By Victor Paul Alvarez
PBN Staff Writer

Jeff Gardner, CEO of Carousel Industries, is a busy man. Trying to get him on the phone or via email is tricky. Once you do, you realize why he’s running a successful, growing national company based in Exeter, Rhode Island: He’s busy setting goals and hiring the right people to help him achieve those goals.

Right off the bat, he’ll tell you how important those people are to his business.

“We wouldn’t have any growth without our workforce. It’s the single biggest asset we have. It’s all about putting the right people on the bus and our success at recruiting and retaining some of the best people in the business has been critical,” he said.

Carousel Industries is a technology-solutions consultant and provider of designing, implementing and maintaining powerful converged communication networks for enterprise customers nationwide. The company offers a full range of solutions, including IP telephony, data infrastructure, unified communications, power and cooling, IVR, wireless, security and speech applications and much more. The company has 23 offices across the U.S. in order to provide service and maintenance coverage throughout the country.

To ensure it’s doing it right, the company has three annual corporate goals – a revenue goal, customer-loyalty goal and operational-excellence goal.

Any company trying to exceed in those areas has their work cut out for them. In the technology business, it may be even harder.

“Technology is an industry that is always evolving and changing. The ability to always be looking for that next technology that can drive value to our customers” is something they strive for every day, Gardner said. •CEO (or equivalent):

Jeffery W. Gardner

2011 REVENUE: $326,043,394

2009 REVENUE: $165,318,875

3-YEAR GROWTH: 97%