Thomas (Tom) L. Cardella, Chief Executive Officer, has been a pioneer and successful entrepreneur in the Contact Center industry for 30 years. He has two successful start-ups behind him. His first company, Access Direct, founded in 1995, grew to 2200 employees in five years, and was sold to Interactive Corp (IAC) in 2000. Access Direct was #8 on the Inc 500 list in 2000, and Tom Cardella was an E&Y Regional Winner in 1998. Tom was an E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award finalist in 2011, 2019, and 2020. In 2021, Tom earned the People Focused CEO of the Year Bronze Stevie Award from the International Business Awards and the Contact Center Leader of the Year Gold Award from the Stevie’s as well.

After selling Access Direct, Tom went on to run PRC LLC, one of Interactive Corp (IAC) companies, with 15,000 employees around the world. In 2007, he founded TLC Associates. While Tom is the only investor in TLC Associates, he issued over 33% of the company stock to the initial leadership team and other employees.

TLC Associates operates BPO centers in seven communities in the United States, and also maintains international operations in India, The Dominican Republic, and The Philippines. The Company employs approximately 3,500 team members globally Fortune 1000 clients.

Tom completed his Executive MBA at the University of Iowa. He is actively involved as an Adjunct Professor at The University of Iowa College of Business. Tom also actively supports and is involved with charitable organizations such as Ronald McDonald House, Special Olympics, Big Brother Big Sisters, and other organizations.

TLC Associates is a certified Veteran-owned business by the National Veteran Business Development Council (NVBDC) based on Tom’s military service.