Semifinalist, Business Services
Lynn Mustazza has been an entrepreneur since the age of 5, when she convinced her parents to purchase a Frosty the Snow Man snow-cone machine. With the machine in a wagon and the wagon in hand, Mustazza hit the streets, soon turning a 3-cent profit. Unfortunately, her venture was cut short when the neighborhood bully took her money and broke her machine.
Her success as the founder and current president and CEO of Jawood Business Process Solutions LLC has been much greater and far more enduring. The Bingham Farms, Mich.-based provider of IT and business process solutions has provided consulting services to the health care payer industry for more than 20 years.
Jawood began in the mid-1980s, amid what could be considered a crisis, when Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan downsized its workforce through an early retirement program. Mustazza connected with five other employees who had left BCBSM to turn this crisis into an opportunity.
Jawood, started primarily as an employee leasing company, hiring many former BCBSM personnel and contracting them back to BCBSM. It has since evolved and become an industry leader in IT consulting and process solutions to Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies, as well as other health care payers across the Midwest.
Mustazza has led the company’s evolution into an industry leader in IT consulting and process solutions, which has led to explosive growth. The company has more than doubled its revenue in the past six years, and grown to almost 350 employees. The personalized and flexible environment Mustazza maintains has resulted in an impressive 95 percent retention rate.
HOW TO REACH: Jawood Business Process Solutions LLC, www.jawood.com
