CorVel's Clemons Quietly Shines

This is the second in a seven-part series profiling Good CEOs. To read more about TheStreet.com's Good CEO Portfolio, click here.

V. Gordon Clemons Jr. isn't a typical corporate bigwig. A self-described "radical right-winger from Idaho," he runs a small, little-known company that only one analyst bothers to cover. Yet he may be one of the country's savviest chief executives.

His company, CorVel(CRVL Quote), a provider of medical cost-containment services, has seen its shares soar more than 1,000% since it went public in 1991. It has posted consistent annual earnings growth of 15% or higher, and a 25% return on equity. Now the company is making a major push onto the Internet.

How has Clemons made a go of it? There are four key ways: by keeping a clean balance sheet, by setting up a decentralized workforce (only 12 of his 3,250 employees work at the company's headquarters), by investing in technology to address a changing landscape and, perhaps most important, by exploiting a growing niche. "There's no substitute for being in the right business," he says.

The company faces competition from Cigna's(CIG Quote) IntraCorp, First Health(FHCC Quote) and closely held Concentra. But rising health care costs have sent companies scrambling for ways to keep expenses in line, so there's room for growth in the industry. ...