A Hahnville businessman who grew up in Norco was recently honored by LSU for having the 22nd fastest-growing company owned by an alum of the university.
“I was a little surprised I was that high,” Paul Triche said, but added that he felt “pride building something and being recognized for it.”
Luling’s Health Data Specialists, of which Triche is part owner and CEO, was ranked above LSU alum-owned companies from as far away as Beverly Hills. The list included 100 businesses, with the top-ranked company on the list, Global Commerce and Services, located in Harvey.
Organized by LSU’s Stephenson Enterprise Institute, the list ranks businesses according to their year-over-year revenue growth. Revenue at Health Data Specialists has grown roughly 28 percent from 2013 to 2014, the year for which the institute required companies to submit data.
Though Triche never specifically intended to start his first company in St. Charles Parish, he said the move back was a “no brainer” due, in part, to the highly-ranked schools.
Though a resident of Baton Rouge prior to the 2004 purchase of his company by him and other partners, Triche had parents who still lived in the area.
In addition to family ties, his wife, an educator, received a pay raise moving from a job in Baton Rouge to St. Charles Parish.
“[Moving back] was the best decision we ever made,” Triche said with a laugh.
Health Data Specialists is a healthcare IT consulting company. Triche said the push for hospitals to become electronic has been the catalyst for his company’s growth.
Such pushes include online records systems, which must be implemented within the guidelines of various government regulations. He said that even if a hospital can implement a certain technology on its own, it must still keep healthcare as its primary focus and thus turns to a company like his.
“I go take my lab work before I take my physical, and I see my results before I see my doctor,” Triche laughs. “So, I can look at it and say, ‘she’s gonna flush me on this one.’”
A graduate of Destrehan High School, Triche offered some simple advice to future entrepreneurs. Among them, learn to be a good communicator, have clearly defined goals and don’t be afraid to take risks.
“I went nine months without a salary,” he said of starting the company that, today, has tens of millions of dollars moving through it.
Triche earned his degree in quantitative methods, which he said is similar to business statistics. He also minored in computer science.
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