CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Frances Queen, CEO of Queen Associates, Inc., announced today that the company will merge with FirstPlace, Inc., an IT consulting and staffing firm led by Robin J. Pugh.
Queen Associates, a Charlotte-based technology consulting firm, celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2010, and Queen states, “I can’t think of a more exciting way to complete our 10th year of service to our clients than to join forces with a quality organization like FirstPlace. Queen Associates has always put the best interests of our consultants and our clients first, and this new partnership will enable us to do even more to support them. This merger is also a true testimony to our company’s strong commitment to diversity.”
“The synergies between Queen Associates and FirstPlace are truly amazing. Both Frances and I have built our firms on a foundation of conducting our business with integrity, and with a focus on doing what’s right for our clients and consultants. These guiding principles will continue to be cornerstones of the new organization, and our combined team will provide our clients with even greater service delivery capabilities,” says Robin Pugh.
Queen Associates, Inc. – QA(i)3 – is a certified 100% Women Business Enterprise (WBE) and premier provider of integrated business and technology consulting and staffing services. QA(i)3 specializes in building long-term strategic business partnerships. They focus on teaming with their clients to achieve optimal solutions that consistently deliver competitive advantage.
FirstPlace was originally developed as an internal recruiting division of First Union National Bank, and was nationally known for providing quality IT Resources within financial services environments for project based work. FirstPlace expanded to recruit for all contract and temporary work and remained an integral part of the First Union/Wachovia recruiting strategy until its decommissioning in 2009. FirstPlace was re-launched as an independent IT consulting firm in 2010 with a focus on service excellence and keeping its clients and consultants in first place.