As a management consultant for a Big 8 firm, Mike Hawksworth was a seasoned road warrior. Then in 1986, tired of living out of a suitcase and wanting to spend more time with his family, he launched MSS Technologies. Yet Hawksworth wasn’t content to be a lifestyle entrepreneur — he wanted to create a lifestyle growth company.
Fast forward to today, MSS has about 50 employees and annual revenue of more than $8 million. The Phoenix-based company provides business management consulting services with a sweet spot in business process, organizational change, project management, quality assurance and corporate governance.
In contrast to competitors that focus on customers in vertical industries, MSS takes a cross-industry approach — and targets large enterprise clients that are either headquartered or have a substantial division in the Rocky Mountain states. “This doesn’t totally eliminate travel for our consultants,” says Hawksworth, “but it’s less than 25 percent of their time, which compares to nearly 100 percent travel if they worked for one of our competitors.”
Because of the MSS lifestyle model, employees are able to devote time to their community as well as their families, and the company is especially supportive of economic development and education. For example, Hawksworth has been a member of the Greater Phoenix Economic Development Council for more than a decade, serving on its ambassador steering committee. He’s also on numerous educational boards including an advisory council for Arizona State University’s New College and a computer information sciences advisory board at Northern Arizona University’s W.A. Franke College of Business.