LOWELL -- Central Research plans to add 50 jobs over the next couple of months, doubling its Northwest Arkansas workforce, the company said Friday.
The new workers will help service a U.S. Department of Education contract. Central Research provides specialized administrative services to state and federal agencies.
Central Research
Lowell-based Central Research provides services in many areas including: records management, Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act, legal and paralegal, logistics, systems engineering, research, debt collection and data and information technology services to roughly 13 federal agencies and organizations.
It has programs and offices in Arkansas, Virginia, Texas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Arizona and Washington, D.C.
Source: Central Research
Johnny Dillard, Central Research founder and CEO, said the company won the contract over a year ago and work is just starting. He said he may hire up to 150 people over the next year in Lowell. The company has more than 15 active government contracts, he said.
The jobs will primarily be hourly, full-time positions paying around $14 an hour, he said.
Central Services started in Virginia in 2006 and moved to Lowell in early 2007 with three employees. Dillard said it was a return home for the company he runs with his son, Scott Dillard.
It's certified as a Center for Veterans Enterprise and holds the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business designation. About one-third of the company's Northwest Arkansas employees are veterans or have military ties.
"As a veteran myself, I understand the challenges," he said. "It's a priority to hire veterans when we can."
Dillard served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Arkansas Army National Guard before retiring in 1994.
"This is a great example of helping put veterans back to work," said Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., who attended the announcement.
Company officials and community leaders gathered at the firm's Lowell headquarters Friday afternoon to celebrate a different contract it recently landed with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
"They carved out their niche, and that is truly an entrepreneur," said Danny Games, deputy director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.
The latest, four-year contract is to run Service Center Operations Support Services in Texas and Nebraska. Dillard said the contract is worth between $20 million and $30 million annually. Virginia-based FCi Federal is the subcontractor.
Service Centers handle correspondence management, data and fee collection and file operations for the country's immigration services. Program work began last month and included adding workers in Dallas and Lincoln, Neb., to Central's payroll.
"We went from 50 employees to 800 employees overnight," Dillard said. The immigration contract did add a handful of administrative employees in Lowell.
Boozman said Central Research is a prime example of what hard work can bring.
"It's kind of like a snowball going downhill," he said of the firm's continued growth.
Central Research was named one of fastest-growing private companies in America earlier this year, ranking No. 4,612 on the Inc. 5000 list.
Three-year revenue growth was 54 percent and was $7.3 million in 2014. This is the fifth consecutive year that Central Research made the list, reaching its highest ranking in 2012 at No. 703.
NW News on 11/07/2015