An Ohio management and IT consulting firm has made its first-ever acquisition, expanding cybersecurity capabilities, shortly after its Columbus-area co-founder was promoted to CEO.
Centric Consulting LLC, which started in Columbus in 2001 and has one of its largest markets by headcount and client base in Central Ohio, acquired the Mako Group this month for undisclosed terms. All 30 employees join the 1,500-person firm, and Centric expects to double that team.
For seven years, the two firms had worked on joint client projects, often under pressure, said Jason Pohl, co-founder and vice president for acquisitions and strategic initiatives.
"We had to figure out how to work in the trenches together," Pohl told Columbus Inno. "The alignment of culture became really obvious."
Co-founder Larry English, of Westerville, stepped up to CEO this June from president upon the retirement of Dave Rosevelt, who lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The acquisition was already in the works alongside the long-planned succession, Pohl said.
English, Pohl and Chad Caldwell, also still with the firm, started Centric in Central Ohio when large consulting firms were laying people off.
Rosevelt owned the former Practical Solutions in suburban Dayton and invested in Centric. In 2004, the two merged under the Centric name, but incorporation moved to Kettering. Rosevelt remains on the board.
But there's no true headquarters for the coast-to-coast company, which also has 500 employees in India. Centric from the start had everyone work from home or in client offices. A studio in Victorian Village, for example, is only used for meetings.
Founded in 2010 in Indianapolis, Mako has a presence in 10 other cities including Detroit and Chicago, but also is remote-first. Principals David Lefever, who had been Mako CEO in Indianapolis, and Shane O’Donnell, in Detroit, will lead Centric's new cybersecurity practice.
“The team and infrastructure at Centric help solve countless business challenges, allowing our cybersecurity practice to become more efficient and continue to thrive," Lefever said in a news release.
Centric consults on business models and building the IT infrastructure to execute the strategy, including custom software development. While security is built in to most of those processes, Pohl said, Mako fills specific gaps such as cybersecurity readiness certification and vulnerability testing – which is "ethical hacking, if you will."
Clients range from mid-size businesses of about $200 million in revenue to members of the Fortune 20.
Now in addition to offering fractional CIOs to mid-size businesses that don't want to employ an IT chief full-time, the acquisition adds fraction chief information security officers.
Ransomware attacks and other cyber threats are increasingly common and sophisticated, Pohl said, and they're reported publicly more often, increasing awareness, Pohl said. The merger brings cross-selling opportunities to about one-third of Centric clients.
"Our clients don’t have the option to neglect security and cyber threats anymore," Pohl said. "One breach can cause a pretty big ripple effect in consumer confidence, profitability – it's almost hard to monetize it."
While the two companies worked well together, he said, clients still felt it was less risky to have a single organization accountable for a project.
Besides Central Ohio, Centric's largest markets include Chicago and Cincinnati-Dayton. Each has more than 100 employees.
"We have our biggest client base in the local community," said Pohl, also in the Columbus area.
The acquisition, smooth leadership transition and other factors point to a good year, he said.
"I see a good health of the firm and where I think we're headed," Pohl said. "It is a bit of a tumultuous time in the macroeconomic lens; clients across all industries are being more careful.
"We're not immune to headwinds, but I like how we're faring."
