Springs company bounces back; has hired 61 this year

While other companies are struggling with a plodding economic recovery, Colorado Springs-based Delta Solutions & Strategies has shaken off the recession and has been on a hiring spree.

Delta Solutions & Strategies is a technical and management consulting company that provides products and services to the Department of Defense and other federal and corporate sectors, as well as local first responder agencies. Its chief client is the Air Force.

Since Jan. 1, it has hired 61 employees; the company started the year with a workforce of 73. And Delta is not done hiring, said president and CEO Kelly L. Roth.

“We’re trying to move as fast and furious as we can,” she said, though the exact extent of hiring in the second half of the year will hinge on whether the company lands some large contract awards.

The explosive growth in 2011 marks a strong turnaround from 2010, when the company underwent a restructuring that involved scrutinizing all costs and outsourcing human resources and security functions. About 45 jobs were shed, some as the result of the restructuring but mostly due to government conversions of contractor employees to civil service employees.

It was a tough year, Roth acknowledged.

“The economy was a killer,” she said. But the restructuring, she said, “allowed us to go forward in 2011 much more streamlined and competitive.”

Last year was the first year that the company, which Roth co-founded in 2000, saw revenue fall.

“We’ve actually maintained about a 15 to 20 percent growth on average over the past 10 years,” said Roth, who declined to provide revenue figures because of competitive reasons.

With the economy still struggling and defense cuts looming, Delta is branching out. The company, for example, is moving more into the cybersecurity market. That’s generally an I.T. market, Roth said, which is relatively new for the company.

“We have been more in program management, financial management and acquisition management, and planning. Now we’re getting into more of a technical needs-based field for the Department of Defense. So we’re trying to diversify into an area that’s not so subject to downsizing.”
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Contact the writer at 636-0272