysis of major employers – companies such as Raytheon and Target – that are based outside the area. We ranked the top 25 based on their workforce in the Tri-Counties.
Companies to watch. We felt it was important to recognize companies that have experienced fast growth, raised venture capital, are on the path for an IPO, or have been singled out for national recognition. To round out our 101 One hundred, we ranked these companies on revenues and also gathered additional information about each one.
Our research was conducted by the Business Times staff and in the case of the first three lists, rankings were done strictly by the numbers. In the case of the fourth list, Companies to Watch, our news staff, led by Laura Polland, made a few judgment calls based largely on each company’s economic impact and its recent performance. [Meathead Movers was recognized for this distinction]. We will be honoring each of the 101 One Hundred companies and handing out special awards to eight of the members of this elite group at a special reception on May 13 at the Pierpont Inn & Racquet Club.

The 101 One Hundred would not be possible without the support of our sponsors. Our founding sponsors include the Pierpont Inn & Racquet Club, Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, and Southern California Gas, a Sempra Energy Company. Our associate sponsors are Axa Global Advisors, Davies and Jordano’s.

I also would like to thank the dozens of harried executives, PR people, human resources staffers and others who took time out to help us compile these lists. We appreciate your help.

I would also like to express appreciation to our news staff I would also like to express appreciation to our news staff for an extraordinary effort in producing the 101 One Hundred while making sure that the quality of our weekly newspaper did not suffer.
Our team was led by News Editor Carolyn Morrisroe, with contributions by Reseatch Director Bob Glatter, Technology Editor Laura Polland, Real Estate Editor Gretchen Macchiarella, Special Assignments Editor Tony Biasotti, interns Kevin Kreutz, and photographer Jeff Clark.