When Derek Jeter launched his 3,000th career hit in July—a home run at Yankee Stadium—Jack Dunn, CEO of FTI Consulting, was smiling. And it's not because he's a Yankee fan. Jeter's homerun landed near FTI Consulting's ad at Yankee Stadium. "I used to joke that when one of our new people went home for Thanksgiving and told their grandmother they worked at FTI, she had no idea who we were," Dunn says. "Now, our consultants are calling each other asking if they saw Jeter's 3,000th hit. It's pretty cool." The signage is part of a massive branding effort FTI launched earlier this year. The firm, which has been experiencing a 30 percent CAGR since its launch in 1992 when it was just a $6 million firm, appears ready for prime time. FTI's second-quarter earnings report showed revenues rose 15 percent and re-affirmed its yearly revenue forecast of $1.5 billion. And the 2,700-consultant firm has been in the middle of some of the biggest engagements in recent history, including Bush v. Gore, Bernie Madoff, Saddam Hussein trials or the Transocean gulf oil spill. Dunn sat down recently with Consulting to discuss the branding effort and the business outlook for FTI.
Consulting: So, why is now the time right for a massive branding effort at FTI?
Dunn: We're in a place where we really have made a tremendous jump-shift in our profile. We've gone from being a fairly parochial U.S.-centric business just five years ago when we competed with a bunch of smaller firms to today being a global firm that competes with the Big Four. We've entered a new playing field; we're in 22 countries when we used to be in five. Today 20 percent of our business originates outside the U.S. That's a major change for us. So, we think the time is right to bring all the great brands we've assimilated under FTI under one brand. It's important to our own people. We're looking
to have everyone under the FTI brand by Nov. 1.
Consulting: Why is it so important to your people?
Dunn: We've built half of our business through acquisitions and we've had people join us from many, many great firms, but now we're at a tipping point in our business. Up until recently, we've been the sum of our parts. My vision is that we build a brand that helps our consultants more than they help the brand. I would like them to have the flagship they deserve.
Consulting: What's been the key to your success?
Dunn: We started out in 1992 hoping we could be an alternative to the Big Four. That model caught hold and then along came Sarbanes-Oxley. That was the accelerant for us. That not only leveled the playing field but may have tipped it into our favor. What had been the private hunting preserve at the Big Four—the audit clients—became off limits.
Consulting: Many people still see FTI mainly as a restructuring firm?
Dunn: That's OK. We tried to build a company that was set for all cycles of the economy. Nothing's perfect, but the fact that we have the largest restructuring business in the U.S. kept us in very good shape while our competitors had a really rough time. Back in 2002, we were 70 or 80 percent restructuring and today we're about 25 percent.
Consulting: And when you look into the future?
Dunn: Our plan is to grow our business significantly over the next five years. Internationally, we'd like to be 30 percent or more. And I wouldn't write off restructuring. Once the 2012 election is over, I think you might see an uptick again. That's why were not dismantling our restructuring business even though it's been down recently. There's going to be a lot of balance sheet restructuring work that needs to be done, I think. The balance portfolio approach we envisioned is starting to work.
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