Jim Kent began his career as a consulting manager in 1984 with Moody, O'Sullivan & Co. while completing his Master of Business Administration degree at Southern New Hampshire University. He completed his MBA in 1987 and founded his own business consulting and software solutions company, the Kent Group. The firm grew to include offices in the North and Southeast regions of the USA . Exact acquired the Kent Group in September 2001 and Jim Kent was appointed in 2002 as General Manager of the Macola division within Exact Software North America before being appointed Group Director of Exact Software North America in 2005.