Vaco Opens Office in West Palm Beach, Names Tech Practice Co-Leader
January 23, 2020 – Brentwood, TN-headquartered recruiting firm Vaco continues to expand, recently opening a new office in West Palm Beach, FL and adding two key leaders: Matt Walter becomes co-managing partner of the technology practice and Albert Llodra joins the firm as managing director.
South Florida is a key growth market for Vaco, serving more than 7,000 clients and some 2,500 placements over the last four years. “Adding Matt and Albert and expanding our footprint to West Palm Beach are key components of our strategic growth plans for Florida,” said Denise Bennett-Walls, senior partner. “Under this expanded leadership team, we are projecting more than $4 million in sales in 2020 in South Florida alone. And with five locations across the state, we can partner with businesses to ensure that they have top talent on a full-time, contract, and interim basis.”
Mr. Walter oversees the technology practice’s temporary, consulting and permanent placement teams. With more than 12 years of experience in technology consulting, staffing and business operations – especially within the South Florida market – he will focus on helping area businesses solve their workforce challenges and expanding Vaco’s growing consultant community. Mr. Walter is located at the West Palm Beach office.
“We are thrilled to add Matt to our growing team,” said Cynthia Rodriguez, co-managing partner for South Florida. “His industry experience and successful track record is first class. We share similar values, vision, and passion for building what we know will continue to be a premier consulting and recruiting firm, supporting both businesses and professionals in the tri-county area.”
Deep Experience
Mr. Walter previously served as managing director at Hernandez & Co., a full-service CPA firm specializing in national and international tax, accounting and corporate services. He also held various leadership roles at Robert Half Technology and served as an advisory analyst for KPMG.
Mr. Llodra has more than 30 years of multidisciplinary experience in public accounting and the private sector. In addition to accounting and finance, his expertise includes forensic accounting and litigation support. Prior to joining Vaco, Mr. Llodra held several leadership positions including executive management roles and CFO. He started his career at Deloitte specializing in assurance, tax compliance and tax planning.
“Our purpose is to provide our clients with knowledge and resources to help them achieve great outcomes,” said Mr. Llorda. “We have a long-term consultative approach centered on client needs. We understand and value relationships.”
Vaco provides boutique-level service with global reach in executive search, consulting, permanent placement and strategic staffing. Its areas of expertise include accounting, finance, technology, healthcare IT, operations, administration and managed services. The firm operates more than 35 offices, with 780-plus employees and 4,300 consultants worldwide.
Further Expansion
Founded in 2002 by Jerry Bostelman, Jay Hollomon and Brian Waller, Vaco partnered with its first private equity partner, Quad-C Management, three years ago. Since then, the firm has experienced significant growth through extending core business lines and entering new markets.
Vaco Acquired by Private Equity Firm
Vaco has been acquired by Stamford, Conn-based private equity firm Olympus Partners. Timothy Billings, a partner at Quad-C, said that Vaco is well positioned for future growth. “In a relatively short period of time, we made significant investments in the company…”
Vaco’s additional Florida locations include Miami, Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa, all providing top talent in accounting/finance, technology, human resources, administration, and operations. Industry specializations include healthcare IT practice Pivot Point Consulting, logistics and supply chain practice Plantensive, Binary Semantics offshore services, Focus Search Partners, and Vaco’s methodology-driven global consulting platform MorganFranklin Consulting.
In September, Vaco opened a new office in Montréal, led by managing partner Sean Bartunek along with partners Eloi Poudrier, Sebastien Lamarche and Olivier Moureaux. They have been leading the Montréal market in the field of technology recruitment for the previous 15 years.
“Vaco endeavors to be the most consultative, relationship driven organization in our industry,” said Mr. Bostelman, CEO. “It is thrilling to enter a vibrant, entrepreneurial market like Montréal that values that, and with a team that absolutely exudes it.”
A Texas Acquisition
Last February, Vaco acquired Aventine Hill Partners (AHP), a San Antonio-based advisory, consulting and executive search firm. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed. Together, Vaco and AHP were expected to provide talent and solutions across a diverse set of industries to more than 10,000 clients globally.
Vaco’s Texas operations have been steadily expanding since 2006 when the firm launched in the Dallas market. The recruitment company now has a strong Texas presence with offices in Dallas, Houston and Austin. The addition of Aventine Hill furthers Vaco’s expansion to serve more than 40 markets across the globe.
In 2009, Aventine Hill was founded with a commitment to helping clients succeed by improving business operations and profitability while simultaneously advancing the careers of their people. As San Antonio’s largest regional professional services firm, AHP will add hundreds of clients and candidates to Vaco’s client portfolio.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media