THE BEGINNING: DFW’S FIRST ABA OFFICE

ADDISON, TEXAS — The story of Behavioral Innovations begins in 2000 with three friends from the University of North Texas who had just earned master’s degrees in behavior analysis and completed their board certifications. Billy Edwards, Carla Edwards, and Lori Russo were among the first cohort of Board Certified Behavior Analysts in the country — the BACB had launched its certification program only in 1998 — and in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro, there was essentially no structured ABA service infrastructure for families with autistic children to access.

What the three founders set up in 2000 was not a clinic. It was a consultation office — the first entity in DFW dedicated to ABA consultation. Three years later, having watched demand compound around them, they converted to a site-based treatment program: a physical center where children could receive structured behavioral therapy in a clinical environment. That 2003 center was the first of what would eventually become more than 100.

The founders built their model around the children who were most underserved: early intervention cases, children under ten with autism or related developmental conditions, families navigating the gap between a diagnosis and the beginning of meaningful therapy. The clinical approach was center-based ABA — a format that allowed for structured, intensive, data-driven programming that home-based services could rarely match in consistency or clinical supervision. The insurance and Medicaid coverage landscape in Texas, which had passed autism insurance mandate legislation in 2007, meant that reimbursement was available for a growing patient population. The market infrastructure, in other words, was being built at the same time the founders were building their company.

THE SHORE CAPITAL YEARS: FROM 13 TO 77

For seventeen years, Behavioral Innovations grew without institutional capital. By the time Shore Capital Partners made its investment in 2017, the company had 13 centers across Texas and Oklahoma. Thirteen centers over seventeen years is not the growth curve that attracts national headlines. It is the growth curve of a company that expands when it has the clinical infrastructure to do so — BCBAs trained, operations standardized, payer relationships established — and not before.

Shore Capital Partners, the Chicago-based private equity firm led by billionaire Justin Ishbia, invests in microcap healthcare companies. Its Behavioral Innovations investment followed its standard playbook: bring in professional management, build the operational infrastructure for rapid de novo clinic development, and execute. Dan Nicholson joined as part of the Shore Capital partnership; Dino Eliopoulos was installed as CEO.

The results under Eliopoulos were significant. From 13 centers at the Shore Capital entry point to 77 at exit, the company opened 64 new clinics under his leadership — creating more than 2,300 jobs across Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado. The clinical model — center-based, BCBA-supervised, focused on children under ten — remained consistent throughout. What Shore Capital changed was the velocity of the build.

“Under Eliopoulos’ leadership, Behavioral Innovations opened 64 new clinics and created more than 2,300 new jobs in Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado.”

By 2023, the growth rate was attracting outside notice. Inc. magazine ranked Behavioral Innovations among the fastest-growing private companies in the United States in its annual 5000 list — a ranking it would achieve again in 2024, placing 2,291st nationally and in the top 200 among healthcare services companies. The recognition reflected a company that had been running at a pace its industry peers would have recognized immediately, had they been paying attention to the Southwest.

2000 — Billy Edwards, Carla Edwards, and Lori Russo open DFW’s first ABA consultation office.

2003 — Expand to first site-based treatment center in Dallas.

2017 — Shore Capital Partners invests; Dan Nicholson joins; Dino Eliopoulos becomes CEO. 13 centers at time of investment.

2023 — Named Inc. 5000 fastest-growing company; first Colorado location opens. Approximately 70 centers.

May 2024 — Tenex Capital Management acquires from Shore — largest ABA deal of 2024. 77 centers at time of sale.

August 2024 — Named Inc. 5000 fastest-growing for second consecutive year. 80+ centers.

2025 — East Coast expansion: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina. 25th anniversary. 100+ centers.

2026 — CareCredit financing partnership launched; new office openings in TX and VA.

THE TENEX DEAL: LARGEST ABA TRANSACTION OF 2024

Shore Capital announced the sale of Behavioral Innovations to Tenex Capital Management in June 2024. Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal was described by analysts as the largest ABA platform transaction to close in 2024 — the sector’s M&A market had been slowed by high interest rates and valuation disputes since the 2021–2022 peak, and the BI sale represented both the clearing of pent-up deal pressure and a data point on where buyer appetite for established regional platforms still existed.

Tenex Capital Management is a New York-based private equity firm that invests in middle-market companies across industries including healthcare, targeting businesses with EBITDA between $3 million and $40 million. Behavioral Innovations was Tenex’s first investment in the ABA sector. At the time of announcement, almost 80 percent of all locations — 63 of 77 — were in Texas. Tenex closed its third fund in 2020 at $1.2 billion.

At entry, Behavioral Innovations employed more than 1,000 people and was generating revenues that market analysts estimated in excess of $100 million annually. Carla Edwards, Co-Founder and Chief Clinical Officer, noted in public statements that the company’s primary focus since 2000 had always been clinical care — and that the change in ownership was intended to extend that focus into new geographies, not to alter the model that had produced 25 years of growth.

