The Fortus Group’s sales skyrocket

UTICA — The Fortus Group, Inc. recently made the Inc.–5000 list with a three-year revenue growth averaging 139 percent. The Utica–based recruitment-services firm, which specializes in the placement of dialysis and transplantation professionals, accomplished this by growing from $2.6 million in revenue in 2009 to $6.2 million last year. Employment has also jumped from 25 to 38.

Not bad for a business that started out as a one-desk recruiter and billed a modest $120,000 in its first year of operation. The principal, president, and sole stockholder of the “C-corporation” is Michael Maurizio, who joined Management Recruiters International (MRI) in October 1993 as a franchisee. Maurizio shared space and staff for a year-and-a-half in a Rome office with another MRI franchisee.

The franchiser encouraged him to diversify, but Maurizio focused on a specialty he knew well — dialysis. “I had no geographical restrictions,” Maurizio recalls. “Dialysis recruiting was virgin territory.” His first placement was a clinical manager into a dialysis facility in Atlanta for an $18,000 fee.

While permanent placement of dialysis professionals is still the company’s main revenue stream, Fortus began seriously diversifying its options in 2006, when it set up a division for the placement of travel nurses.

“Travel nurses are typically placed on 13-week assignments,” says Maurizio. “Many nurses find that traveling is a great way to bolster their résumés, increase their salaries, and enjoy a change of pace, while also experiencing new locations … It does require a different level of attention from us, because we must pay expenses for housing, rental cars, per-diem, etc., while also offering a 24-hour concierge service. Fortus handles licensure issues and travel arrangements on behalf of our nurses, as well.” Fortus hired Rebecca Urtz in 2010 to spearhead this division. Urtz was named Healthcare Traveler magazine’s 2012 “Recruiter of the Year.”

Fortus has also launched an executive-search division to recruit directors and chief-executive-level candidates for health-care systems. Still, Maurizio wants to keep expanding. “The country has an aging population. Our long-term-care facilities need nurses to fill in as needed. They also need executives … Our model works so well that I am looking into other fields — such as oncology, ambulatory surgery, emergency medicine, and labor-and delivery — into which Fortus can expand.” The company also acts as a broker for physicians who want to open their own clinics and for practice acquisition between health-care buyers and sellers.

Expansion is not confined to the United States. “Over the years, Fortus has made permanent placements in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Virgin Islands,” says the company’s president. “In 2008, we set up an office in Hof, Germany. We live in a global economy and want to take advantage of opportunities outside our borders. It has taken several years to ramp up the German office, but things are really taking off now. The Hof office is focused on the permanent placement of health-care executives and clinical management, primarily in Europe.”

Maurizio, 55, a self-described “South Utica boy,” is clearly driving the growth at Fortus. He attended high school in Utica and matriculated at Paul Smith’s College, located in the Adirondacks, to major in hospitality. In 1984, the South Utica boy went into the world of sales with Fortune 100 companies such as Whitehall Laboratories, where he was promoted to division manager, and Baxter International, a global, diversified, health-care company that develops, manufactures, and markets products for chronic and acute conditions such as kidney disease.

Maurizio entered the world of placement in 1988 with the Boston office of Carter/MacKay, a company formed in 1970 to place sales, sales-management, and marketing personnel, as well as scientific professionals, primarily in the health-care industry.

Family reasons brought Maurizio back to the Mohawk Valley to start his own firm. “Placement is a tough business,” he mused. “It’s a double sale. First, you have to convince doctors, nurses, administrators, and other potential hires that the companies Fortus represents are the right choice. Then you have to convince the hospital, doctors’ group, or clinic that you have the best candidate to fill the open position … When I first started out, I began building my network of contacts, back in the days when your Rolodex was your database, the telephone was black and had a rotary dial, and faxes printed out on thermo-graphic paper that wouldn’t lay flat.”

Not any longer. Fortus hired Hilarie Lally 18 months ago to develop and oversee a social-media strategy for the company. “As far as our social media is concerned,” says Lally, “[w]e are in the middle of rebranding our website to include our new name, look, and feel … We will follow up with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, as well as Pinterest. Our … strategy is to reach out to nurses via Facebook and Pinterest … We will use LinkedIn, LinkedIn Groups, as well as Twitter to reach our clients; we will also use LinkedIn Groups to grow our network of candidates.

“The goal is to have everything work in harmony … [We want] … the ability to drive more clients and candidates … to our website.” Lally also points out that Fortus blogs weekly and is planning to increase the frequency. The purpose is to increase the search-engine optimization to the website by leveraging social media as the vehicle for recognition.

While Fortus started out in 1993 as the dialysis-placement specialist, its success eventually attracted competitors. “What do they say? Imitation is the highest form of flattery,” quips Maurizio. “There are now a half-dozen firms claiming to be dialysis-placement specialists. One is Foundation Medical Staffing [of Edmond, Okla.]. (Foundation claims on its website to be “… your personal agent for your Dialysis career.”) We also compete against websites like Monster and fly-by-nights who are eager to discount their services.” As a born salesman, Maurizio seems to relish the competition.

More space needed

With the accelerated growth of the last three years, Fortus is bursting at the seams. “We have 5,000 square feet of space here at headquarters [181 Genesee St., Suite #600, Utica — the old Harza building],” says Maurizio. “I’m looking for more space, because I expect Fortus to keep growing [rapidly]. Two thousand and thirteen is a blowout year for our sales. The travel business is exploding. I project that by 2015 the company will hit $15 million in sales and employ 50 people. Our growth [to date] has been all organic, but I wouldn’t rule out acquiring another firm to expand our current business or to move into a new specialty … I think Fortus is well positioned even if Obamacare is fully implemented, because cuts to providers should be more than offset by demand in the traveling-nurse industry.”

The company president is also buoyed by his location in the Mohawk Valley. “This is a great place to recruit staff,” says Maurizio. “There are plenty of smart and well-educated people. The area also offers limited opportunities for good-paying jobs. We really don’t need to advertise for new hires; we receive a steady stream of referrals.”

Maurizio attributes his success to an energized workforce and to the other members of his executive team: Jeremy Enck as the vice president of sales and Kathy Paquette as director of operations. He also relies on local professionals to grow the company. “We work with the Bank of Utica and First Niagara Bank for our financial needs,” says Maurizio. “Our legal work is handled by Kowalczyk, Deery & Broadbent [LLP.]. Vin Gilroy [Vincent J. Gilroy, Jr., CPA] oversees our accounting.”

“I’m an optimist,” says Maurizio. “We may be celebrating our 20-year anniversary, but this company is still in its infancy. I have reinvested nearly 100 percent back into the business, and I think we’ve just begun to grow.” Research data confirms Maurizio’s conclusion based on the growing prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, and a growing elderly population, which all lead to an increase in end-stage renal disease.

But growing isn’t everything to the South Utica boy. He is forming a not-for-profit company to provide health-care professionals in underserved areas which can’t afford the Fortus fee. “I have been blessed,” he notes. “It’s time to give back. This has been on my mind for at least three years. I have worked out the model, and now I need to put together a board of directors. The name of the organization is Crossroads Cares.”

As busy as he is, no one doubts that he will find the time to implement his new passion, while he simultaneously grows Fortus. The only question is where Fortus will fall on the Inc. 5000 list for 2014.

Contact Poltenson at npoltenson@cnybj.com