The Claro Group

Managing directors Venanzio Arquilla (left) and Mark Hargis.

Legacy means a lot to the founding partners at The Claro Group—the roots of which stemmed from working together at Arthur Andersen Consulting. When the company went bust in 2002, the future founders went on to other consulting firms, but longed to get back to what they liked about Andersen. So they created The Claro Group in 2005, where the goal was to create an environment where a group ran and owned the company and its team could eventually take their places as the owners of the business.


“We wanted to create a firm where we could control our own destiny and focus on things that mattered to us the most—the clients and the people,” says managing director George Hansen. “We’re one hundred percent owner operated, meaning that the senior partners are the only owners of the firm—there are no third-party financial interests. If you’re public or have third-party investors that’s just another entity that has the power, and they are the ones who should matter the least in a consulting firm.” As a result, the firm is flexible in dealing with clients in terms of adopting fee structures and other customizable options.


Clients also can expect a wealth of experience from Claro, which provides financial and management consulting services in three core areas: Insurance claims, healthcare revenue cycle consulting, and strategic sourcing and supply chain consulting as most of the team has years of experience to parcel out. And while you’re not going to find a CEO, there’s no lack of leadership: The managing directors run the show as a group, with two senior members assigned to almost every client engagement to supply the best experience to each situation.

“We really understand our clients. With insurance, we understand how to work with insurance companies to get the insured what they are entitled to whether it’s the largest [Hurricane] Katrina claim or large asbestos claims,” says managing director Venanzio Arquilla. “We take the knowledge we have in each of the three core areas to make an impact which is really powerful.” It’s that kind of benchmarking that helped an international benefits consulting firm reduce its employee healthcare costs by 15 to 20 percent by working with Claro.

Claro’s business model also helps it attract and retain top employees by linking compensation to performance and providing time and work solutions to accommodate people’s lifestyles. “We’re very much focused on our people having a good, flexible place to work,” says managing director Mark Hargis. “We want them to get the work done and have it be high quality—how they do it or where [they do it] is less important. They need to be part of a community, but if they have things they need to get done in their personal life, we accommodate and work around that. Then we link and reward their performance based on how they do and how the firm does.”

The strategy works as it brought Claro 56 percent growth last year to $25 million in revenue. And while all growth is good, the firm’s leaders don’t want to grow just for the sake of it. “We want to continue looking for ways to take our skills and apply them to client situations, which helps clients solve problems and make money or save money—ultimately leading to more business,” Hargis says.

Claro is in Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles now, and Hansen and Arquilla say they plan to expand further by launching in New York this year, as well as adding 20 more consultants.

But even looking forward, the firm’s founders don’t forget their roots. “We were fortunate to work together prior and we all felt strongly that there were good attributes at Andersen,” Hargis says. “That gave us a common bond to build off of. We wouldn’t have gotten to where we are without it.”