Business Alliance Congratulates "Top 100" ROCHESTER, NY (WXXI) - The Rochester Business Alliance (RBA) held its annual meeting Thursday, using part of the program to congratulate Rochester's "Top 100."

That's a list of the region's fastest growing privately held companies. Auction Direct USA, a used auto dealership, took home the top spot.

CEO John Iannone thanked the rest of the top 100 companies in his acceptance speech.

"Make no mistake about it, it will be us, the small-to-mid-sized, privately held companies, that have received no government bail-out that [are] going to drive us through the economic recovery."

Coming in second this year was 5 Linx, a voice-over-IP provider. In third was Optimation Technology, an engineering and fabrication firm.

The first, second, and third place winners in the top 100 take home sculptures that are handmade by RIT professor emeritus William Keyser.

The RBA also announced eight new board members, a new representative of the Women's Council, and a new board chair at the event. Tom Judson, the CEO of the Pike Company, will helm the board of R-B-A.

The RBA's mission is to advocate for an environment that fosters business success, at the local and state level. CEO Sandy Parker says this year, the organization is taking that mission to social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook, in the hopes that it'll spark a grassroots movement of taxpayers communicating their concerns to Albany.
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