No. 2 (small): IntelliGenesis

For years, Kendra Gears’ best friend raved about the benefits of working at IntelliGenesis, an analytics and cybersecurity firm based in Columbia.

The company provides a 10% 401(k) retirement fund match, 20 days off each year, generous comp time, $1,000 for technology expenses, social events like laser tag and movie nights, tickets to Baltimore Orioles and Ravens games, $10,000 paid over the course of the year to employees not using the company’s health insurance plan, and unlimited training and education opportunities, including paying for employees’ graduate degrees.

So in 2014, Gears, who had years of human resources experience, applied to become the company’s office coordinator.

“Even though I would be taking a step backwards, I would be pursuing my master’s degree the whole time,” Gears says.

Paying for employees’ training and education is the benefit Angie Lienert, the president and CEO of IntelliGenesis, says she’s most proud of.

“I couldn’t afford to go to college and instead enlisted in the Air Force to complete my college degrees,” Leinert says. “I feel honored to assist others in completing their educational goals.”

Lienert served as an Arabic linguist in the U.S. Air Force for six years. She says she founded IntelliGenesis in 2007 to “create an environment that provides employees with personal and professional satisfaction and growth while enhancing the intelligence community’s ability to keep our soldiers safe.”

The U.S. Department of Defense is the company’s biggest customer. With offices in Maryland and Georgia, the company employs 125 people — 68 percent of whom are veterans.

Employees say they love the company’s family-like feel and the support they receive from Lienert and her leadership team.

“The employees are genuinely appreciated and cared for from the top down, from leadership to the everyday employees,” says Gears, who completed her master’s degree in business administration in August and is now the company’s human resources manager. “There’s a lot of teamwork, a lot of collaboration. … It’s just a great company overall.”