Founded in 1974 out of the back of a family station wagon, Group O has grown from a small, Hispanic family-owned packaging company into a premier business process outsourcing enterprise trusted by Fortune 500 clients across the globe. Headquartered in Milan, Illinois, with major operations spanning Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Texas, and Mexico, we are powered by more than 1,000 professionals who bring deep expertise across industries and disciplines. Still privately held and family owned by the Ontiveros family, we reached $500 million in annual sales and have spent five decades expanding capabilities, investing in technology, and growing alongside the customers we serve. In 2024, we proudly celebrated our 50th anniversary — a testament to what is possible when a company stays relentlessly focused on doing what's right for its clients, its people, and its communities.

We are the professionals who show up every day committed to making tomorrow better than today. Group O traces its roots to second-generation Mexican-American immigrant Bob Ontiveros, who launched Bi-State Packaging with nothing but determination and a first Fortune 500 client, John Deere, secured in that very first year. That founding spirit, practical, hands-on, and fiercely committed to quality, still defines who we are. Our 1,000-plus employees bring diverse backgrounds and disciplines together under one roof, functioning not as a vendor but as a true extension of our clients' teams. We are a certified Minority Business Enterprise, an NMSDC National Minority Supplier of the Year, a graduate of Nike's Diverse Supplier Development Program and Apple's Impact Accelerator, and one of only 82 nationally certified NMSDC Corporate Plus members. Across every service line and every engagement, we remain the same company Bob built: privately held, family owned, and motivated by the belief that everyone wins when people get an opportunity to show what they can do.

Group O specializes in four interconnected practice areas that allow clients to consolidate partners, reduce complexity, and drive measurable results from a single accountable source. In Supply Chain and 3PL, we manage operations from program oversight through kitting, fulfillment, inventory, returns, contract manufacturing, volume filling, and GNFR ordering portals, supported by integrated warehouse management systems and real-time analytics. In Packaging, we bring 50-plus years of optimization expertise to secondary and tertiary packaging materials, automation systems, load containment, ISTA-certified performance testing, sustainability programs, and our proprietary SMART Audit® — a data-driven evaluation that reduces material usage and lowers total cost of ownership without compromising product protection. In Incentive Marketing, we design and operate end-to-end rewards, rebates, channel incentives, consumer promotions, and employee recognition programs through our O-vations™ platform, backed by U.S.-based omni-channel customer care, dedicated program management, AI-assisted fraud prevention, and Microsoft Power BI analytics. And in Device Lifecycle Management, we handle kitting, testing, fulfillment, returns, and dispositioning to ensure quality control and efficient handling of mobile and connected devices throughout their entire lifecycle.

Everything we do at Group O flows from a single guiding philosophy: making tomorrow better than today. For our clients, that means helping Fortune 500 companies turn their most complex business challenges into centers of profitability and efficiency — every program, every audit, every shipment, every reward delivered is an opportunity to improve on what came before. For our people, it means investing in a diverse workforce where more than 52% of employees come from diverse backgrounds and where continuous learning is a lived value, not a talking point. For our communities, it means building on the legacy of founder Bob Ontiveros, who believed that everyone wins when people get an opportunity to show what they can do, and who put that belief into action through scholarships, health centers, youth organizations, and a lifelong commitment to the Quad Cities. And for our planet, it means setting science-based greenhouse gas reduction targets, partnering with sustainability coalitions, and supporting clients' own environmental ambitions through smarter packaging, recycling programs, and responsible sourcing — because the world our children inherit depends on the decisions we make today.

Continuous improvement is not a program at Group O — it is how we operate. We hold ourselves to the highest standards of ethical conduct, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship, and we expect the same from every supplier and partner in our ecosystem, as codified in our Supplier Code of Conduct. We believe in total operational and cost transparency: clients should always know where things stand, what the data says, and what we are doing to make performance better tomorrow than it is today. We are committed to ensuring a safe work environment, retaining and rewarding our talent, and encouraging community service as a natural extension of who we are. Quality is not incidental — it is earned through certifications like ISO 9001, ISO 27001, and SSAE 18, through 34 Caterpillar SQEP certifications including one Platinum, and through being recognized as a supplier of the year by clients who choose from tens of thousands of options. Long-term partnerships are the measure of our values in action, and relationships like those with John Deere, AT&T, PepsiCo, Caterpillar, and Michelin — some spanning decades — are the evidence we point to.

