• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, April 6, 2010

Schaaf Consulting, which manages affiliate marketing programs, has acquired rival firm PartnerCentric to create one of the largest outsourced program management (OPM) companies. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Between them, the two companies oversee affiliate programs, including the eBay Partner Network, 21st Century Auto Insurance, Constant Contact, SnagAJob.com, Moosejaw Mountaineering and Quicken Loans.

The merged company will be known as Schaaf-PartnerCentric and led by Schaaf Consulting co-founder CEO Brook Schaaf. PartnerCentric founder and President Linda Woods will remain as a strategic advisor. "We will be able to bring best practices of two great companies to the affiliate programs we manage and will continue to deliver innovative, indispensable program management," said Schaaf in announcing the deal Tuesday.

Brook founded Schaaf Consulting, which now has a staff of seven, with his brother Forrest in 2006. Prior to starting the firm, Brook ran multimillion-dollar affiliate programs for Zappos.com, Shoes.com and Edmunds.com.

PartnerCentric was started two years earlier by Woods, who began her career at Commission Junction before becoming an industry consultant doing business as Affiliate Goddess. Clients include 21st Century Insurance, Quicken Loans and eBay, which last year hired the company to help support the auction site's more than 100,000 affiliates. William Martin-Gill, director of Internet marketing at eBay, said in a statement PartnerCentric had helped the company develop its affiliate program by working with publishers to optimize their sites using eBay's Quality Click Pricing model.

Schaaf-PartnerCentric will be headquartered in Los Angeles.