A South Jordan-based multilevel marketing company that sells juices was Utah's fastest-growing company in 2009 — and Friday it was given the award to prove it.

MonaVie received top honors given by MountainWest Capital Network at the 15th annual Utah 100 Awards Program. The event lauds the 100-fastest growing companies in the state, the top 15 revenue-growth companies and 12 "emerging elite" companies that are young but show great promise.

Gov. Gary R. Herbert heralded all the companies for their outstanding contributions to Utah's economy. His own "first priority" is to "grow the economy, followed by education and energy," he said. It's a list of priorities he emphasized in similar fashion recently during a press conference with the Governor's Office of Economic Development.

But he called Friday's honorees the "backbone" of state competitiveness and said that "their hard work, sacrifice and success represent all Utah businesses." Every day, he added, he hears that "Utah is a state that understands it and gets it right."

For the companies being honored, "success is no accident," said Lex Watterson, MWCN president. He said they are "well-conceived," with strong staffs and excellent leadership.

The 100 fastest-growing companies are selected from thousands of applicants and represent a cross-section of industries. The ranking of the top 100 is determined by the percentage revenue increased from 2004 to 2008.

The top 10 was rounded out by Skullcandy, American Liberty Insurance, VMI Nutrition, Interbank FX, Revinetix, SwarmBuilder Inc., Hyper Interactive Media, Cymphonix Corp. and Wasatch Software Inc.

Top revenue-growth winners had the largest dollar-amount revenue increase in that same five-year period. This year, top-five honors in that category went to Questar, Zions Bancorp., MonaVie, The Layton Cos. and Sportsman's Warehouse.

The 15 "emerging elite" companies had to be at least two years old but to not have been around the full five years to be measured in the other categories, so they were not ranked.

The complete list is online at www.mwcn.org.

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