The Sage Group News

New Company Means Nashville Will Keep Corporate Headquarters in $57 Billion Training Industry

Rich Ford

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Dec. 4, 2002 — Middle Tennessee businessmen Rich Ford and Tom Harrington have launched The Sage Group, a training and organizational development company whose headquarters will be Nashville. At the outset, the company will have offices in eight cities and 75 full-time equivalent employees.

Ford, formerly chief operating officer of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and Harrington, a local CPA and principal in The Nashville Bun Company, purchased the assets of the Pace division of Nashville-based Frontline Group, Inc., a company formerly headed by Marguerite Sallee.

The Sage group will use the assets of the Frontline division to build a national organization specializing in corporate organizational development and training., Ford said. Traditionally, Frontline's customer base was confined to employers operating primarily in the technology, telecommunications, and automotive sectors. Ford said the new company will expand to meet the needs of a broader base of clients, including health care and public service.

"We are excited about this new company. First, it means a net gain for Nashville as a corporate headquarters city. If Frontline-Pace had left town, jobs would have been eliminated and some corporate decision authority would have been lost," Ford said. "Secondly, we have established the headquarters of the Sage group here and plan to grow a major competitor in the $57 billion training industry."

"While most industries showed no growth or declines last year, training is an industry that experienced a 6% growth," Harrington said. "With the level of change occurring in the workplace today, we think companies will recognize the need to help their employees adapt and grow."

Initially, the company will have a presence in Nashville, Cincinnati, Detroit, Atlanta, Charlotte, Morristown (NJ), Pasadena (CA) and San Ramon (CA). The firm will provide instructional design and courseware design and on-line, classroom and hands-on "blended training," Ford said. The Sage Group is located in Maryland Farms in Brentwood.

Ford came to Nashville from Seattle, Washington ten years ago with Willis Corroon Administrative Services. He joined Willis Corroon in 1980. In 1999, he joined the National Federation of Independent Business as executive vice president and chief operating officer. Ford is a member of the St. Thomas Hospital Foundation Board, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Governors, and United Way Executive Committee. A graduate of Leadership Nashville, he is incoming board chair for YMCA of Middle Tennessee.

Harrington operates a Franklin-based financial consulting company providing financial management advisory services to small and medium-sized businesses. A native of Illinois and a graduate of Millikin University, he has been a self-employed Certified Public Accountant since 1976, either as partner of a regional CPA firm or as sole-proprietor of his own CPA firm in Illinois as well as Nashville, where he relocated five years ago.

Frontline's Pace division had its origins 16 years ago when it was founded as Pace Learning, Inc. Pace was later acquired by Sylvan Learning Systems, Inc. and subsequently by Frontline.