Scaling Operations and Integration in a Growing A/E/C Firm

Q&A with Carla Driver, Chief Operating Officer, Core States Group

WEST CHESTER, Pa. ― Core States Group is an industry-leading architecture, engineering, and construction (A/E/C) firm trusted by the world’s most notable brands. When the company announced the promotion of Carla Driver to Chief Operating Officer in August 2025, the goal was clear: bring stronger operational discipline and alignment to a rapidly growing, integrated A/E/C firm with 24 offices across the United States and Canada.

Across the industry, firms are focused on scaling through expansion, acquisition, and outside investment, as well as new tools and systems. The challenge is to make sure growth creates greater capability, not greater complexity. Driver’s work at Core States Group is centered on closing the gap between strategy and operational execution by strengthening leadership, promoting accountability, improving consistency, and ensuring growth does not come at the expense of employee culture or client service.

Nearly one year in, Driver offers her COO perspective on the actions she has taken and the impact she is aiming to achieve.

Q: Core States Group serves a range of clients, from national multisite programs to projects requiring local civil engineering expertise. What are the biggest challenges in scaling a nationwide, integrated A/E/C model?

Carla Driver: The biggest issue is consistency. Different offices and disciplines bring different ways of working. If you do not address that, you end up with fragmentation instead of integration.

In order to improve coordination and execution across our teams, I’ve been focused on a client-centered approach to connecting growth and operations. One way we are doing that is by developing in-house tools and processes to improve analytics, decision-making, and cross-team alignment, so we continue to be the obvious choice for our clients both nationally and regionally.

Q: As Core States Group continues to grow, how do you make sure performance, culture, and client service scale together?

Carla Driver: If you are disciplined operationally and invested in your people, you can drive performance without losing engagement. We are committed to clear and transparent communication because when people do not understand how decisions are made or what is expected, that is when culture starts to erode. Our core value of service underscores everything we do, and we want everyone to be excited about the success we’re building together with our clients.

Q: How do you think about using AI tools without losing the human judgment that client service depends on?

Carla Driver: AI is most valuable when it strengthens judgment, not when it replaces it. We think about AI tools as a way to remove friction, improve speed, and collect information. But client service still depends on people who understand context, risk, and relationships. The goal is not to automate judgment. The goal is to give our professionals more capacity to apply it where it matters most.

Q: As a platform company that continues to grow through acquisition, what do you prioritize from an operations standpoint?

Carla Driver: A lot of firms think acquisition is the hard part. It is not. We have learned that operational integration is where things succeed or fail. Core States Group is now building scalable operating systems that incorporate best practices from the companies we acquire to create an even stronger platform.

Q: Why is strengthening leadership essential to effective operations?

Carla Driver: A lot of growing firms underestimate how much leadership structure matters. You cannot scale on informal alignment. It breaks down quickly.

We have been intentional about putting the right people in place and being very clear about expectations. Accountability is a big part of that, but so is mentorship. If you are not developing leaders as you grow, you are creating gaps you will feel later.

Additionally, this past November, I helped produce and lead a first-of-its-kind company leadership summit that built stronger alignment across our business lines. Being in the same room enabled incredible breakthroughs as we looked toward future growth. We are excited to bring the leadership team together again later this year, building on our momentum and driving both individual and collective success.