BEVERLY — American Renal Associates, which owns and operates 192 dialysis clinics nationwide, has quietly become one of the largest employers in the sprawling Cummings Center office park.

It has grown to the point where it is now a publicly traded company, with its officials recently ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street.

The company’s CEO said its success is due to the way it is changing how dialysis clinics are operated, by partnering with local kidney specialists and putting patient care first.

“We work for the patients, we are advocates for patients,” said the company’s affable co-founder, chairman and CEO Joe Carlucci, a Beverly resident. “They are our customer, that’s who we work for.”

American Renal Associates employs approximately 400 people in Beverly, 700 in Massachusetts and 4,000 people across the United States. It has outpatient dialysis clinics in 24 states and the District of Columbia, and it partners with 347 local nephrologists, or kidney doctors. Its clinics treat more than 13,000 patients with end-stage renal disease a year.

The company’s operation in Beverly handles back office functions to support its dialysis clinics, including things such as patient admissions, billing, general accounting, human resources, and clinical and technical support.

Explosive growth

American Renal Associates saw double-digit growth last year, but Carlucci said the company does not like to sing its praises. It does have its logo on the side of 500 Cummings Center.

The company occupies almost 70,000 square feet, spread across the top three floors of the six-story office building. It outgrew its former offices on Cherry Hill Drive before becoming one of 500 Cummings Center’s first tenants several years ago.

American Renal Associates rang up $653 million in revenues in 2015, and it recently completed its initial public stock offering.

“Going public was just the next best strategic option for us,” Carlucci said. 

When the company’s stock went public on April 21, Carlucci rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange with fellow co-founder and President Syed Kamal, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President John McDonough and Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Wilcox.

“It was one of the nicest, most fun days we’ve had,” Carlucci said.

Carlucci, 62, emphasized the company’s local ties when talking about its growth.

“We are just a big employer in Beverly,” he said, “and we have a great company and we do great things for patients.”

Carlucci’s wife, Mary (Flaherty, the sister of former City Councilor Tim Flaherty), is a native of Beverly. He’s also a former six-year board member of St. John’s Prep in Danvers, where his three sons went to high school.

Built from scratch

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