VIP Mortgage

Most Admired Company: 2013, 2016

Top Arizona executive: James Barbour, founder and president

What it does: Specializes in home loans, refinancing and reverse mortgages.

Admirable quality: VIP was the first company to apply Theory of Constraints (TOC) principles and philosophy to the mortgage industry. Typically used in manufacturing and project management environments, VIP adopted TOC to facilitate the flow of loan files through its pipeline. It allowed the company to look at originating and figure out how to speed up the transaction process without sacrificing quality, time or profitability, setting business rules to maximize the flow of loans along with focus, discipline, values and alignment.