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

IRVINE, Calif., June 26, 2019—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—today 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.” 

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.

“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).

To see the full list of award-winning companies and to learn more about the methodology used to determine winners, visit Comparably’s blog.

About Comparably

Comparably is a workplace culture and compensation monitoring site with a mission to provide more transparent and rewarding workplaces. Employees can access salary data and rate their companies, CEOs, and work experiences through the lens of specific demographics including gender, ethnicity, age, tenure, industry, location, and education. With nearly 10 million ratings from employees at over 50,000 U.S. companies, Comparably has become one of the most used SaaS solutions for employer branding and trusted third party sites for salary and workplace culture data. For more information on Comparably, go to www.comparably.com. For highly-cited workplace culture and compensation studies, including Comparably’s annual Workplace Culture Awards, log onto www.comparably.com/blog.

About SmartBug Media™

SmartBug Media™ is a globally recognized Intelligent Inbound™ marketing agency assisting businesses in growing revenue by generating leads, increasing brand awareness, and building customer loyalty through content marketing, sales enablement, web development, marketing automation, and public relations.

As HubSpot’s 2018 Global Partner of the Year, SmartBug™ is the highest-rated HubSpot partner in the world. The company has not only been named twice to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies, but it has also won several Great Place to Work® awards. With more than 100 awards for client work in 2018 alone—and a team with a combined 550 marketing certifications—SmartBug is fully dedicated to delivering client success and an unparalleled agency experience. For more information about SmartBug Media, visit smartbugmedia.com.

For SmartBug Media Inquiries, Contact:

Jennifer Tolkachev
SmartBug Media
949-236-6448 x865
jtolkachev@smartbugmedia.com