Core Consulting adds clients after tough 2008

Rick Mears likes how Core Consulting looks at the decision-making process from all angles when it provides information-technology strategy and advice to its clients.

"Core has provided valuable insight into how to achieve our objective of modernizing our enterprise systems while preserving the edge the systems provide for us in our business," said Mears, senior vice president and chief information officer at medical and surgical products distributor Owens & Minor Inc.

"They are very easy to work with, accessible and responsive," he said. "They are an important part of my team."

Core Consulting provides management and IT consulting as well as IT staffing services.

Founding partners Steve Lux, Don Kierson and Monty Blizard started Core Consulting in June 2000. Mike Jones, former chief information officer at Circuit City Stores Inc., joined the firm as a partner in July 2007 and is the company's president.

"It's really a three-legged stool," Jones said about Core Consulting. "We provide IT consulting and services. We are also an IT solutions group for firms that have elected not to have their own technology management or oversight. We also offer strategic management consulting for executives."

Kierson said Richmond-based Core has a consistent set of values. "We are all committed to establishing deep relationships with our friends [clients]," he said.

Wayne Pryor, CEO of Virginia Farm Bureau, has worked with Core on several projects.

"They are very diverse in what they offer, and they are very thorough and professional in what they do," he said. "We will continue to use them as a source of consulting when we need it."

Through its IT staffing services, Core helps companies find qualified candidates for jobs. In the past few months, it has interviewed up to 20 candidates a week.

"We don't have salespeople or recruiters," said Bob Stolle, who joined Core as executive vice president in November 2007. Stolle is the former executive director of the Greater Richmond Technology Council.

"Our job is to make that match," Stolle said. "We have met with people who are phenomenally qualified."

Members of Core's management team also work with executive management programs at the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University. Kierson serves as executive-in-residence at VCU. Additionally, the management team mentors students in VCU's fast-track executive master's degree in information systems.

"These organizations are working with people who are tomorrow's leaders," Stolle said. "These are people we want to keep in Richmond. They are the future of Richmond's technology sector."

Since its founding, Core has experienced steady growth.

But Core took an economic hit in 2008 when some of its clients, including Circuit City, S&K Famous Brands and Qimonda, began experiencing financial problems. All three businesses have since shut down operations.

"It was a very difficult year," Jones said about 2008.

Core also worked with LandAmerica Financial Group, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy a year ago this month.

"A number of their suppliers walked out of LandAmerica after they filed for bankruptcy," Jones said. "We made a commitment to see them through this difficult period. We did the same for S&K."

Kierson regularly went to LandAmerica's offices in western Henrico County to work with bankruptcy attorneys and LandAmerica personnel to help them with their information management systems.

"It was beyond the scope of what we usually do, but we were asked to come and oversee their IT projects," Kierson said.

"Don is a problem-solver," Jones said. "He's a fixer."

Core's revenue is up more than 20 percent so far this year, compared with the same time a year ago, largely because the company has added customers.

The management team credits that success to its model of actively listening to clients' needs and responding to those wants.

"In 2009, we have been able to sow the benefits of that relationship model," Jones said.

He sees the company's increased revenue as a leading indicator of a recovering economy.

"We are beginning to see more demand for contracted labor," he said. "What follows is a conversion from contract to permanent positions."