BIZ Online NGLCC

Todd Bavol and Sean Montgomery took a big risk when they launched a new staffing agency called Integrity Staffing Solutions, but their idea paid off.

The company now counts Amazon.com, JPMorganChase and other Fortune 500 companies as clients, thanks not only to its innovative approach, but also its NGLCC certification, which they say helped them "get a foot in the door."

Their idea was to customize Web-based, workforce-management solutions for every client. It was an idea that worked. In its first five years, the company became North America's fastest-growing employment and human resources consulting agency, growing by a historic 11,000 percent.

Today, Integrity Staffing Solutions is a $90 million firm with 400 employees and hundreds of clients, including major corporations.

Recently, the company broke new ground in the LGBT market, becoming an NGLCC-certified business. Many of its large clients have strong supplier diversity programs; in fact, it was a reference from a client, JPMorganChase, which led Integrity Staffing Solutions to apply for NGLCC certification. And that certification, as the company's co-owner Sean Montgomery says, continues to open doors.

"The certification by the NGLCC has helped us prove ourselves on a larger scale," says Montgomery, who runs the company along with partner and co-owner Bavol, "especially to larger, global organizations like IBM and JPMorgan Chase who have strong diversity programs. It has given us a chance to get our foot in the door. "

As Montgomery looks to the company's future, he believes that the next 10 years hold enormous promise, estimating a doubling in the company's size due, in part, to its certification. "We anticipate considerable growth in the future, which supports our goals of opening offices in locations with greater diversity," says Montgomery."

Integrity Staffing Solutions believes in giving back to the community as well. It is partnering with NGLCC's Supplier Diversity Initiative (SDI), a rapidly growing program that works to provide opportunities for LGBT-owned businesses to participate in corporations' procurement processes.

Like any fresh initiative, the SDI requires talented individuals to ensure its continued success, and that's where Integrity Staffing Solutions comes in. It is underwriting the NGLCC SDI Fellowship, which supports the hiring of individuals for a 12-week fellowship. Participants learn about the procurement process and LGBT supplier diversity efforts.

"Integrity Staffing Solutions is a remarkable NGLCC-certified member that has become a leader in its field in a very short period of time," says Justin Nelson, president and co-founder of the NGLCC. "We are very excited to be partnering with the company for this fellowship, which is sure to create a stream of able and talented professionals to support LGBT suppliers in the corporate world."

The fellowship is available to individuals who have either received their undergraduate degree or who are in graduate school. For more information on the fellowship, click here.