Michael Aiello

Growing up, Michael M. Aiello was heavily influenced by his father and grandfather, who worked in construction and taught him the importance of a strong work ethic, service and passion for what you do. They also encouraged him to be the first person in the family to attend college. That foundation enabled Aiello to fulfill his vision of building a firm — Centri Business Consulting, LLC — committed to strong values and quality service.

“At Centri, we uphold our Core Values in all that we do, and as the leader of this organization, my priority is to focus on meeting and exceeding them every single day,” Aiello said. “If I lose sight of them, I lose sight of why we do what we do and why we’ve been so successful at doing it.”

Centri Business Consulting provides advisory consulting services, specializing in financial reporting, internal controls, technical accounting research, valuation and chief financial officer and human resources advisory services.

In 2021, Centri grew its top-line revenue by 87% and increased the number of its employees by 50% from the prior year. The firm expanded its offerings to support the company’s growing client base, adding new services in human resources advisory, ESG, and fairness opinion valuations.

Since 2020, the firm has opened new offices in Boston and Tyson’s Corner, Virginia. At the end of 2021, Centri promoted 27 team members at all levels, a record for the firm. In March 2022, Accounting Today recognized Centri as the Fastest Growing Accounting Firm. Centri aims to grow from its current size of $25 million to $100 million by 2026.

Early in his career, Aiello spent nearly a decade in both private and public accounting. In 2011, at the age of 31, he founded Centri Business Consulting, LLC. The firm employs over 115 people and supports numerous clients throughout the region and country, ranging from startups to multibillion-dollar companies. Additionally, the firm has increased its revenue growth by double-digit percentages for the past six years and has also experienced double-digit employee growth each year during that same time frame.

Aiello guided the firm through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic by implementing changes and pivoting while many other business leaders froze or clung to old habits.

“COVID was … a catalyst for my firm’s growth and for my growth as a leader,” Aiello said. “Not only did we need to pivot and make sweeping changes to how we did business on a daily basis, but I was called on to lead in a very different way. I had to lead my team through the most uncertain times, when there were times when I didn’t exactly know what was going to happen. On the other side of it, me, my team and our business came through stronger than ever.”