SmartBug Media Founder Named a ‘Best CEO for Women’ by Comparably

Leading Marketing Agency Credits Positive Workplace Culture and Remote Workforce Model for this Distinction

SmartBug Media—a leading Intelligent Inbound marketing agency that assists businesses in generating leads, increasing awareness, and building brand loyalty through inbound marketing, digital strategy, design, marketing automation, and public relations—announced that its founder and CEO, Ryan Malone, was named one of the country’s “Best CEOs for Women” for the second consecutive year. The award validates the company’s culture and its remote workforce, which is set up to attract, empower, and retain top talent from across the country and to promote top performers—regardless of gender—to the highest executive-level positions.

When Malone founded SmartBug 10 years ago, he took a risk that not many other CEOs have been willing to take. “I wanted to watch my kids grow up instead of being away at an office during most of their lives,” he explained. “If I felt that way, certainly much of the country’s top talent did, too, and perhaps that was holding them back from going after the challenging and fulfilling careers they wanted and deserved.”

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To remedy this situation, Malone built a 100 percent remote company with no headquarters that allows all of its employees to work out of their home offices. The model has proved to be highly successful, with more than 70 employees spread across 28 U.S. states and Canada. SmartBug’s growth is phenomenal—expanding by 60 percent last year—and it doesn’t show signs of slowing down. Much of the company’s success can be attributed to its remote model, which removes geographic constraints and presents opportunities to a larger talent pool, including more women who are looking for an optimal work-life balance for their families. Women make up 65 percent of SmartBug and 60 percent of the company’s executive and management team.

“As a proud husband and father of two daughters, I am incredibly honored to be recognized as a leader who values and empowers women at our organization,” said Malone. “This distinction is not only a testament to our overall workplace culture, but also validation of the positive impact that a remote workforce creates for employees. Our remote model enables workers to have both a challenging career and the flexibility to create life memories outside of work, and SmartBug also benefits from being able to attract highly talented people who might otherwise decide to pass up a great opportunity because of inflexible working conditions.”

Comparably, the online career, compensation, and workplace culture monitoring site, uses a data-driven approach to gather information about U.S.-based companies. Each year, it publishes lists of top companies in a variety of categories. Comparably establishes its rankings by gathering sentiment ratings provided by employees who anonymously rate their employers over a period of a year. There are no fees, costs, or nominations associated with participating. Comparably’s Best CEOs for Women Awards are derived from ratings provided by female employees who anonymously rated their CEOs on Comparably.com between June 7, 2018 and June 7, 2019.

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“Comparably’s annual Best CEOs for Women Award is based solely on how female employees rate their CEOs,” said Jason Nazar, Comparably CEO. “These outstanding leaders are being recognized for creating workplaces that inspire, encourage, and support women’s voices and contributions.”

This is the ninth Comparably award earned by SmartBug Media, which previously won Best Places to Work in Los Angeles earlier this year, as well as seven awards in 2018, including: Best CEOs for Women (Small/Mid-Size Companies), Best Managers (Small/Mid-Size Companies), Best Places to Work in Los Angeles, Best CEOs in Los Angeles, Happiest Employees (Small/Mid-Size Companies), and Best CEOs in the United States (Small/Mid-Size Companies).

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