Ohio IT consulting firm Cohesion moves headquarters to Tampa, plans to add 100 jobs

February 8, 2016

 
 
Thad Moore | Times Staff Writer
 
An IT consulting firm has recently moved its headquarters from Ohio to Tampa where it plans to add 100 jobs, Gov. Rick Scott announced during a visit here Monday.
 
Cohesion, which moved from suburban Cincinnati last month, plans to focus its growth on Tampa in the next few years, co-president John Larson said, without specifying a timetable.
 
The company will receive $600,000 in state and local incentives if it adds the pledged 100 jobs within six years, said Michelle Bauer, spokeswoman for the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp. The jobs, which include administrative positions, IT consultants, financial analysts and project managers, will pay at least $76,000 on average.
 
The Tampa office, at 511 W Bay St., will focus on consulting work with the health care, finance and insurance industries, Larson said.
 
Cohesion, which was founded in 1999, says it has provided IT consulting services to a number of Fortune 1000 companies, including Kroger, Procter & Gamble and Verizon. It has grown through a series of acquisitions and now has 250 employees in seven offices.
 
It has twice landed on Inc. magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest-growing companies in the country, most recently in 2013. In 2012, it pulled in revenue of $16.1 million, according to the magazine.
 
The company began looking for a new headquarters location six months ago and eventually chose Tampa over locations in Georgia, Maryland and Ohio, Scott said. The company said the city’s airport, workforce and low cost of living factored into the decision.