Important Facts About The CPI Group:

• Founded in 1983, two and a half decades of staffing and HR advisory experience.
• Local and regional network of senior level, SHRM Certified HR consultants and professionally certified trainers.
• Extensive experience in the aerospace, steel and manufacturing industries.
• Serving the private sector organizations, as well as federal and state agencies and their prime contractors.
• Our organization and its leadership are very active in the communities we serve, and have diverse backgrounds in HR, entrepreneurial small businesses and large organizational operations.
• Successfully managed the largest staffing ramp-up in U.S. Government history under a contract with The United States Department of Labor in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
• Owned by Mark Smith, sole shareholder and company president, a service-connected disabled U.S. veteran.
• In 2007, CPI received national recognition in ranking 242nd out of 500 companies in the Inc. Magazine Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Companies in the U.S.—out of over 100,000 companies making application.
• In 2008, named to Mississippi Business Journal’s Fast 40: Mississippi's Fastest Growing Companies—ranking 3rd overall.
• CPI is the first business in Mississippi to be recognized as Small Business of the Year in both categories (The Governor’s Cup and The Mississippi Business Journal) in the same year.

Community Involvement

Community involvement is a major priority for The CPI Group. Our staff is active in civic and professional associations, both locally and abroad. Some of the organizations and programs our staff and management support include:

• Golden Triangle Human Resources Association
• Golden Triangle Employment Exposition
• Partners in Progress Mentor with Columbus Municipal School District
• Ability Works (MS Dept. of Rehabilitation)
• National Society for Human Resources Management
• Koinonia and North Mississippi Emmaus Communities
• Columbus-Lowndes Development Link – The Trust Founding Member
• Main Street Columbus, Inc.
• Greater Starkville Development Partnership
• Mark Mitchell Shelter for Children
• Muscular Dystrophy Association
• Gideon’s International Bible Placement Fund
• American Heart Association
• Victory Christian Academy
• Annunciation Catholic School
• Relay for Life
• Alzheimer’s Association
• Student Undergraduate Pilot Training Pilot Partner
• Camp Rising Sun
• Camp Henry Pratt
• Salvation Army
• Columbus Police Explorers
• Columbus Lowndes Political Action Committee
• Mississippi Armed Forces Museum at Camp Shelby
• The United Way
• Christmas Stockings for Soldiers
• Cell Phones for Soldiers
• The USO
• Public Relations Association of Mississippi
• Soroptimist International
• East Mississippi Community College
• Mississippi Economic Council
• Mississippi Economic Council (MEC) Board of Governors
• Market Street Festival
• Grillin’ on the River, Mississippi BBQ Championship
• Mississippi Center for Public Policy
• Disabled American Veterans
• MEC's Leadership Mississippi
• Founder and Corporate Sponsor for Salute to Lowndes County's Finest