Executive Summary

Act-1 Personnel Services moved up a notch to take the top spot on the list of largest women-owned businesses this year, with reported 2001 revenues of $217 million a 19 percent increase from a year earlier. It was also the only firm on the list to top $200 million in revenues.

Alert Staffing, last year’s No. 1, fell to fifth place after revenues declined to $91 million in 2001 from $204 million in 2000, a 55 percent decrease.

There was little other change at the top of the list, with a handful of the Top 15 moving a few positions up or down. Moorefield Construction saw the most significant jump, moving from sixth to second place, the result of a 44 percent increase in revenues. Montrose Travel crept up a spot, to No. 3, despite an 18 percent decrease in revenues.

Nicki Taylor

The Pacesetter

ACT-1 Personnel Services

Amid a declining demand for temporary help services, ACT-1 Personnel Services managed to register $217 million in revenues for 2001, a 19 percent increase over the previous year. It was the only woman-owned business in L.A. to top $200 million in revenues.

ACT-1, which reported revenues of $182 million in 2000 and $154 million in 1999, cut its staff by nearly a quarter in 2001. At the end of the year, it had 297 employees nationwide, compared to 384 at the end of 2000.

The Torrance-based business also cut the number of offices it maintained nationwide. It now has 67 offices, compared with 81 last year.

Janice Bryant Howroyd formed Act-1 in 1978 as a staffing agency focused on the entertainment industry. It has since expanded to serve large corporate clients with temporary workers in technical, clerical, engineering, accounting and managed services.

Nationwide, demand for temporary staffing in 2001 decreased by nearly 20 percent from the year before, according to the American Staffing Association.

Nicki Taylor