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March 14, 2003 - Philadelphia Business Journal

That's Amoore's Way

KING OF PRUSSIA - Renee Amoore didn't mean to become an entrepreneurial dynamo.

When she left her job as chief operating officer at Growth Horizons, a firm providing services for people with disabilities, she meant to just take some time off. "Maybe go back to school, get my doctorate, sing 'Kumbaya' - those kinds of things."

It did not quite work out that way. She soon began to offer health-care-management consulting services, and in 1996 she established Amoore Health Systems.

"We got more and more calls and it just got larger and larger," she recalled. Within a year Amoore had begun to hire support staff, "and it just kind of spun off from there."

Today the consulting firm is just one of the businesses operating under the larger umbrella of The Amoore Group, or TAG.

TAG's holdings also include the 521 Management Group, which helps organizations to establish effective governmental, public and community relationships, and also the nonprofit Ramsey Educational and Development Institute, which provides support for young children and their families, as well as job-skills training for those battling addictions and other challenges.

Amoore is president and CEO of each of these arms, as well as of the parent company, but she does not go it alone. Each individual company employs an executive director who is responsible for day-to-day operations. In all, TAG and its subsidiaries employ about 100 people.

It may sound like a lot of hats to wear, but Amoore figures her early life experiences have steeled her for the task. "I come from a family of eight girls," she said, "so I know how to fight for what I want and how to get it done."

She gets it done, at least in part, through planning and organization. Once each year she brings together the executive directors of all the different Amoore firms for a strategic planning retreat, during which they construct strategic plans for each of the business arms, as well as a larger plan for the umbrella organization. Amoore then brings all the managers back together once every two weeks for strategy sessions, and she touches base weekly with each of the executive directors.

Amoore's advice is sought far and wide. Recently she told a visitor she was expecting an imminent call from the president. Yes, that president, President Bush.

Beyond these scheduled meetings, she pretty much lets the managers run their own course. "I don't micromanage," she said. "I hire good people and I pay really good salaries to make sure I get the best people that I can get. Then I delegate."

The management style in turn frees up Amoore to explore other areas, as for example her recent trip to South Africa. She visited there on the invitation of Nelson Mandela, whom she met on one of his visits to the United States.

"I wanted to see where my ancestors came from, and to look at how I could help the people there," she said.

What Amoore noticed in particular was the poor state of women's health, as breast and cervical cancer run rampant among the female population. She now is trying to determine how to bring her expertise in health-care management back to this community.

Observers laud Amoore for such efforts, which combine her business acumen with her sense of caring. "She has such an unparalleled passion to succeed, combined with a real, sincere compassion for people," said Gerald Birkelbach, executive director of the Montgomery County Department of Economic and Workforce Development. "You can tell that beyond her concern for running good profitable companies, she cares that they really are doing good and helping the people that they are intended to help."

Amoore's identification with the struggles of South African women speaks to her personal experiences as an African American entrepreneur. "Even in my own community people could not understand why I was quitting Growth Horizons to do this. The feeling was that I would not make it, both because I am a woman and because I am black. In fact, it was real difficult for me to get a credit line when I walked into some banks, and I do think race played a big part in that," she said. "But of course you never know for sure."

As is often the case with untried entrepreneurs, Amoore launched her business on $35,000 of her own money. By year two she had landed a $50,000 credit line from Summit Bank. (Summit has since reduced its local presence, and Amoore now works with Commonwealth Bank.)

Even as she works to build up her own business, Amoore has brought her skills to bear throughout the local community.

"Even before I met Renee I knew her name. People whom I respect were always speaking so highly of her," said Joe Mahoney, senior vice president of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. "She sees the big picture. She understands the interrelationships in business and how you have to structure things to get things accomplished."

The chamber has recognized those abilities by naming Amoore the recipient of its 2003 Paradigm Award, which honors a female executive who has not only achieved professional success, but has also dedicated time and energy to social and community issues.

Future plans? Maybe she will start a charter school for at-risk youth. She's also looking to broaden her international efforts: Her management team just got back from an exploratory visit to Italy.

"Wherever it takes me," she said, "I am going."

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