Mike Morroni, Chief Revenue Officer, H&CO

Invest: spoke with Mike Morroni, Chief Revenue Officer at H&CO, about how the firm evaluates new markets, helps clients navigate shifting regulations, and balances global strategy with local realities. “To give clients an advantage in our space, you have to enjoy the nuances of the work, because the details matter and every country is different,” Morroni said.

How do you prioritize new markets for H&CO’s services, and what factors are most important when evaluating growth opportunities?

We prioritize from two angles: where our clients are seeing opportunity and where we, as H&CO, need to be positioned to support them. Our core role is helping companies and investors expand anywhere in the world, so we follow the demand signals coming from clients while also looking ahead to where investment interest is building.

There’s also a practical reality: sometimes a single client has an initiative in a country that is not a mainstream destination for other clients, but we still support that expansion. The priority is understanding what the market is telling us, anticipating where companies and investors want to go next, and making sure we can execute with local expertise when a client is ready to move.

H&CO has expanded significantly over the years. What does global growth look like for the organization today, and how do you think about where to expand next?

H&CO was founded in Miami more than 30 years ago, and today we support clients in over 40 countries. We help clients go inbound into those markets, and we also help clients who are already in those markets go outbound into other parts of the world, including the U.S. and Miami.

For expansion priorities, part of the work is strengthening what we can deliver in places where we already operate. In return, clients receive broader support across what we do, including accounting and tax, technology, human capital, entity management, and other services that aid in their success. The other part is identifying countries where we have not yet established ourselves and working with partners, but where we know there is rising demand from our client base. If our clients are increasingly looking to enter a market, we want to be ready with the global platform and local capability to support them.

What trends are you seeing in Latin America, including markets like Argentina and Brazil?

The biggest focus we’ve seen in the last year is from clients interested in growing their businesses in Brazil and Mexico. For clients focused on access to talent, Colombia and Costa Rica continue to be popular destinations as well. Other markets where we see interest rising are Argentina and Chile. More than market demand and resources go into these decisions. For example, with Argentina, many companies wanted to see a clearer track record before investing or reinvesting.

The activity of companies entering Latin America spans different sectors of business. It can be retail, corporations entering to support their clients, and service centers as well. The key is helping them expand into a country with clarity on what success looks like and how to help them achieve that.

H&CO serves clients ranging from small businesses to large corporations. How do you tailor services to meet different needs across industries and geographies?

Our focus is often on helping small and mid-market companies achieve their goals and compete in global markets. Those businesses may not have internal teams in every country, so they need support not only to enter a market, but also to operate, hire, comply, and scale.

Larger companies may also need the same level of support depending on their experience in a region. A large company may be established globally but still be entering only its first few countries in Latin America, for example. In that scenario, they often want more hands-on guidance and local support than they would in a market where they already know the landscape.

We also work with investors, including high-net-worth individuals and families. In Miami, many operate similarly to companies because they are organized to invest across markets. Often, they have built businesses across countries and then choose Miami as a place to invest personally or commercially. That connection between cross-border business and Miami investment is a meaningful part of what we see.

How has H&CO adapted to the increasing complexity of international regulations and compliance requirements? What do you do to stay ahead of changes?

Every country has different rules: how you incorporate, the legal basis for operating, taxation, payroll, and employment requirements. Some markets are more flexible; others have strict rules or high penalties for noncompliance that can surprise a company if they are not prepared.

There are also global initiatives pushing toward more structure, but the real-world impact depends on where a company operates and whether certain rules apply. Some changes are relevant mainly to large organizations, while many mid-market companies face a different set of issues that are more local than global.

A major part of our role is helping clients cut through the noise and focus on what is actually happening. People hear about potential changes through headlines, political statements, or general commentary, and sometimes those ideas are not enacted, or the implementation looks different from the initial discussion. We translate that into practical guidance: what has changed, what is likely to change, and what a company should do now to stay compliant, operate effectively, and achieve their goals.

How is H&CO leveraging technology and innovation to enhance services, particularly for international clients?

Technology is a core pillar because companies need systems that work across markets. A challenge is that many platforms are either built for the U.S. market or not always localized for other countries. Even when they are, clients often need help configuring systems to support local compliance, filings, and reporting. You either end up with global platforms without local functionality or local platforms that don’t give a global view. H&CO’s global platform solves both.

We start by understanding a client’s goals and operating model, then identify solutions that can work at headquarters and locally. We support implementation and configuration so the technology fits how the business runs and meets local requirements. We also build our own technology in areas where we have expertise to give visibility to decision-makers, streamline processes, save time, and create practical value for clients.

Your end-to-end solutions are notable. How do your advisory services help clients beyond tax compliance into strategy and growth?

Compliance is essential. Payroll, filings, and local registrations are foundational for operating in a country. But we start with a broader question: what is the client trying to achieve in that market?

Some clients are expanding to drive sales and access customers. Others are expanding to access labor, whether for technical talent, shared services, or call center operations. In many cases, a client is expanding because their own customer needs them to be set up in a country by a specific date, so timing and execution become critical.

Once we understand the goal, we can connect the right steps and resources to help them succeed. Sometimes, that is direct support from our teams. Sometimes it is coordinating with partners to fill gaps. The key is helping clients avoid basic misses that can derail progress. Incorporation alone is not a success if the company cannot hire, cannot operate, or is not registered properly for what it actually needs to do.

Looking ahead, what do you see as the biggest opportunities and challenges for global expansion over the next three to five years?

The opportunity is that demand now travels faster than ever. People see products and services through social media and professional networks, spreading awareness across borders instantaneously. In practice, this means you no longer need to be a massive company to have international interest. H&CO’s place in that ecosystem is to provide a global platform that allows companies to access these markets and grow across them.

The biggest challenge is that operating globally is becoming more complex, not less. Regulations, mobility, trade dynamics, and local compliance can change, slowing decision-making. With the right partner, companies can turn the complexity into an advantage by getting ahead of their competition. To give clients an advantage in our space, you must enjoy the nuances of the work, because the details matter and every country is different.

When companies have the right support, they can move forward with more confidence and avoid letting uncertainty become paralysis.

We also see culture as a major factor that is underestimated. Companies need to understand their own working culture and the local culture in the market they are entering, then find a workable middle ground. If a company expects nonstop availability but enters a market where norms or rules limit hours, that mismatch can create operational problems.

Even routine business processes can be cultural. Some markets expect openness and detailed information for things like banking, while others are more conservative with data. A company can lose time or an opportunity if it approaches a local process with assumptions that do not match the local environment.

What is the connection between Miami and H&CO’s work in global expansion, and what makes the market distinctive?

Miami has a higher concentration of internationally minded decision-makers than many other U.S. markets. The Latin America connection is real, but it is broader than that, and you see businesses and investors from Europe and Asia as well. That creates a strong ecosystem of internationally minded professionals, including law firms, banks, and advisors, who are accustomed to cross-border needs and who collaborate to support international clients.

Over the last decade, that ecosystem has matured. You see more decision-makers based in Miami and more professional services investment, which signals that companies and clients are building a lasting presence, not just passing through. For H&CO, Miami is important not only for the client base, but also for partnerships and alliances that help us serve clients effectively.

Finally, global expansion coming from Miami has an impact beyond the company itself. When businesses invest across borders, they support job creation and economic growth in the markets where they operate. We view that as part of the broader value of helping clients expand successfully and responsibly.