Industry & Services >> CEO Interviews >> January 20, 1999
MARGUERITE W. SALLEE is Chief Executive Officer of Bright Horizons Family
Solutions, which was formed in July 1998 in a merger of Boston-based
Bright Horizons and Nashville'based CorporateFamily Solutions. Together
with former U.S. Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander and Bob Keeshan,
television's Captain Kangaroo, she founded CorporateFamily Solutions in
1987 to respond to the growing need for more and better child care. She
later expanded the company's focus to include a broad range of family and
consulting services that support families and business success.
Individually and on behalf of the company, Ms. Sallee has received
recognition and numerous awards from the business community.
CorporateFamily Solutions was recognized in 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1995 by
Inc. magazine as one of the 500 fastest growing private companies in the
U.S. Ms. Sallee has been named to The Committee of 2000, a national
group of businesswomen who personify the spirit of entrepreneurship and
business leadership. In 1998, she was named Health Care and Family
Services Entrepreneur of the Year in the Ernst & Young southeastern
region awards. In 1994, Ms. Sallee was named the first woman to be
chairman of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. She was also inducted
into the Academy for Women of Achievement, and her company received the
AWA Corporate Award for leadership on behalf of women in the workplace.
Ms. Sallee received the Junior Achievement Free Enterprise award in 1996.
Ms. Sallee serves as a director of MagneTek, Inc. a Fortune 500 electric
engineering company, and Proffitt's Inc., a $4 billion Fortune 500 retail
company. She is also a director of NationsBanc for Tennessee and Kentucky
and Ladies Professional Golf Association. Prior to forming
CorporateFamily Solutions, Ms. Sallee served as Commissioner of the
Tennessee Department of Human Services. Ms. Sallee is a graduate of Duke
University and serves as a trustee of The Harpeth Hall School in
Nashville. She and her husband, Knox Patterson, have four children. Profile
Your history, services, customers, those kind of things?
Ms. Sallee: Our business is helping corporate America be
