As we celebrate a significant milestone — 25 years of creating unmatched experiences — we remember a few of the unmatched moments that have contributed to those experiences over the decades.
What goes into an unmatched experience? Passion, dedication, commitment, empathy—the list is endless. But behind each unmatched experience lie countless unmatched moments.
In this blog, we consider the unmatched moments that shape who we are. While brief, they have long-lasting effects and shape our interactions with ourselves and our clients.
Often, those moments are fleeting. We may not realize them as they are happening. But when they come together, they can change lives. We are proud of our 25 years of creating unmatched experiences — and the unmatched moments that have been part of them.
SHORT STORIES ABOUT SOME OF OUR UNMATCHED MOMENTS
Moments of Magic
Mondays can be rough. But for as long as anyone can remember, our employees started their days with a thoughtful pause, courtesy of Jeff Lloyd, a member of our Executive Leadership Team. Lloyd delivered inspiring messages to everyone’s inboxes through his Magic Monday series of weekly emails.
Whether the topic was an exploration of the word “bravery” to honor Veteran’s Day, a meditation on the power of storytelling, or a list of self-care tips, Lloyd often reached deep into his personal life, insights, reading and more to give everyone a little magic to start their weeks. Other times, he invited others to share their voices in the weekly messages.
In preparation for his upcoming retirement, Lloyd has now turned the series over to Jen Barnes, an Executive Leadership Team member and VP of Culture, Employee Engagement and DEI. Restyled as Unmatched Monday, Barnes continues Lloyd’s legacy of setting the tone for the coming work week with a smile, fresh perspectives, and inspiring words and videos — including a farewell message from Jeff Lloyd himself.
Moments of Opportunity
Many organizations are committed to diversity and inclusion, but making the world more equitable requires committing to opportunity, too. That’s what our Cleveland office, Director of Technology Solutions Maurice Faison, and many others at our company are doing.
The Cleveland team sponsored Accelerate, a local pitch competition for young entrepreneurs with innovative ideas that support the health and diversity of Cleveland’s business ecosystem. Faison, who also co-leads the Centric Together diversity and inclusion initiative, joined Cincinnati Senior Manager Chris Galligan at Black Tech Week.
At the event’s “BizDevDay,” Faison and Galligan met one-on-one with leaders of diverse startups — most of them focused on AI — to learn about new ideas that may benefit our clients. These initiatives, along with our involvement with skilled workforce builder LaunchCode and others, are creating unmatched moments of opportunity for countless young innovators.
Moments of Impact
Centric India creates unmatched moments for clients every day. Recently, they demonstrated their passion for creating unmatched moments for others—including some of the most vulnerable people in their communities. The moment started five years ago, when Software Quality Assurance Consultant Parul Nehra decided to celebrate her son’s birthday at an orphanage.
She identified New Delhi’s Welfare Home for Children (WHC) as the site. The children’s reaction to their visit moved Nehra so much that she suggested to the India practice’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) team that they support the organization, too. They started by donating essential resources, but then they decided to elevate their commitment by creating a full day of unmatched moments.
The day included discussions with the children, a dance performance, and even an art contest. “It also reminded us that giving is not just about financial support or material contributions,” Nehra said. “It’s about the human connections we forge and the lasting impact we create.”
Moments of Commitment
Sometimes, unmatched experiences can come in various forms. Often, the best ones come when we aren’t even trying to create them. That’s what Charlotte Business Unit Lead TJ Felice serendipitously discovered during a recent engagement.
His client, a family-owned company, was preparing for an upcoming Go Live weekend. During the team’s on-site visit at this critical time, the client’s executive team invited the Centric crew to dinner. Felice told them, “I’m sorry, but we’ve got hours of work ahead of us. We can either be ready for tomorrow or go to dinner tonight. I’d rather be ready for tomorrow.”
While the client’s executive team was disappointed, Felice believes it was the right decision. “I think they respected us for putting the interests of their users ahead of anything else, and at the end of the day, those extra three hours were the difference between a really successful day and what would have been chaos if we had not stayed there. I think that was a key moment in earning the executive team’s trust.”
Moments of Innovation
When people have great ideas, the opportunity to share them always becomes an unmatched moment. For nearly 15 years — two-thirds of our company’s history — we’ve supported employees’ innovative ideas at CampIO, our annual internal technology conference.
Inspired by a trend in the tech industry toward “unconferences” and innovation “camps” in the 2000s, the event has grown from a small group of presenters to about a dozen, with the audience size growing accordingly. In fact, the 2023 CampIO set an attendance record with about 150 people. The only rules are that employees must work on projects on their own time and, of course, the work must be original.
The 2023 CampIO winners included using object detection, video analytics, and Xamarin forms to create better soccer game films and highlight reels, using a neural network diffusion model to create custom artwork, and a deep dive into the pleasures and perils of playing online poker against bots.
Moments For Giving
Helping someone get away from their biggest life crisis can undoubtedly be an unmatched experience made up of countless unmatched moments. When a Centric Together employee survey identified “families in crisis” as our top community issue, the company decided to partner with the Karen Wellington Foundation.
This nonprofit provides trips of a lifetime for women to take during their breast cancer treatments. Heather Britt, the first recipient of our support, received a trip for her and her family to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. “The trip came at a great time, between the end of my chemo and surgery for my cancer,” Britt said. “It helped me regain my strength, get into a clear mental space, and move to the next level so I could get on the other side of my illness.”
Our support of the foundation continued, with company leaders asking employees to nominate people living with breast cancer to experience the Wellington Foundation’s unmatched moments.
Moments to Remember
Not all unmatched moments happen in times of joy — but they can turn into moments of joy. That’s what happened when the Boston team created a step-based fitness challenge to raise funds commemorating the remarkable life of a beloved colleague, Errol Yudelman.
Yudelman, who ran 114 marathons in his lifetime, inspired the team’s fundraising event to benefit Girls on the Run Greater Boston. Boston team members Megan Robicheau and Finn Sullivan used their quantitative skills to create a formula that could turn participant’s steps into dollars.
The project got an extra boost when we announced a company-wide fitness challenge around the same time. Employees tracked steps for about a dozen activities. Applying Robicheau and Sullivan’s formula, the steps translated to $2,500 for Girls on the Run.
As Girls on the Run Greater Boston Executive Director Olivia Mathews noted, “That means Centric’s contribution will allow ten girls to learn, play and work together as they build their minds and bodies!”
At Centric Consulting, we’ve spent a quarter-century crafting extraordinary moments for our clients. From innovative solutions to personalized service, we’ve consistently delivered beyond expectations. With 1,400 consultants, a custom-tailored approach and a global reach, we’re here to bring you impactful, transformative business and technology consulting solutions.