Providing the Killer Perk

When Roger Brown and Linda Mason met at the Yale University School of Management in 1979, they seemed destined for careers in Corporate America. Like other newly minted MBAs aiming for the fast track, they accepted consulting jobs. But before plunging into the corporate grind, the adventurous couple headed to Cambodia in 1980, intending to spend the summer working in refugee camps. "Ten days after we arrived, the Vietnamese invaded, turning our camps into a war zone," says Mason, who still recalls the crowds of malnourished children. They stayed for two years.

They did wind up taking those consulting jobs, but soon they were drawn to the Sudan and spent two more years doing relief work there. The couple, who later got married, decided to make a career of working with children. "We said, `Let's forget about building our résumé and decide what we really want to do,"' says Mason. At the suggestion of a colleague, they tapped into the nascent business of providing child care at work sites, launching what's now known as Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (BFAM ) in 1986.