THE EAST COAST PUSH AND THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY

Under Tenex, Behavioral Innovations has executed the geographic pivot that its prior PE owners had not attempted: leaving the Southwest for the first time. New centers opened in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina in 2024 and 2025, establishing the company’s first East Coast presence. The first East Coast location launched at The Landing at Cannon Branch in Manassas, Virginia; North Carolina expansions followed into Charlotte and the Raleigh-Durham market; Baltimore-Washington centers came online in Maryland.

In January 2025, the company celebrated its 25th anniversary. The milestone press materials emphasized the number that matters most competitively: more than 100 locations across six states, a network that ranks among the ten largest ABA provider organizations in the United States by clinic count. The founders — Carla Edwards, who serves as Chief Clinical Officer, and Lori Russo, who serves as Vice President of Learning and Development — remain active in the organization.

February 2026 brought the company’s most widely noticed commercial announcement to date outside its home markets: a partnership with CareCredit, the health and wellness financing platform, described as the first time CareCredit had partnered with a leading ABA provider. The arrangement allows families to finance ABA therapy costs through CareCredit’s credit product — a meaningful access tool for families whose insurance authorizations cover only a portion of recommended service hours.

THE PROFILE QUESTION: WHY DOESN’T ANYONE KNOW THIS COMPANY?

At 100-plus clinics, Behavioral Innovations is a large company by virtually any standard of comparison in the ABA sector. It is larger by location count than Hopebridge at the time of its Warburg Pincus investment, comparable to BlueSprig at the time of the KKR deal, and significantly larger than dozens of PE-backed platforms that have received extensive national coverage. Yet outside of Texas, Oklahoma, and to a lesser extent Colorado, the company is almost entirely absent from the national industry conversation.

The explanation is partly geographic and partly structural. Texas is a large enough market — and sufficiently self-contained in its regulatory, payer, and advocacy ecosystems — that a company with 60-plus locations concentrated in the state can sustain growth indefinitely without needing the national deal community’s attention. The company’s two PE owners have both been middle-market firms without the brand recognition of a KKR or a Thomas H. Lee Partners. And Behavioral Innovations has never raised venture capital, never generated a funding announcement with a named valuation, and has not been the subject of litigation that attracted media attention.

What it has done is build. From a three-person consultation office in Dallas to a 100-clinic multistate platform in 25 years, without the leverage of a national brand or institutional backing until 2017, represents a kind of operational achievement that the ABA industry’s deal-focused coverage apparatus is structurally unlikely to reward. The company’s story is the story of the field itself: a behavioral science discipline that grew into a healthcare industry, largely in the middle of the country, largely away from the coasts, and largely without anyone outside the sector paying attention.

AT A GLANCE

Company: Behavioral Innovations, Inc.
CEO: Ed Maher
CCO: Carla Edwards, BCBA (Co-Founder)
VP Learning & Dev.: Lori Russo, BCBA (Co-Founder)
Third Co-Founder: Billy Edwards, BCBA
Headquarters: Addison, Texas
Founded: 2000 (DFW’s first ABA consultation office); first site-based center 2003
Founders’ Credentials: Among the first cohort of Board Certified Behavior Analysts in the U.S. (BACB certification launched 1998); M.S. Behavior Analysis, University of North Texas
Current Owner: Tenex Capital Management, New York (acquired June 2024 — largest ABA platform transaction of 2024)
Prior PE Owner: Shore Capital Partners, Chicago (2017–2024; Justin Ishbia)
Locations: 100+ centers across 6 states (TX, OK, CO, MD, VA, NC)
Texas Concentration: 63 of 77 centers at Tenex acquisition (~80%); majority still in TX
Employees: 1,000+ (at time of Tenex acquisition)
Revenue: Estimated $100M+ annually
Growth Under Shore: 13 centers → 77 centers (2017–2024); 64 new clinics; 2,300+ jobs created
East Coast Expansion: First out-of-Southwest locations: Manassas, VA; Charlotte & Raleigh-Durham, NC; Baltimore-Washington, MD (2024–2025)
Clinical Model: Center-based ABA; BCBA-supervised; focused on early intervention for children under 10; individualized treatment plans & parent education
Inc. 5000: Ranked 2023 & 2024 (No. 2,291 nationally in 2024; top 200 in healthcare services)
CareCredit Partnership: February 2026 — first CareCredit partnership with a leading ABA provider; ABA therapy financing for families
Tenex Fund: Fund III closed 2020 at $1.2B; middle-market focus (EBITDA $3M–$40M); first ABA sector investment
25th Anniversary: January 2025; tens of thousands of children served since founding
Annual Conference: ACE (Annual Clinical Education); 300+ clinicians; 12 expert speakers

CONTACT & LINKS

Company: Behavioral Innovations, Inc.
CEO: Ed Maher
CCO: Carla Edwards, BCBA (Co-Founder)
VP L&D: Lori Russo, BCBA (Co-Founder)
Headquarters: Addison, Texas
Founded: 2000 (Dallas-Fort Worth)
Owner: Tenex Capital Management (acq. June 2024)
Prior PE: Shore Capital Partners (2017–2024)
Locations: 100+ centers in TX, OK, CO, MD, VA, NC
Website: behavioral-innovations.com