How it started
History
CDI Corporation was founded in Philadelphia in 1950 as Comprehensive Designers, Inc. The company provided temporary technical services to manufacturing industries, including servicing the growing automotive and defense industries. In 1956, Walter R. Garrison, an aerospace engineer with Boeing, joined the company as its Chief Engineer. In 1961, Garrison and two colleagues bought the company, and Garrison became CEO.
In 1972, the company diversified into the field of job placement by buying Management Recruiters International, a firm that focused on providing permanent management talent for clients.
In 1973, Comprehensive Designers, Inc. changed its name to CDI Corporation. The company became listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1988.
In 1991, the company began further diversification into temporary staffing services of clerical and unskilled workers by acquiring temporary placement agency Today's Staffing. By the end of 1994, the company reported over $1 billion in revenue in the three core areas of technical services, temporary services and Management Recruiters, with approximately 3,000 customers.
Combining acquisitions of engineering firms Stubbs, Overbeck & Associates, AWARE Engineering and others, CDI formed CDI Engineering Group (now CDI Engineering Solutions) in 1996.
From Wikipedia’s article on CDI Corporation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3