i4cp Announces Strategic Investment from M|C Partners
Terry Waters appointed new CEO
SEATTLE, April 8, 2025 – The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) today announced a strategic investment from M|C Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm focused on businesses in the technology services and digital infrastructure sectors. The investment will support additional growth opportunities for i4cp, the leading authority on next practices in human capital.
Founded in 2007, i4cp produces more HR-related research than any other firm in the world. The company provides thought leadership and enables peer interactions that help HR teams from leading enterprises navigate a complex and evolving set of challenges, ultimately saving time and delivering better outcomes for the employees that they serve. Through its subscription model i4cp has been consistently growing over the last several years and recently celebrated its 8th year on the Inc. 5000 list of the nation’s fastest-growing companies.
“We’re excited to join forces with M|C Partners as we enter the next phase of growth for i4cp,” said Kevin Oakes, i4cp’s co-founder. “We’re fortunate to have so many high-performance organizations in our membership, and it’s rewarding to see the impact our research and community has on their organizational culture, workforce productivity, and ultimately market performance. That’s a testament to the expertise and diligence of our entire team, and I look forward to continuing to invest in our offering and scaling to serve more organizations.”
As part of the growth plan, the company also announced that Terry Waters will be appointed CEO and a member of the i4cp Board of Directors to guide the company in its next phase. Waters is an experienced CEO, business operator, and go-to-market strategist. His extensive experience in the industry includes CEO of Yankee Group and President for Evanta before its sale to the Corporate Executive Board (CEB). Before that, Waters spent 18 years at Gartner (NYSE: IT) in various leadership roles. Waters started his career in sales at Xerox Corporation after graduating from the College of the Holy Cross.
Oakes will remain with the company in a leadership and executive capacity focused on continuing i4cp’s human capital thought leadership, expanding the firm’s advisory offerings, partnering with the firm’s customers on strategic culture and talent issues, and as a member of the Board of Directors.
“I am honored to join i4cp as CEO. Today, as enterprises grapple with strategic human capital issues such as the impact of GenAI on their workers, managing hybrid teams and on delivering a great employee experience, i4cp has a critical role to play partnering with and supporting CHROs and their leadership teams,” said Terry Waters. “I am excited to partner with Kevin as well as work with the incredible team at i4cp to expand and enhance our offerings and stay at the forefront of human capital next practices to guide our customers.”
“With Kevin’s vision and leadership for nearly two decades, i4cp has established itself as a differentiated leader in the delivery of HR research, advisory and membership services – focused on real world challenges and sharing of next practices,” said Julia Senior, Partner at M|C Partners. “We see tremendous opportunity to bring i4cp’s thought leadership, advisory and community offerings to even more organizations. Terry’s background scaling information services businesses makes him ideally suited for this opportunity and we look forward to partnering with Terry, Kevin and the rest of the i4cp team.”
Intrepid Investment Bankers acted as the financial advisor to i4cp and Cooley served as legal counsel to the Company. Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP served as legal counsel for M|C Partners.
For more information on i4cp please visit www.i4cp.com. For more information on M|C Partners please visit https://mcpartners.com.
About i4cp
i4cp is the leading authority on next practices in human capital. We produce more research than any other human capital research firm in the world, and many of the world’s most prominent organizations and HR leaders turn to i4cp to better capitalize on emerging workforce trends. Supported by a powerful community of human capital practitioners, we provide insights that help organizations better anticipate, adapt, and act in a constantly changing business environment.
About M|C Partners
M|C Partners is a private equity firm focused on small and mid-size businesses in the digital infrastructure and technology services sectors. For more than three decades M|C Partners has invested $3.0 billion of capital in over 150 companies, leveraging its deep industry expertise to understand long-term secular trends and identify growth opportunities. The firm is currently investing its ninth fund, partnering with promising companies and leadership teams to support, scale, and improve operations and maximize value.