On the Record: Logically CEO Michelle Accardi is bullish on more growth for Portland IT firm
Photo / Jim Neuger
Michelle Accardi recently took the reins as CEO of Logically, a Portland-based IT outsourcing and consulting firm with more than 500 employees across 11 offices in 10 states. She is shown here at the company’s headquarters at 63 Marginal Way.
Michelle Accardi recently succeeded Mike Cowles as CEO of Logically, a Portland-based, private equity-backed IT outsourcing and consulting firm. Accardi, who is based in Sarasota, Fla., but frequently in Maine, chatted with Mainebiz about continued growth at the company through hiring and acquisitions.
Mainebiz: What attracted you to technology?
Michelle Accardi: I was attracted to the technology field because it is fast-moving and always changing. I love to always take on new challenges, and I know of no other field that touches every aspect of business and can have as much impact. It also enables me to interact with lots of different people at different levels of organizations, and I love helping people succeed with their business and personal goals.
MB: How did you originally connect with Logically and become a board member?
MA: I was pursued by Logically’s private equity investor, the Riverside Co., to join the board based on my background in managed services technology, sales, marketing and in executive leadership.
MB: How do you manage a Portland-based company from Florida, and how do you maintain a company-wide culture as you continue to grow?
MA: We live in a world, especially since the pandemic, where work is what you do and not where you go. I practice what I preach. and use technology to enable collaboration at a distance whether that’s a video meeting and weekly collaboration calls with the entire company to share our areas of focus and remove obstacles. I also travel frequently. I joined the company Oct. 11, and as of mid-November I will have visited all but two of our offices with the goal of meeting everyone before the end of the year. I believe strongly in a servant leadership approach and want to make myself as accessible as possible to all my employees and our customers.
MB: To what extent will Logically continue its pace of about two acquisitions a year?
MA: I fully intend to continue acquiring quality managed service providers that complement our current locations and capabilities.
MB: How would you describe Logically’s M&A strategy, and how are you working with the team at the Riverside Co. to identify potential targets?
MA: We look for quality managed service providers with $5 million to $15 million in annual revenues. They’re located in regions complementary to our current locations and give us additional talent and technical expertise to better serve our customers while expanding our footprint. Riverside is extremely skilled in helping us not only source these opportunities but also close them and make the integration process seamless. They are very hands-on in helping us drive great outcomes for everyone involved in our M&A.
MB: What markets, geographic or sectoral, pose future interest for Logically and why?
MA: We are a national company but like to find managed service providers in similar geographies to scale our talent and technical expertise in areas we have customers and where we see exceptional growth potential. We service diverse industries such as health care, retail, nonprofits and local government, and prefer companies that have multi-location, mid-market customers.
MB: What are your short- and longer-term hiring plans, and what soft skills do you consider most important?
MA: We have a multitude of open opportunities; the most important short- term plans we have are to continue to bolster service delivery and onboarding teams so we can provide the very best managed service experience for our customers from day one. We value responsive, agile and empathetic employees who have a customer-centric approach. Longer term, we will continue hiring in sales, service and administration to support our growing business.
MB: What’s your 2022 outlook for Logically and the IT sector in general?
MA: The IT sector is changing and consolidating rapidly. Logically continues to be a leader in the space, and we will continue to expand our capabilities to enable digital transformation for our customers.
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