Ryan Kibler

Ryan Kibler said he decided he wanted to be an entrepreneur after working for a company that he said “put profits before people.”

“I knew I didn’t want to be a part of that,” said the 50-year-old Kibler, who grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “And the only way … to guarantee that that’s not part of my life is to own my own business.”

After graduating from Arkansas State University at Jonesboro in 1993 with a degree in business management, Kibler noticed a need for an ambulance services company in northeast Arkansas.

Kibler and his father-in-law and brother-in-law purchased the assets of an ambulance service. Kibler developed a business plan, took on $2 million of debt and four high-mileage ambulances and renamed the company Medic One LLC of Jonesboro.

It opened in 2001. In the first year, Medic One, whose services include emergency and nonemergency transports, moved 1,200 patients. Last year, it transported about 60,000 patients.

In 2019, Medic One bought the assets of Gateway Ambulance of St. Louis.

The acquisition in February 2019 added about 200 employees to Medic One, whose services include emergency and nonemergency transports. It now has about 465 employees, with 133 in Arkansas, nearly 110 ambulances and more than 20 locations in Arkansas and Missouri. Its revenue is around $23 million.

Kibler said his goal is to be a good employer. He said if people are going to work in the emergency medical services industry, “I want them to choose Medic One because it’s a good company, and the leadership works very hard for all of the employees.”

Kibler said he enjoys taking care of people in the communities that his company serves.

“That’s my favorite thing, growing our workforce and working together as one to make a successful company,” he said.

Alway from the company. Kibler is in an advisory position with Options on Main of Jonesboro, which provides free pregnancy tests and encourages women not to have abortions.

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