A View from the Top
Corp! Salutes Michigan's Women Leaders ~ March 2007
Being Arab-American and female, Ronia Fakhoury Kruse values diversity and its contribution to business and the workplace. she has made it a deliberate practice to use minority vendors and hire a diverse workforce for her Detroit-based technology consulting and business solutions firm, OpTech, LLC.
Since its founding in 1999, the company has grown at a rate of 65 percent a year and Kruse expects revenue to reach $11 million in 2007. The ripple effect of this growth, she points out, creates more opportunities for OpTech to do business with minority suppliers. Approximately 60 percent of its vendors are minority or women-owned firms.
About half of OpTech's employees and contract consultants represent minority populations. Kruse acknowledges that "everyone is appreciated for the unique qualities they bring to the team." Her definition of diversity goes beyond race and gender to encompass ethnicity, lifestyle, physical ability, marital status, parental status, and life and work experience.
Kruse, who has three young daughters, knows the challenges faced by working parents. By offering flex-time, ability to work from home, pampering perks and family events, she is able to recruit from a wider talent pool and retain well-qualified people. These employee benefits earned OpTech recognition in Working Mother Magazine's 25 Best Small Companies for Women in 2007.