Group O simplifies what others complicate. When supply chains become fragmented, packaging costs spiral, incentive programs stall, or device operations lose visibility, we act as a single, accountable partner that consolidates vendors, integrates systems, and brings structure to complexity — all while helping clients meet their diversity spending goals. As a certified Minority Business Enterprise, choosing Group O allows dozens of companies across automotive, pharma, telecom, consumer packaged goods, and manufacturing to count meaningful tier 1 and tier 2 supplier diversity spend. Our O-vations™ platform can launch incentive programs in as little as 30 days. Our SMART Audit® delivers measurable cost reduction without sacrificing product protection. Our supply chain technology provides real-time inventory visibility, order accuracy, and actionable analytics that support better decision-making at every stage. And our U.S.-based customer care teams, dedicated program managers, and hands-on engineers do not just manage transactions — they become part of your team. With 50 years of experience, a track record validated by client awards from Vistra, Caterpillar, MillerCoors, Pella, and a national retail giant, and operations that adapt to the changing needs of global enterprises, Group O is the partner brands rely on.

Group O recognizes that environmental stewardship is not an add-on — it is integral to every service we provide and every decision we make. We operate under a Zero Waste Ideology committed to reducing our own carbon footprint while actively supporting our clients' sustainability initiatives. Our science-based targets, established in alignment with the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi), call for a 63% reduction in absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2033 using 2018 as the base year, a 37.5% reduction in absolute Scope 3 emissions in the same timeframe, and net zero emissions from our operations by 2050. We go well beyond regulatory requirements, measuring and communicating progress transparently through our published GRI Report. In our packaging practice, we help clients like Nestlé and Clorox reduce packaging material usage through our SMART Audit®, support PepsiCo's Recycle Rally recycling program, facilitate post-consumer recycled (PCR) material adoption, and advance Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) compliance. Our Packaging division is a member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition. We also offer an online catalog of sustainable materials and provide clients with the data, optimization strategies, and automation solutions needed to lower environmental impact across their secondary and tertiary packaging — because protecting the earth and protecting business performance are not competing goals.

Community involvement has always been part of the DNA of Group O, not a corporate initiative but a personal conviction that traces back to our founder, Bob Ontiveros. A second-generation Mexican-American immigrant from the Floreciente neighborhood of the Quad Cities, Bob never forgot where he came from. After stepping back from day-to-day leadership, he financed and raised money for the neighborhood's Community Health Center and the Moline Boys and Girls Club, whose Teen Center was renamed the Ontiveros Teen Center in his honor in 2019. In 2016, he funded Mercado on Fifth, a weekly summer night market and 501(c)3 non-profit that serves as a resource and catalyst for minority entrepreneurs — helping launch and grow more than 60 new businesses since its inception. Bob was also the driving force behind the founding of the Quad Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and together with his wife Blenda, provided scholarships to Hispanic students and donated $1 million to Blackhawk College in 2020. Group O carries that legacy forward: our employees contribute hundreds of volunteer hours annually to organizations including Junior Achievement, United Way, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Mississippi Valley, and Group O sponsors the organization's annual Golf Invitational. We believe community involvement is a critical component of sustainability and part of our ethical responsibility.

Diversity is not a metric Group O tracks once a year — it is a lived reality at every level of our organization. As a 100% Hispanic-owned certified Minority Business Enterprise, we maintain a workforce in which more than 52% of employees — across all roles, locations, and disciplines — come from diverse backgrounds, with 43% of staff identifying as ethnically diverse. We are one of only 82 nationally certified NMSDC Corporate Plus members, and we have been named National Minority Supplier of the Year by the National Minority Supplier Development Council. As graduates of Nike's Diverse Supplier Development Program and Apple's Impact Accelerator, we are committed to continuous improvement and learning in our own diversity journey. We also recognize that our scale gives us the power to help clients meet their diversity spending goals: Group O helps dozens of businesses across automotive, pharma, telecom, consumer packaged goods, and manufacturing industries achieve meaningful tier 1 and tier 2 supplier diversity spend. Our global network of diverse preferred vendors and suppliers reflects the same philosophy — that working with suppliers who mirror the communities they serve drives innovation, strengthens competition, improves quality, and cuts operational costs. Diversity, for us, is both the right thing to do and a competitive advantage.