Woman-Owned CT Business Earns Place on Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies - For 11th Time

Lucie H. Voves, founder and CEO of Church Hill Classics, is apparently the only Connecticut manufacturer and female business owner to earn a place on Inc. 5000’s list of America’s fastest-growing private companies, not once, but a record 11 times.  Through its 40-year existence, only 17 women-led companies have made the Inc. 5000 list that many times, placing Voves in elite company.

As the official awards vendor for Mansueto Ventures, owner of Inc. and Fast Company magazines, Voves not only wins Inc. 5000 awards, her company also manufactures them.

Voves started Church Hill Classics as a moonlighting venture in 1991, building custom frames in her basement. Fast forward, three decades later, to a thriving Connecticut-based business.  In that time, they’ve sold more than one million frames.

Today, the business is housed in a 62,000-square-foot complex in Monroe, after getting its start in Newtown. Known online as diplomaframe.com, the company handcrafts custom frames and awards for more than 1,600 colleges and universities, the United States Military, Eagle Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), among many others.

To qualify for the Inc. 5000, companies must be for-profit, independent, and privately owned, based in the U.S with annual revenues of at least $2 million in 2020.  Church Hill ranked number 4,674 on this year’s list, with three-year growth of 53% according to Inc. In their 11 appearances on the Inc. 5000 list through the years, they’ve ranked as high as number 291 in 2003.

“We’re celebrating our 30th year in business, so I can’t think of a better anniversary gift. It’s an incredible honor to have made this list for a record 11th time,” said Voves. “This is a real tribute to the dedication and commitment of all of our employees who helped us navigate so many challenges in the past year.”

To keep up with increasing sales and the need to expand production, Voves nearly doubled her workforce and leased an additional 15,000-square-foot building to store raw materials since the pandemic began last year. 

“The 2021 Inc. 5000 list feels like one of the most important rosters of companies ever compiled,” Scott Omelianuk, Inc.’s Editor in Chief, said of the prestigious honor. “Building one of the fastest-growing companies in America in the crisis we’ve lived through is just plain amazing. This kind of accomplishment comes with hard work, smart pivots, great leadership, and the help of a whole lot of people.”

According to Inc. magazine, Voves is one of only 0.5% of Inc. 5000 applicants since 1982 to have earned the same recognition on 11 separate occasions. A profile of diplomaframe.com can be viewed on the Inc. 5000 website at www.inc.com/profile/diplomaframecom

“I’m proud to say that I’m the only Connecticut manufacturer and female business owner in the state to make the list so many times,” Voves said.  “It’s something I couldn’t do without my dedicated employees; it’s a victory we share and celebrate as a team.”

A trailblazing entrepreneur and champion of female innovators, Voves was also named Chair of Danbury-based Union Savings Bank’s Board of Trustees, earlier this year. She’s the first woman in the company’s 154-year history to hold that position.