Lodestone People ConsultingI joined as an HR executive advisor to the investor group acquiring six family-owned entities tied together through joint-venture partnerships and supply agreements for branded automotive service products and equipment. The deal was complicated by the fact that all six sellers had operated independently before close, each running its own payroll and benefits, and ranging in size from about 20 to 200 employees. The post-close leadership team was made up of representatives from the former owners. I reviewed and oversaw the HR and Organization diligence completed by outside counsel and the M&A team from the HR benefits broker, then stayed on through close as the interim HR and integration management lead.
The deal closed in December 2025 bringing together roughly 400 employees. Over the following months we recruited and hired a permanent HR director and reorganized the combined enterprise into a regional commercial business model, aligning the HR and finance functions to the new structure. All six entities moved to a single integrated benefits design, expanding coverage to a market-competitive level across regions and bringing everyone into a shared 401(k), short-term and long-term disability, and life insurance plans. I also led the selection and rollout of a single payroll and HR system of record across all entities, harmonizing pay cycles for exempt, non-exempt, and commission-based employees.
We used the new system to run open enrollment into the integrated national benefits plan, effective July 1, 2026, extending coverage to every employee across the country with less than a 1% increase in run-rate cost from Q2 into Q3. Revenue growth has followed the vertical integration of the six businesses, validating the deal thesis. As of December 2026, roughly a year after close, we are still building the operating rhythms, shared processes, and technology the combined company needs to run as one team at scale.
