Since 1999, Centric Consulting has created unmatched experiences for employees, clients and communities.
Throughout the past 25 years, we have lived by seven core values, which include “igniting passion for the greater good.”
Our goal is not just to do good, but to inspire others to do the same — whether friends, family members, or anyone who sees the Centric logo and our employees out and about.
But we can’t do it alone. Just as we do in our consulting business, Centric relies on great partnerships to complete these projects. From India’s Hemkunt Foundation to Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, our nonprofit partners help us fulfill our mission and theirs.
We thought we’d look back and celebrate some of our community involvement in 2024 to launch the next 25 years of helping, giving and partnership.
Centric India Plants Deep Roots for Hemkunt Foundation
Centric India kicked off 2024 by partnering with the Hemkunt Foundation — a nonprofit organization that fights inequity, poverty, and disease for the economically weaker sections of society — to plant trees and clean at Public Health Center (PHC). Trees are very important to spiritual and physical health in India. For Green Harmony, Centric India’s tree-planting initiative, Hemkunt and Centric volunteers planted four species of tree used to treat various conditions from pain and stomach issues to infertility.
“Centric India is delighted to be a part of Hemkunt’s noble contribution to the PHC,” said Data Architect Aditya Sharma, a co-lead of Centric India’s Mega Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. “Spending time at the facility and understanding the requirements of the patients of the rural areas was an eye-opening experience. It gave the employees insights into how medicinal plants can benefit the PHC.”
Centric India also sponsored beds for students living in Hemkunt Foundation Gurukul, a nonprofit skill-development center currently under construction in the state of Madhya Pradesh. When completed, the two-million-square-foot facility will train 1,000 students over its first three years.
“Our financial contribution supporting Hemkunt’s campaign to build Hemkunt Foundation Gurukul will help students learn valuable skills, from computer science to textile manufacturing,” noted Palak Rana, Marketing Lead and the other CSR co-lead.
Centric Cleveland Scores for Local Nonprofits
Centric Cleveland found a novel, fun, and engaging way to give back during Super Bowl LVIII. As the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers took to the field on February 11, thirteen Centric employees watched the score at the end of each quarter for a chance to give to the nonprofit of their choice.
Here’s how it worked: Senior Manager Cindy Wolff, who came up with the idea, created a 10-by-10 grid. Using a random generator, digits from zero to nine were assigned to each square. Employees then purchased squares for $5 each, making the entire grid worth $500.
Then, during the game, the score at the end of each quarter determined a winner, based on the ending digit of each team’s score. For example, at the end of the first quarter, the score was 0-0. The person who had bought the most “0” boxes won that quarter. At the end of the second quarter, the score was 10-3, so the winner would be the person with the most “0” and “3” boxes. Winners for each quarter donated $100 to the charity of their choice.
In the friendly competition, Business Unit Lead Karina Meyers won the second and third quarters, Senior Manager Joe Block won the first quarter, and Business Unit Lead Phil Swettenham won the fourth quarter and the overtime period.
As result, Block committed his $100 prize to the Cleveland Food Bank, Helm identified the Breast Cancer Research Foundation to receive $200, and Swettenham designated his $200 winnings to the Akron-Canton Food Bank.
Standing Up to Leukemia in the Windy City
Leukemia is a disease that has touched many Centric employees, their friends, their families and their clients. For Chicago Practice Vice President Bill Chamberlain, the loss of a Centric colleague, in addition to his brother-in-law, inspired him to work with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) to lead Centric employees in raising awareness and funds for the cause.
Chamberlain, who lives in the North Shore community of Glenview, connected with an LLS staffing partner, Caroline Ryan, through a neighbor. She invited him to join the executive committee leading North Shore’s leg of the annual LLS Light the Night walk — scheduled to take place just a few days before the 19th anniversary of the loss of his brother-in-law.
Seventeen people — employees and their family members — lit up Glenview’s Gallery Park as they carried lanterns to fight the darkness of cancer. Including all cash contributions, Centric’s overall impact came to more than $10,000.
“We are so appreciative of Centric Consulting’s participation in, and support, of our Light The Night North Shore event this year, where over 1,000 members of the community came together,” Ryan said.
“It was a pleasure partnering with Bill, who led Centric in raising funds that will directly support blood cancer patients and their families in Illinois this year, from free resources, patient events/programs, financial aid, and more. We are so grateful that Bill and Centric continue to help LLS illuminate a path to a cure for cancer!”
Cleveland Employees Have the Right “Stuff” for School Supply Drive
One of the best parts of Centric’s giving projects is how they build community within Centric and the people we help.
