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As the longest-operating and largest IT training company in the Midwest, we have a proud history of developing the tech industry's workforce.
We trace our history all the way back to 1989 when we began training technology professionals as the Network Institute of America. Since then Centriq has operated under several different names and even experienced a change of ownership for several years. But during the entire 30 years of our history, Centriq has remained under the same management and has been committed to training and supporting the IT workforce in Kansas City and the Midwest.
As the Network Institute of America (NIA), we became the first authorized training center in Kansas City and focused on corporate IT training for various Kansas City companies. Current Centriq President and Co-Owner, Kevin Grawe, as well as current Co-Owner, Steve Harmon, were both part of the team that first year. The company was originally a Novell Education Center but soon expanded its training authorization to include Microsoft.
Looking to develop best practices in a new and growing industry, Grawe and Co-Owner, Steve Harmon, reached out to independent IT training companies in other cities. The result was the formation US Connect, a national consortium of Microsoft training partners. To develop their brand in this new industry, all NIA and other consortium members changed their names to include US Connect. That was the first name change in our history. In addition to continuing as a corporate IT training company, US Connect Kansas City expanded its scope to train office copier dealers in the transition from analog to digital technology. Our main client, the National Office Machine Dealers Association (NOMDA), was headquartered in Kansas City.
In 1996, the entire US Connect consortium was purchased by IKON Office Solutions, a Fortune 500 company. The entire staff of US Connect Kansas City was retained and, of course, the name was changed to IKON Education Kansas City. IKON Education Kansas City was established as the headquarters for the Western Region of IKON Education. As President of IKON Education’s Western Region, Grawe led the initiative of establishing IKON Education as a national technology training company. During this time, Grawe created Tech 2000 the first consumer technology job training program in the country. The program, which provided Microsoft certifications for individuals looking to start careers in the rapidly growing field of IT, was quickly adopted across the country by the other IKON Education locations.
In 2001, IKON elected to focus on its office machine business and exited the IT training industry. As a result, Grawe, Harmon and current Co-Owner, Ted Parker, were able to return IKON Education Kansas City to local ownership by re-acquiring the company and re-naming it Centriq University. In response to a rapidly changing Post-9/11 marketplace, Centriq University focused its efforts entirely on the corporate IT training market. Approximately 75% of the Centriq University staff was comprised of employees that had been with the company since its US Connect days.
In early 2005, Grawe, Parker and Harmon believed the economic situation once again offered the opportunity for individuals to start new careers in IT. Rather than re-create the Tech 2000 program, Centriq acquired Foss Training a local Kansas City training company focused primarily on the education of career changers for entry-level IT jobs and changed the company’s name to Centriq Foss in order to benefit from the marketing brand Foss had developed in the consumer market. This acquisition created Centriq’s career IT training division (which Centriq re-branded as the IT Career Program in 2010).
In 2008, Grawe, Parker and Harmon elected to acquire the ownership interest of the previous Foss Training owners and dropped the Foss name to simply become Centriq Training. While many things have changed in the last 25 years, there has been one constant in the IT training industry. That one constant is the continuing and unwavering commitment of the people of Centriq Training to develop and support the IT workforce in the Midwest. It’s a commitment we vow to uphold.
On April 1, 2017 Centriq Training acquired St. Louis-based Premier Knowledge Solutions. By combining 40+ years of experience delivering live, instructor led training to IT professionals, we became the largest IT training company in the Midwest.
To Missouri…actually we just moved across the street – but that street was State Line Road. As the largest IT training company in the Midwest, we needed more room for our growth. Check out the Centriq building at the corner of 92nd and State Line Road next time you’re in the neighborhood!
In response to the COVID pandemic, Centriq reinvented its Career Program to offer live, online training and created Tek Ladder as the virtual training brand. Students now have the ability to train for their new career in person in Kansas City and St. Louis and virtually from anywhere in the country.
Centriq transitioned out of the corporate B2B training business and rolled the national Tek Ladder brand into the core Centriq brand. This enabled us to remain an industry leader by creating our Career Program's Flex Option which provides students a new learning model. We also introduced artificial intelligence (AI) into our core curriculum and into our proprietary training methodology, and created innovative, new AI training programs. Centriq also expanded its internal video curriculum division - Centriq Studios – to offer video production services to other companies.
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Aug 14, 2023 | Nov 17, 2023 | Day | 9/5/23-9/8/23 10/16/23-10/2/23 | CSSP-V |
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Dec 1, 2025 | Mar 13, 2025 | Day | 12/22/25-12/26/25 12/29/25-1/2/26 2/9/26-2/13/26 | CSSP-I |