Bank Notes

Ranjini Poddar was in law school when she and her husband started the staffing firm Artech Information Systems in 1992. She is now the CEO at a time when the Bureau of Labor Statistics says there are almost six million contingent workers in the U.S. Poddar explains how Artech grew into a $450 million minority and women-owned business with more than 7,000 employees worldwide.

Arnoff Moving & Storage started in the 1920s with one truck. Now, 95 years, hundreds of trucks, and five generations later, the company is led by Mike Arnoff and has expanded its services to include logistics solutions. Arnoff takes us through the company's history, its philosophy, and how its family culture keeps it moving in the ever-changing transportation space.

Small businesses employ about 50 percent of private-sector workers. Claire Kramer Mills leads the Federal Reserve System's research on this key driver of the U.S. economy through an annual survey that examines small businesses' access to financing. She details trends among small businesses, including how they're performing and securing credit, as well as which firms are seeing the most challenges and where they can go for help.