That was the case with our support of “Stuff the Bus,” a Cleveland television station’s annual campaign to collect school supplies for kids. In Centric Cleveland’s seventh straight year of shopping for school supplies for the campaign, team members collected about 1,800 items. The group also raised $1,200 in cash, a 20 percent increase over last year.
“Across our footprint, Centric is mindful of giving back to our communities in meaningful ways, both large and small,” said Brad Nellis, Cleveland Market Development Lead. “To be sure, doing so helps our communities, but it also helps our team members with a great sense of accomplishment and local support.”
Keeping Life Sweet in Charlotte
Centric Charlotte has a long history of supporting its local community and nonprofits, and they continued the tradition in 2024 with a unique combination of in-kind technical work, service projects and monetary donations. Here are a few samples of their efforts.
Apparo
Apparo is an organization that leverages the city’s brightest skilled volunteers and deep nonprofit expertise to connect nonprofits to technology expertise and resources. Those connections make Apparo a force multiplier, turning every one dollar the organization raises into three dollars of positive impact.
Charlotte Business Unit Lead TJ Felice serves on the Apparo Board of Directors, and he defines the concept of a “working board member.” In 2016, Apparo recognized him as “Volunteer of the Month,” and since that time he has led many initiatives for the organization.
This year, Charlotte team member Jennifer Elliott — a Centric Salesforce Certified Administrator and Salesforce Certified Community Cloud Consultant — helped Centric make the short list for the international Digital Revolution Awards for her work to implement Salesforce at the Crisis Assistance Ministry of Gastonia.
But Charlotte did not stop there. Other notable Apparo contributions in 2024 included a Community Impact Project for SouthLight Health Care, an organization that transforms the lives of more than 7,000 people annually by helping them gain the tools they needed to build a strong foundation for long-term recovery.
Working with Apparo, Senior Manager Chuck Harshey, Manager Milurka Sanchez, Senior Architect Jason Daniels, and Senior Consultant Bert Rodriguez began a technology assessment of the organization’s current infrastructure, operations, security, and technology policies.
The team’s work will create a comprehensive technology plan and roadmap, identifying technology challenges, gaps, and pain points. The results will inform technology planning and budgeting, streamline efficiencies, and better position the SouthLight Health Care team for growth over the next three to five years.
In a second 2024 Community Impact Project, Senior Consultant Erica Canipe, Managers Hugo Castellon, Whitney Fraser, and Jeremy Thomas, and Operational Excellence Local Service Offering Lead Tara Pottow composed a team of skilled volunteers to help Restore Global assess their business processes to create supply chain and other programming improvements.
Restore Global serves other nonprofit partners by reducing operating costs and providing supporting services. Their goal is to alleviate the stress of tight budgets and limited resources so that partners can focus on core programs and expand their reach in the community.
“I think Centric Consulting did an amazing job,” said Restore Global CEO Steve Wray. “They were delightful to work with, and we appreciated their hard work. Honestly, the reason we did this was because it was a focused project from beginning to end. Thank you.”
Matthews Help Center
On the non-technical side, Centric Charlotte supported Matthews Help Center with two initiatives to help the nonprofit serve the community with short-term assistance during times of financial crisis neighbors and surrounding communities survive financial crises by providing short-term assistance.
In December, Charlotte team members volunteer at the help center’s distribution center to sort donations, assist staff, and help constituents shop for holiday gifts in Matthews Help Center’s Backporch Treasures Thrift Boutique. The distribution center project has been a Centric Charlotte holiday tradition for many years.
Also in 2024, Centric Charlotte joined with customers and prospects including AvidXchange, Forvis Mazars, LendingTree, TIAA, and Trane Technologies to make a $1,500 donation to Matthews Help Center’s annual charity golf outing. In another golf-related event, Felice led the Charlotte Team — along with guests Data Strategy and Governance Lead Carlos Cruz and D&A-AI/ML Lead Tim Hoolihan — in the “Putting for Dough Challenge” in memory of Charlie Michaels, a Matthews Help Center board member. The team putted their way to a $250 donation.
“We love the Centric team,” said Matthews Help Center Executive Director Sandra Rose. “Thank you for being a part of Charlie’s special legacy!”
Promising Pages
This year, Centric Charlotte collected new and gently used books for Promising Pages, a nonprofit that shares books with children living in the Charlotte area’s “book desert.”
Sanchez led the Charlotte team, which featured special guest Jason Pohl, Centric Vice President, Acquisitions and Strategic Initiatives.