Russell Phillips & Associates (RPA), founded in 1976, may not be a household name, but it’s well-known in the healthcare industry for its emergency management consulting and technology services, which it has provided to major Connecticut hospitals and nursing homes.
Russell Phillips & Associates (RPA), founded in 1976, may not be a household name, but it's well-known in the healthcare industry for its emergency management consulting and technology services, which it has provided to major Connecticut hospitals and nursing homes.
The Fairpoint, N.Y.-based company, which has had an office and one of its two principals based in Plainville, could see its brand recognition grow, now that it's been acquired by a private-equity-owned global player with 1,203 employees.
Maryland's Jensen Hughes announced recently that it acquired RPA, which has 37 employees, for an undisclosed sum.
The Plainville office, which has a dozen workers, including its leader Scott Aronson, will remain in place.
Jensen Hughes has 70 offices around the world, including many in the U.S., but none in Connecticut until now.
The company doesn't disclose financials today, but in 2015 it reported $180 million in revenue.
“With the merger, Jensen Hughes will take the RPA brand global,” said Dilip Rangnekar, Jensen Hughes' vice president of marketing. “It's going to bring RPA tremendous scale.”
Jensen Hughes provides fire protection and life safety services and consulting in multiple industries, including health care and transportation. For example, if a hospital or nursing home is building a new facility or addition, Jensen Hughes will advise on fire code compliance as well as sprinklers, smoke detectors and alarms.
RPA, whose flagship software product is called RPA Navigator, has “very unique competence” in emergency management, such as planning how a hospital would evacuate surgery patients during a fire, Rangnekar said.
Those services will fit well into Jensen Hughes' current mix of offerings, said Rangnekar, who will be based out of the Plainville office.
As a result of the deal, RPA's services could possibly find their way into new markets, such as airports, as well as new countries, he added.
Rangnekar said it's too soon to tell if RPA's name will change, but he sees reasons to keep it.
“There is value in the RPA brand and the proposition is recognized by its customer base,” he said. “This is a business that's not leaving. This is a business that's going to thrive and grow.”
