If Amy Denton ’96, ’98 had been told that one day she would become the CEO of a children’s physical therapy clinic right after getting married, she would have never believed it.
“Here I am, a physical therapist with no business background, running a company,” Denton said. “All I knew is that I wanted us to be excellent in everything we did.”
And she made sure of that. Denton is the owner of Pediatrics Plus, a specialized pediatric healthcare provider that offers outpatient occupational, physical and speech language therapy, and was awarded the 2017 Business Executive of the Year Award by the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce.
Denton chose the University of Central Arkansas because of the opportunities afforded to physical therapy students on campus.
“I feel that UCA prepared me for what I do now. I feel that it was the best then and it’s the best now,” Denton said. “It shows up as one of the top physical therapy schools in the nation all the time!”
Denton married her husband in June of 2002, and five months later, a work colleague offered to sell Pediatrics Plus. Denton said yes to that as well, and took over the business, which had 16 clients and around 10 therapists on the payroll.
“I was running it out of my house in a home office. We had referrals coming in through a fax machine and from there we would send therapists out to patients’ homes,” said Denton. “Soon we realized we needed an actual location to keep up, as well as clinic-based equipment.”
She opened her first location in 2003, and since then the business has just kept growing.
“We have four locations, Russellville, Little Rock, North Little Rock, Conway, and we are about to start building our fifth location in Texas, opening in the spring of 2018,” Denton said.
The most important thing to Denton is purpose and excellence. As CEO, she still spends most of her time in operations, working with directors in every location, trying to improve every step of the way.
“I don’t see it as a job,” Denton said. “Little miracles happen every day and it makes you want to come to work. The kids are why we do what we do. They are our purpose, and we make sure that we are purpose-driven every day. We’re here for a reason.”