Heights Company Among Fastest-Growing in America, says Inc.

CEO Brian Brundage — when asked by Patch to explain his company's ranking among Inc. magazine's top 5,000 fastest growing U.S. companies — offered an interesting reply.

"I don't know how we did it," Brundage said Thursday, noting that 2012 has been a difficult year for his business.

But 2011 was a different story. Netting a reported $8.1 million in revenue last year, Intercon posted a 62 percent growth rate from 2008 to 2011, according to Inc. magazine.

"We were doing very, very well in the Heights as a business in the green industry," Brundage said.

Intercon sits at No. 3,246 on the list of 5,000 businesses, and is one of only four south suburban businesses listed among the 240 Illinois companies. It ranks 38th among businesses categorized as environmental services. 

Intercon, an electronics recycling company founded in 1987, has had several notable clients, including the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Defense, Union Pacific, City of Chicago, Ericsson Wireless and the Chicago Sun-Times.

The company also added 67 jobs over the same three-year span, all the more impressive, considering Intercon typically hires people who live in and around Chicago Heights.

"We always try to hire in this area," Brundage said. "It’s important for us to hire locally because they get here. If it snows or rains, they get here."

The 250,000 square-foot facility is at 1001 Washington St. 

Most of the Illinois businesses to make the Inc. list are based in the city of Chicago, with a fair number in the western suburbs.

Intercon is one of only four south suburban businesses to make the Inc. list of 5,000 American companies. The others are Scrap Metal Services in Burnam (No. 2,118); SPi Healthcare in Tinley Park (No. 3,382); and Intelligent Solutions in Mokena (No. 4,802).

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