and Vistage to Scale His Business
2024 Vistage Member Excellence Award Winner
and Vistage to Scale His Business
While delivering newspapers as an 11-year-old in North Carolina, Anton Bizzell met a group of businessmen who took him under their wings. “Each one of them encouraged me and mentored me,” Bizzell says. “They helped me think about the road ahead, including growth and professional development.”
With their encouragement in mind, he became Dr. Anton Bizzell, a physician who saw patients, ran alcohol screenings and worked to quell the opioid crisis working with organizations such as the National Institutes of Health, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Dr. Bizzell loved seeing patients and helping people. He also became fascinated by the federal contractors who often made his work possible. They lined up millions of dollars of contracted work. Maybe I could do this, too, he thought.
Bizzell left his practice for work at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and later joined a federal contracting firm. He spent one year helping to secure $40 million in contracts from agencies like the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for causes such as treatment strategies to address prescription drug misuse and abuse.
Remembering the advice of the businessmen on his newspaper route — to think about the road ahead — he realized that instead of earning a six-figure salary working for someone else, he could have limitless potential to help people and impact lives if he started his own firm.
In 2010, Bizzell founded Bizzell US, where he serves as president and CEO. The firm started small, with just him and another employee in his garage.
They secured contracts to work on health systems, educational training and technical systems for government agencies. Slowly, the firm expanded its project bids, earning bigger contracts and carrying forward its mission of building healthy, secure and sustainable communities in the United States and around the world.
One day in 2022, Bizzell received a call from Chair Rick Vanasse to join his Vistage group. Bizzell’s firm had grown, with contracts in 15 countries across multiple industries, but he felt he could still do more. Perhaps hearing from a variety of CEOs could help me grow, he thought.
Soon after joining Vistage, Bizzell listened to advice from Vanasse on viewing his business as though he were standing on the balcony of a theater. How does the business look when viewing it from a higher level? What trends and patterns do you see?
One big trend Bizzell saw was that his actions affected the whole business. Vanasse challenged Bizzell to work more “on the business” rather than “in the business.” How could he empower other managers to take on more responsibility so he could focus on growing and developing the firm?
Taking Vanasse’s advice, Bizzell began talking openly with his staff after each Vistage meeting about what he was learning. He put into place a new set of core values and key performance indicators while giving managers more responsibility.
As managers bought into the changes, Bizzell says, the culture improved, and it’s become easier to lead and grow his business.
“I have to be bold in my leadership,” Bizzell says. “I call it ‘walking through an open door.’ Every time a door opens, I walk through it because it’s open for a reason.”
Since joining Vistage, Bizzell has found the key to opening doors. His firm currently has 600 employees across 16 countries and has seen a $40 million boost in annual revenue. A decade ago, his firm was bidding on $600,000 contracts. Now, Bizzell is bidding on and winning contracts worth tens of millions of dollars.
In recent years, Bizzell has secured over $400 million in contracts across various federal and state agencies, including the U.S. Department of Labor, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“The larger-valued contracts have really come since being a part of Vistage,” Bizzell says. “With the NASA contract, I would not have gone for that before Vistage. But Vistage has allowed me to learn how to scale up my business.”
In the future, Bizzell wants to expand his firm by taking on new projects and sectors in new countries, especially in Africa, which is poised to hold a third of the world’spopulation in the next decade.
In recent years, Bizzell has secured over $400 million in contracts across various federal and state agencies, including the U.S. Department of Labor, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“The larger-valued contracts have really come since being a part of Vistage,” Bizzell says. “With the NASA contract, I would not have gone for that before Vistage. But Vistage has allowed me to learn how to scale up my business.”
In the future, Bizzell wants to expand his firm by taking on new projects and sectors in new countries, especially in Africa, which is poised to hold a third of the world’spopulation in the next decade. He believes that if his firm keeps taking on new risks and succeeding, it will always be able to find new opportunities for growth.
He believes that if his firm keeps taking on new risks and succeeding, it will always be able to find new opportunities for growth.
WITH THE NASA CONTRACT, I WOULD NOT HAVE GONE FOR THAT BEFORE VISTAGE. BUT VISTAGE HAS ALLOWED ME TO LEARN HOW TO SCALE UP MY BUSINESS.
DR. ANTON BIZZELL
engagement in Nigeria on workforce development.
engagement in Nigeria on workforce development.
WITH THE NASA CONTRACT, I WOULD NOT HAVE GONE FOR THAT BEFORE VISTAGE. BUT VISTAGE HAS ALLOWED ME TO LEARN HOW TO SCALE UP MY BUSINESS.
DR. ANTON BIZZELL
In addition to bigger federal contracts, Bizzell has worked to give back socially. His firm has given 100 laboratory jackets to an after-school STEM program in Beaufort, South Carolina. He has also given monetary rewards to several women-owned small businesses in Nairobi, Kenya, through a Bizzell co-created business incubator, XcelHERate.
Bizzell gives back because he wants others to have exposure to the same kind of mentorship he received, from the businessmen on his paper route to his current Vistage Chair and peers. All have helped him grow, and he wants others to know that they can, too.
“There’s an old proverb that says that a single bracelet cannot jingle by itself,” Bizzell says. “We have to think about how we can invite other people with their own bracelets to the table so we can all make some noise.”
With Rick Vanasse, Bizzell’s Vistage Chair
Anton is very open. He asks lots of questions, and he is curious. He shows energy and enthusiasm for the ideas that come forward, and opportunities open up in front of him that otherwise wouldn’t be there.
By taking on what may have seemed like one-off opportunities, Anton found entry into new sectors. He weighed the potential risk against gain and was willing to fail. More importantly, he’s willing to try.
When working on the business, you need people you can trust and count on to pay attention to details. Anton learned from experience that you must trust but verify. Empower and trust people, but keep your finger on the pulse and know what’s going on.
