Florida Today October 20, 2002

Henry Foster, left, President of Call Henry has seen his company's sales soar with the help of his staff, which includes (clockwise from lower left) Hu Sneed, director of operations, Ken Baird, director of business development, Debbie Phenicie, office manager, Brian Bergeron, graphics coordinator and Chris Foster, human resources manager. Photo Michael R. Brown, FLORIDA TODAY.

Cocoa's Call Henry makes 'Inc.' 500 list again

By Amy Blacharski
For FLORIDA TODAY

Call Henry Inc. of Cocoa for the second time in three years has made Inc. magazine's list of the nation's 500 fastest-growing privately held companies.

At Call Henry, a management and technical-support-services government-contracting company, sales increased from $933,000 in 1997 to $14.47 million by the end of 2001, resulting in a five-year growth increase of 1,451 percent.

That ranked the company No. 140 on the magazine's list of businesses that displayed the largest sales growth from 1997 to 2001.

In the past year, Call Henry won three major government contracts and raised its employment from about 300 people to nearly 500. Call Henry has 12 employees at the Cocoa location, handling the overall general management and new-business development for the company. The rest of the employees work at other locations throughout the country.

"We have way exceeded our expectations," said Henry Foster, president of Call Henry. "We do not see any reason not to continue the expected 20 to 25 percent growth pattern. The market is there. These kind of services never go away."

Mike Dallas, general manager for DynCorp, a prime contractor for the Johnson Space Center, said Call Henry provides backup and facility operations for the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

"They were picked because of their past performance with DynCorp, and have done a great job. Henry Foster is a personal hands-on type of guy," Dallas said.

Some of Call Henry's other clients include NASA, the Navy, the Air Force and Spaceport Florida Authority in Cape Canaveral.

While other companies may feel the effects of a slowing economy, Call Henry has not.

"The slowing economy helps our business," Foster said. "The government turns to contractors because they can do the work 30 to 35 percent cheaper," he said.

Brevard County companies have made the Inc. 500 list in each of the last five years. Call Henry is the highest-ranked local company on the list since Palm Bay-based high-tech company Solunet came in at No. 51 in 1998.

In 2000, Call Henry made Inc.'s top 500 list, ranking No. 325, but it did not make the list in 2001.

"We didn't have the growth we expected and had a few disappointments on bids in 2000," Foster said. The 2001 ranking was based on sales growth from 1996 to 2000.

However, that doesn't mean the company had a bad year.

"We've never had a losing year in profits since we started in 1991," Foster said.

Foster is a former Boeing employee and is no stranger to how government contracts work.

The key members of Call Henry have more than 30 years of experience in performing government and technical services and understand the business marketplace.

"We focus on the business at hand," Foster said.

"What we find in teamwork is to look out for the customers' best interest. This serves us better in the long term," Foster said. "You live by your reputation in the government services business. One person can cause you a lot of harm."