Centric Consulting’s National Vice President Cheryl Strait shares career insights and how her journey brought her from studying medicine to working on integrated solutions across business consulting, technology and industry verticals.
National Vice President Cheryl Strait has led several transformations in her first five years at Centric Consulting. From creating our Enterprise Portfolio Program Management (EPPM) service offering to co-leading Business Consulting Services (BCS), she brings boundless energy and excitement to every new role. Strait talked about her path to Centric and how it’s helping her to lead another transformation for the company and our clients.
Did you always want to be a consultant?
Believe it or not, when I went to college, I wanted to be a pediatrician. I made it all the way through to the anatomy course, which is when you have to work hands-on with cadavers. I was the third in line to create an incision. The first student went to do the first cut and he passed out. The next person went up, and they also passed out. I thought, “I’ve got this; I’m not passing out.” So, I proceeded to do it, and I made it through the 10-week course. As soon as that lab was done, I went over to the university counselor and said, “I need to switch majors.”
Wow! How did you transition from that experience to studying business?
When I met with my counselor, I told her I wanted to switch to business. She looked at me like, “What do you know about business?” It was a good question because my parents and many family members were in medicine, and I knew nothing about business. But marketing sounded fun, so I took a marketing class and added computer programming and operations management.
I liked marketing because of the creativity, but there was so much research and data involved. The computer programming class was basic, so that wasn’t terribly challenging. And I hated the operations management class, because it was so repetitive. But eventually, I began to find the creativity behind business management, and then it became fun.
How did you become a consultant?
My first job was in the paper industry. We were working on a big computer transformation when I met some consultants from one of the Big 3 consulting firms. I was impressed with those individuals, their drive, and their exciting lives. I thought, “I want to be like that. I want to be a consultant.” I did a complete shift and began working at a consulting company, Robbins Gioia (RG), named after the founder.
I started at RG as an analyst working in the automotive industry in Michigan, and I grew from being an analyst to being an account manager. A lot of our work was staff augmentation. The “staff aug” business model started taking a big hit in terms of profitability after the financial crisis of 2008.
Mr. Gioia believed that we could double in size if we transitioned from selling people and their skills to selling solutions. I became a director and was assigned to the team responsible for defining how to make the change. It was a lot of fun, and within five years, we actually tripled in size.
Can you talk more about what that change looked like?
Consultants who sell staff aug typically listen to what the client’s need is and then talk about people who can fill that need. With solutions selling, it’s a different conversation. As a consultant, you want to know, “Why is this happening? What would ‘better’ look like for you? What are the results you want to achieve?” Then, you can talk about the different services you provide that will enable the client to achieve those results.
Of course, sometimes clients will just want staff aug, and that’s OK. But if you can shift the conversation to a solution, you have a chance to provide more than just a person. It’s different because you’re not just changing what you sell but what you deliver, too. You’ll need to know more about what the client doesn’t have now and what they need, and then you need to deliver those services.
How does that tie into your current role at Centric?
Well, to back up a bit for context, I joined Centric after I retired from a brief stint in corporate America in early 2020. Guess what happened next? Pandemic! I was bored out of my mind because I couldn’t do all the things I had wanted to do in retirement. So, I started to answer some recruiter calls, including one from Centric.
The leader of Centric’s Business Consulting Services invited me to meet him at a Cracker Barrel outside of Toledo. I was thinking, “Really? We’re going to meet at Cracker Barrel to offer me this job at Centric?” It turned out to be a great conversation, and he sold me on the job.
That’s the most Centric thing I’ve ever heard.
Exactly! How could I say no to that? So, I joined Centric, and one of my first changes was reimagining the project management service offering as the Enterprise Portfolio and Program Management (EPPM) service offering.
That first year, we had about four people, and by the second year, we had doubled in size. We just boomed. I went on to lead our Business Consulting Service line and am now responsible for integrated solutions across our business consulting, technology and industry verticals.
This work has reenergized me, and I believe it’s a great chance for us to shift how we do business at Centric. We’ve always marketed ourselves as a solutions-based company that also had experts ready for role-based and managed operations work. Now, we are working to integrate all these capabilities into a more balanced portfolio across our client engagements.
You use the word “fun” a lot. What makes a job fun for you?
When something is challenging, I can see through the chaos and make something complex achievable. Breaking down the complexities into something that can be acted upon is fun for me. I also absolutely love building things because when you’re building, what are you doing? You’re figuring out all the different materials you need, all the people, the skill sets, the content, everything. In those moments, the time just melts away.