Taking care of business

5 Dallas-Fort Worth businesses rank among best-led companies in the country

Container Store on Northwest Highway in Dallas

The Container Store wraps up a ranking of 153.

Local workers looking for employment have a new resource to find the best of the best. Five Dallas-Fort Worth companies have earned spots on Inc.'s new list of the country's best-led midsize businesses.

The companies and their rankings are:

Goosehead Insurance Agency, Westlake, No. 148
The Container Store, Coppell, No. 153
Sabre, Southlake, No. 181
Trintech, Addison, No. 184
MB2 Dental, Carrollton, No. 203

To compile the list, Inc. evaluated private and public U.S.-based companies with 2020 revenue of $50 million to $2 billion, or a valuation of $50 million to $10 billion. With help from Pitchbook and Shango Labs, Inc. sifted through data related to management excellence for more than 10,000 companies.

“This inaugural list of companies represents the remarkable midsized companies, both public and private, often founder-led, that are at the vanguard of reinventing American business,” says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. magazine. “With their leadership, all businesses will benefit from an exciting, competitive future full of possibilities.”

Bozeman, Montana-based software company Snowflake tops the Inc. list.

The DFW area's top-ranking company, Goosehead Insurance Agency, was founded in 2003 in the affluent suburb of Westlake and is led by Mark Jones. Inc. describes it as "an independent U.S. insurance agency offering best coverage and pricing for automotive, homeowners, flood, and other policies." The company's website prominently features testimonials from customers touting Goosehead's helpful, understanding, and personable agents.

The Container Store, coming in at No. 153, is no stranger to accolades — or to its myriad fans. Organizing spaces and packaging gifts since 1978, the Coppell-based retailer is under the leadership of Satish Malhotra.

Southlake-based Sabre, clocking in at No. 181, is a travel technology company that provides software, data, mobile, and distribution systems for airlines and hotels throughout North America. It was founded in 1960, and Sean Menke is now at the helm.

According Inc., No. 184-Trintech "provides finance software solutions to help streamline high-volume transactions and reconciliations, manage journal entry processes, and ensure regulatory compliance." The Addison-based company was started in 1987 and is under the leadership of Teresa Mackintosh.

MB2 Dental, based in Carrollton, is, Inc. says, "a dental partnership organization that helps dentists maximize their talents and build wealth over the course of their careers." The No. 203-ranked company was started in 2007 and is led by Chris Steven Villanueva.

Elsewhere in Texas
Austin-based dating app provider Bumble ranks first in Texas and 40th overall on Inc. magazine’s new list of the country’s 250 best-led midsize companies. Southern Methodist University alumna Whitney Wolfe Herd leads Bumble as founder and CEO.

In 2018, Herd told Business Insider that leaders should measure success based on the positive impact they have on the people they work with. Leaders, she says, are only as successful, happy, and efficient as the least successful, happy, and efficient members of the teams.

“Everybody who touches your company or brand — you should be so grateful that they are dedicating their time, their knowledge, and their skills to something you created,” Herd told Business Insider.

Austin companies grabbed nine spots on the list:

Bumble, No. 40
BigCommerce, No. 70
YETI, No. 91
Digital Turbine, No. 101
Open Lending, No. 137
Everly Health, No. 150
The Zebra, No. 170
Helias Construction, No. 177
Cirrus Logic, No. 180

Four companies from the Houston metro area also show up on the list:

Castle Biosciences, Friendswood, No. 126
Sunova Energy, Houston, No. 156
Cactus Wellhead, Houston, No. 224
National Energy Services Reunited, Houston, No. 228

bests rankings apps lists

Death Penalty

Tarrant County man gets death for murder of convenience store owner

Tarrant County Sheriff's Office

Christopher Turner

A man received the death penalty for his 2020 cold-blooded execution of a convenience store owner.

According to a release from the office of Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Phil Sorrells, a Tarrant County jury sentenced Christopher Karon Turner, 48, to death on November 20 for executing convenience store owner Anwar Ali during a robbery. Tarrant County Assistant District Attorneys Charles Boulware and Allenna Bangs represented the state.

On March 27, 2020, at around 6:15 am, Turner, a convicted felon, wore a surgical mask and a glove and entered the Super Big Country Mart in an unincorporated area of Tarrant County south of Fort Worth. There, he held a gun to the back of Anwar Ali, the 62-year-old store owner, and walked him through the store.

Ali did everything Turner demanded, including opening the cash register to give him money. And yet Turner forced Ali into the bathroom and onto his knees, and shot him in the neck. Ali was discovered, dead in the bathroom, about an hour later.

Turner fled the store in Ali's Toyota minivan with the money from the register and Ali's wallet. In the van, he found more than $50,000 cash in a black bag. Over the next few days, Turner went on a shopping spree, buying cars, jewelry, drugs, clothes, and more. He and others used cash and a credit card that belonged to Ali.

Turner fled to Colorado where U.S. Marshals arrested him. On his body they found a firearm which was determined to be the murder weapon.

"This was a premeditated, cold-blooded murder," Boulware told the jury. "From the moment he was charged with this crime, he has tried to escape responsibility."

Bangs noted that before this trial began, Turner obtained the names of jurors and their telephone numbers, and gave them to an inmate charged with murder. At the trial on November 20, as Bangs addressed the jury, Turner tried to hold up a sign to the jury but was handcuffed by Sheriff's deputies who removed him from the courtroom, while he yelled out "she lied."

Ali came to the United States from Pakistan decades ago to pursue the American dream. Ali's son, Hussein, spoke in the courtroom after the death penalty was announced. "Thank you for giving us justice," Ali said. "I hope there are no more devils like this person."