Since winning the Rising Star Award at the Business Journal’s CFO of the Year Awards in May 2023, Grant Reindl has taken on a host of new responsibilities at engineering firm Salas O’Brien Inc., one of Orange County’s fastest-growing private companies.
A month after receiving the recognition, Reindl was promoted from vice president of corporate development, financial planning and analysis to chief financial officer at the Irvine-based firm.
“It’s been a great new challenge,” Reindl told the Business Journal.
“Grant has had a notable impact on Salas in a relatively short period of time and is a natural choice for this role,” Salas’ Chief Executive Darin Anderson said in a statement. “He has all the characteristics of a successful CFO.”
Reindl joined Salas in 2020 and has since overseen 28 M&A deals, which have helped the company more than double its revenue from $160 million to over $500 million.
Salas today comprises 80 offices and 2,800 team members across North America, representing roughly 14% in headcount growth since the same year ago period.
Reindl in 2022 led Salas through eight mergers, despite global strategic deal volumes falling 9% from the year prior, according to a report from management consulting firm Bain & Company.
Under Reindl’s leadership, Salas this year has already completed five mergers.
“We still look for high-performing firms with a proven track record of success,” Reindl said.
“Lately, we have been partnering with bigger firms,” such as Nashville-based consulting engineering firm I.C. Thomasson Associates Inc. (ICT).
ICT, which has been in business for over 80 years and has about 275 employees, is more than double the size of most companies Salas has merged with, according to Reindl.
“It’s exciting to see firms like ICT, which has a storied history and strong reputation, want to join Salas,” he said.
Salas this year has also welcomed a new minority investor: Blackstone Inc., the world’s largest alternative asset manager (NYSE: BX). Terms of the deal were undisclosed.
The company is still majority-owned by its team members, officials said.
