Queen Associates Honored in Business Journal List of Largest Area Women-Owned Companies

CHARLOTTE, NC ¡V August **, 2005 - Queen Associates recent inclusion in the Business Journal's Top 25 List for Largest Area Women-Owned Companies, is an incredible honor to add to the IT consulting group's list of achievements.

Over the past 3 years, the Charlotte-based group has garnered impressive recognition for areas other than business growth.

"We're extremely proud of the substantial growth that we have experienced in the past several years, which has yielded several awards.  These accomplishments have also allowed Queen Associates to generously give back to our community.  Not only do we feel a sense of pride for our award-winning history, but a sense of duty to mentor and help others within the business and technology community.¨ comments, Queen Associates founder, Frances Queen.  

The company's other recent awards include:
2005 Charlotte Chamber Blue Diamond Award winner
2005 CPCC Richard H. Hagemeyer Educational Advancement Award
2005 Charlotte Business Woman of the Year finalist
2004 Business Journal Top 25 Women in Business winner
2004 National WBENC Women Owned Business Star
2004 Appointment to WBENC National Council  
2004 National WIPP Founding Partner  
2003 & 2004 Chamber Entrepreneur Award finalist
2003 NAWBO Rising Star Award

Queen Associates (also known as QA(i)3) was born with a solid business plan and a dream, according to Frances Queen, the 25-year seasoned executive in the IT consulting industry, who founded the company. The first year was lean, but began to boom in 2001 when the company stepped out with faith in their dream and leased a space in uptown Charlotte, North Carolina's center city banking district.  QA(i)3 experienced a 1283% growth rate for the year ending in 2001. 
 
QA(i)3's business model is based on fundamental business ethics, principles, and practices that have enabled the company to maintain standards, growth and customer relationships through downturns in the economy as well as growth booms. Because a fundamentals focus keeps customer need in the forefront of the solutions they provide, QA(i)3 knew exactly when to  re-engineer into three divisions: Small Business Infrastructure (Q3 Biz) division, the Government Sector Services (Q3 Gov) division, and the Corporate Services (Q3 Corp) division. 

"By creating divisions, we were able to build very effective and focused teams with the expertise that customers demand. This has been a very effective change for us and for our customers,¨ adds Queen. "I believe this focus is what has enabled our business growth to get back on the rising track and placed us on the Business Journal's recent list. It proves just how valuable maintaining a focus on customer need is in building sustainable business.¨

About QA(i)3

Based in Charlotte with offices in Raleigh, NC, and Fort Mill, SC, Queen Associates (QA(i)3) provides dynamic business and technical solutions throughout all levels of an organization. In spite of the tumultuous economy in 2001-2, the 45-employee firm has realized a 512% growth rate on annual sales since 2001 as a result of its innovative and aggressive approach to expansion.  Queen Associates has been able to buck the trend through practicing what they preach and maintaining its agility to respond to market opportunities.

QA(i)3's mission is to bring intelligence, innovation, and ideas to the marketplace through an integrated menu of business and technology expertise.  The key to success for QA(i)3 starts with its people, coupling its experts with leading-edge software innovations that leverage the intelligence, innovation and ideas (i3) of their technical people. QA(i)3 consultants focus on teaming with clients to achieve optimal solutions that consistently deliver competitive advantage to small to midsize businesses, the government sector and Fortune 500 giants.  100% woman-owned, Queen Associates is certified as a woman business enterprise on a local, state and national level.  www.QAi3.com