Assurance is what he renders lenders.

• Position: People - Todd Gorelick of Atlantic Assurance Group

The weekend of graduation from Princeton in 1986, Charlotte native Todd Gorelick's career plans were dashed. "I had planned on working in the family consumer-finance business," says Gorelick, now 38. The problem: Charlotte-based First Union was buying Augusta, Ga.-based First Railroad Bank, which owned the family business, and First Union had strict anti-nepotism rules.

Gorelick's grandfather and uncle had started CMC Finance in 1948. His father, William, joined CMC in the '50s. The family had sold it to First Railroad in the '70s but was still in charge.

Seven years passed before Gorelick, his father and three partners made his dream come true by starting Charlotte-based Atlantic Assurance Group, which employs about 300 to provide lenders with title searches, appraisals and flood-zone determinations for properties on which they aim to make loans. The company, which turned a profit its first year, had 2001 sales of $36 million and hopes to increase that by as much as 33% this year. It opened a second Charlotte office in March and planned to open offices in Dallas in August and Houston in September.

Before starting Atlantic, Gorelick put his bachelor's in political science to work. He was a full-time staffer in D.G. Martin's failed 1986...