Since 2004, when Anderson took the reins of MediConnect, an online medical record retrieval service, the company has experienced more than 850 percent growth and been ranked in Inc. magazine's 500 fastest-growing U.S. companies.

She also has founded multiple health care technology companies, directed an outsourcing operation based in India and started a public speaking business called In Pursuit of Perfection.

And recently, out of more than 1,000 candidates statewide, she was named MountainWest Capital Network's Entrepreneur of the Year, making her the first woman to receive the honor.

"We wanted to be very careful that we didn't make a selection based on gender, but Amy's name came up to the top by virtue of the rest of our analysis," said Devin Thorpe, president of MountainWest Capital Network. "We are thrilled that this year we could recognize an outstanding woman as being the best rising entrepreneur of the year."

The recognition is especially sweet for Anderson, 36, who never had concrete plans to enter the business world. She was raised in a family with 10 children that was frequently uprooted by her father's job with the FBI; before attending college, Anderson had lived in eight states. She was married before graduating from Brigham Young University with a degree in business, had two children, bought a house and made plans to settle down with a family.

But a divorce left Anderson unsure of how to support her children, then a 3-year-old son and 7-month-old daughter. "I was single for eight years, and that was a long time to be on my own," she said. "I wasn't planning to do this, and then I did because I had to support my family"

Anderson put a spare 8-by-10-foot room in her home to use and built Medical Software Solutions, a home-based medical software company that would later become PerfectPractice, with one employee, Eric Quigley, now MediConnect Global's chief operations officer.

Though PerfectPractice established Anderson's name in business circles, the experience was not without tumult. Conflict with other members of the board of directors led to her termination as CEO in 2002, and the company eventually was forced to file for bankruptcy. The board's action sparked a lawsuit by Anderson in which she alleged sexual harassment, gender discrimination and breach of contract, according to a filing in bankruptcy court.

Anderson said she could not comment on the existence of the lawsuit or its outcome, and court records were apparently sealed.

"Earlier in her career, she crossed swords with people," said Greg Warnock, an investor in MediConnect representing vSpring Capital. "But that hasn't happened recently. She's a quick learner, one of the brightest minds I've come across, and part of that is her ability to manage conflict."

As for what she has learned about conflict, Anderson said "this is an ongoing process," adding that she believes she has spent much of her career learning lessons in mediation.

"I've been though negotiations where you walk away and never want to do business with someone again. But over the years, I've learned that there is never any value that comes from walking away with negative thoughts."

Today, her policy is to look for the win-win situation that she believes exists in every conflict, "even if the win is not as big as you want."

So when Anderson became CEO of MediConnect with hopes of resuscitating a dying company, she focused on communication.

"They were great at building platforms, but not at drawing a market," she said. "When I came, they'd been flat for four years and were losing $180,000 per month."

Anderson helped build an extensive sales platform that utilized the demand for medical records in the insurance and legal industries, all while working to reconnect company management with its employees. Under her management, the company stabilized, then began to grow. Here, her mediation abilities came into play; she merged the company with an outsourcing operation - Globerian - in 2006 to create MediConnect Global, but retained much of Globerian's original management, including founder Naveen Trehan.

"It was quite an amazing turnaround," said Quigley.

MediConnect finally tapped into the larger consumer market earlier this year with the birth of Google Health, an online personal health record database with which MediConnect offers integrated service.

"When Google announced the Google Health initiative, we wanted to be a part of it," said Anderson.

And she has larger hopes that MediConnect Global will become the world's largest online vault of medical records. "Health care is going to come down to good records," she said. "People who can't afford [medical care] one place might be able to go to a different country."

"She has a destination for where she wants MediConnect to go," said Quigley. "She's seen destinations for businesses that very few others would be able to see."

Beyond the company, Anderson hopes to work extensively with high school and college students, and inspire them.

"I'm always amazed by how low students' self-confidence is. Some of the best ideas I hear, I hear from young people."

For longtime friend and colleague Quigley, this enabling quality is an integral part of Anderson's appeal as a businesswomen.

"Anybody that she's worked with, if she's seen that spark, she gives them the opportunity to succeed, to prove it."

ccrockett@sltrib.com