Fifty years ago, Centennial was little more than a few desks in a downtown Cincinnati office. There were no computers, no faxes. Resumes arrived with a stamp and a prayer. What Centennial did have, though, was a young man with persistence, a young family with faith, and a vision for helping businesses grow through people.
That young man was Mike Sipple, Sr.
When Mike first joined Centennial, he was its first employee. Only three months later, circumstances placed him in charge of helping keeping the firm alive, including the eventual passing of Centennial’s original owner. It wasn’t glamorous, and it certainly wasn’t easy. “Those early years were the hardest,” Mike remembers. “But the struggle is what shaped us. Every obstacle taught me what kind of leader God wanted me to be.”
Mike didn’t do it alone. He always had great, caring, hard-working teams, including Mary Morris and her successor Susan Sipple, who were the heart of the business – the warm welcome every client remembered, the steady hand that kept the office running, and the advisors Mike trusted most. “She wasn’t here because she was my wife,” Mike says. “She was here because she was exceptional at everything she touched. She was our ray of sunshine.”
Together, Mike, Susan, and their team shaped a business that was never just about searches and placements. It was about people and leadership. “We wanted people who cared about people,” Mike reflects. That conviction built a different kind of reputation in a cutthroat industry, and focused on trust and caring relationships in addition to financial success.
That care created lasting relationships. Many executives who first met Centennial in seasons of transition later returned as hiring leaders. They remembered how they were treated, and they knew who they could trust when it was time to build their own teams. “The most meaningful calls weren’t always about business,” Mike says. “They were from clients saying, ‘You changed my business or career or life.’ That’s the kind of legacy we’ve always wanted to leave. God has blessed us over our fifty years as we have served Him and all the people He has brought into our lives.”
For today’s leaders, especially those building organizations meant to last, the Sipple family story offers a critical reminder: success isn’t measured only in revenue or reach. It’s measured in the people who look back decades later and say, you made a difference.
Here’s what we’ve learned that matters for your leadership journey:
- Trust compounds over time. The executives you treat with respect today become the leaders who remember you tomorrow.
- People-first decisions create lasting competitive advantage. When your team knows you genuinely care, they perform at levels numbers alone can’t motivate.
- Legacy isn’t built only in financial statements. It’s built in relationships. The mark you leave isn’t just what you accomplish, it’s how you accomplish it.
As Mike and Susan see their son, Mike Jr. and his wife Amber carry this legacy forward, the throughline remains clear: success comes from caring for people, building teams with integrity, and serving leaders with excellence.
For executives facing the pressure of building the right leadership teams today, this is your reassurance: Centennial has weathered five decades of change by staying true to what matters most – putting people first. We understand the weight of the decisions you’re making because we’ve made them ourselves.
Ready to build something that lasts? Let’s start the conversation.