Sterling Research Group, Inc. Gains National Recognition

Local Women Business Named and Ranked 22nd among Florida’s Top 100 Women Owned Business List

St. Petersburg, FL, February 29th, 2008
In recognition of the economic power of multicultural businesses, DiversityBusiness.com, the nations’ leading multicultural internet site, recently named Sterling Research Group, Inc. as one of the “Top Woman Owned businesses in the state of Florida (Div100)”.

The Div100 is the 8th annual listing of the Florida’s top 100 women-owned businesses. The companies listed on the Div100 represent the Florida’s top multicultural earners and challenge the long-held notion that a women-owned business is small or insignificant. Div100 members are sought after by major corporations wishing to increase spending with women owned companies.

In addition to being ranked 22nd among Florida’s Top 100 Women Owned Businesses, Sterling was named 47th “Top Diversity Owned Businesses in Florida”, “51st Top Small Business in Florida”, and one of the top Women Owned Businesses in America.

The Impact of Women Owned Business
“Women businesses and consumers are a growing force in the U.S. economy, and a force to be reckoned with,” said Kenton Clarke, CEO of Computer Consulting Associates International, the company that built DiversityBusiness.com. “This is a whole business segment that can carry its own, that provides jobs, products and services, and generates wealth for their communities. These are the new leaders in American business.”

Affected by recent economic and demographic trends and changes, Fortune 1000 corporations throughout the country have recognized that buying products and services from women owned companies positively impacts their business. Diversity-owned businesses contribute over $1.4 trillion in sales to the U.S. economy.

Sterling’s president, Lisa Rohrer, comments, “Sterling is proud to be recognized by DiversityBusiness.com. We truly believe that the richness of our diverse backgrounds here at Sterling improves the service we deliver to our clients.”

The Div100
The Div100 is a classification that represents the top 100 women-owned businesses in the state of Florida, in sectors such as technology, manufacturing, food service and professional services. Large organizational buyers throughout the country that do business with multicultural and women-owned businesses use the list. The list is produced annually by DiversityBusiness.com, the nation's leading multicultural B2B Internet portal that links large organizational buyers to multicultural product and service suppliers.

Sterling Research Group, Inc. will be honored at a special awards ceremony at DiversityBusiness.com’s “8th Annual Multicultural Business Conference”, taking place April 23 - 25, 2008 at Disney’s BoardWalk Resort in Orlando, Florida.

Sterling’s Chairman, Bill Haueisen, remarks on Sterling’s success, “Sterling has never been about quotas or staffing according to any basis other than skill and excellence. We are grateful that in doing so we have assembled a group of dedicated staff and management that exhibit the best in America.”


About Sterling
The Sterling Research Group (www.sterlingresearchgroup.com), founded in 1987, is a full-service consulting and market research firm headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida. Sterling has extensive experience in market research and customer experience management in a wide variety of industries and has helped numerous firms increase their market value, market share, and improve their financial performance through understanding and quantifying needs and preferences of their current and potential customers. Sterling deploys a highly-effective, proprietary reporting technology that enables its customers to achieve superior financial returns by better understanding their customers' experience.

About DiversityBusiness.com
Launched in 1999, with over 35,000 members DiversityBusiness.com is the largest organization of diversity-owned businesses throughout the United States that provide goods and services to Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies and colleges and universities. Members use the sites technology to find and track new business opportunities. It also produces the country’s largest conference on diversity education and training for major corporations and small business. Its research on top businesses appears in Fortune, Forbes, Business Week and numerous magazines and media publications. The site has gained national recognition and has won numerous awards for its content and design. DiversityBusiness.com is produced by Computer Consulting Associates International Inc. (CCAii.com) of Southport, CT. CCA was founded in 1980 by CEO Kenton Clarke.


For additional information, please contact:
Andrea Lee, Business Development Associate, Sterling Research Group, (727) 866-2400 or alee@sterlingresearchgroup.com