One on One with RSM's Ken Stasiak

The middle market is often underserved by firms with strong cybersecurity capabilities, in spite of such threats being widely considered one of the biggest risks to their business. Earlier this month, Audit and Tax consulting firm RSM joined forces with security and privacy firm SecureState. The acquisition will bring more than 50 additional employees to RSM's team and expand its presence in the Ohio market. It also bolsters the firm's growing security and privacy practice in everything from compliance and risk awareness to incidents and breaches. The combined forces of SecureState and RSM will add new depth of knowledge and expertise to serve that middle market segment. Consulting recently caught up with Ken Stasiak, founder of SecureState who is joining RSM as a Principal.

Consulting: How did the SecureState acquisition come to be?

Stasiak: At SecureState we've gone through and continuously evaluated where the market is at from a cybersecurity perspective. Over the years we've talked to many firms about the opportunity of an M&A or acquisition. We really started to heat up the conversation early last year when we got formally introduced to RSM. We were looking at a number of different firms but really just from the first meeting with RSM saw the synergies of the two organizations, the alignments, and really where we can all benefit and get to the next level. That's why we decided to move forward with RSM and have really been very happy. You always think it's going to go really well and everything looks good, but it's actually going even better than we thought.