Ken McElrath, founder of SKUID. Two Chattanooga startup companies, Skuid and Reliance Partners, were named to Inc. magazine’s Best workplaces for 2018.
The local companies were the only Tennessee employers on the magazine’s top employer list, which included 285 businesses across the country nominated for the award and picked based upon favorable reviews by their employees.
Skuid, a 5-year-old software development firm headed by Ken McElrath, boasts that its “culture is founded on the core belief in the value and dignity of every human being. The company, which derives its name from the acronym Scalable Kits for User Interface Design, has grown to more than 150 employees at its headquarters in the Liberty Tower in downtown Chattanooga and at other offices in San Francisco, London and Zurich, Switzerland.
“To cultivate culture, we’ve established core principles,” the company said in its award nomination. “We hire humble experts, design thinkers, and caring heroes. We invest in the growth and development of our employees and offer an environment of shared goals and values, rich experiences, and opportunities.”
Reliance Partners, founded in 2009 and headed by Andrew Ladebauche, is one of the fastest-growing commercial insurance agencies in the country and a leader in the commercial transportation and logistics insurance space. Reliance Partners has locations in Chattanooga, Birmingham, Ala., Chicago, Vero Beach, Fla., and Victoria, Tex., with a national client base.