10. West Monroe Partners
Kevin McCarty, President and Co-Founder of West Monroe, says that morale and employee engagement at West Monroe Partners has never been higher in the firm's 11-year history. It's hard to argue, given the fact the firm has hit a high-water mark—No. 10—in terms of its Best Firms to Work For ranking. It was ranked No. 15 last year.
The award, McCarty says, is recognition and validation of a couple of things: "The first is the soundness and relevancy of the approach we defined when we founded our firm 11 years ago, which we have continued to drive internally and into the market. We set out to build something from scratch a little different, and we have stuck to that path," he says.
"Second, this award shows it is possible to build a credible and sizeable consulting firm from the ground up, brick by brick. It demonstrates that you don't have to be a huge and well-funded entity to earn respect and recognition."
McCarty points out the firm is smaller than many of the firms it competes with but says West Monroe has become their "peer in terms of quality of people, quality of work, and strength of reputation," he says. "Ours is an entrepreneurial story, just like those of many of our clients. With the right people and the right vision you can build something special, and that is exactly what we have done."
West Monroe's revenue is up some 33 percent from this time last year and McCarty says the firm plans to continue that growth both through organic and acquisitive growth. West Monroe has drawn interest from dozens of other firms. "Growth momentum is definitely top of mind," he says.
McCarty says its West Monroe's unique go to market messaging revolving around the firm's core sub-brands and transformational change is a key differentiator. "We don't engage in staff augmentation or Band-Aid attempts—we are focused on partnering with clients committed to developing sustainable solutions to their most pressing challenges," he says. "We often say we do it 'with' our clients and not 'to' them."
Another differentiator for the firm is an internal one. At the end of 2012, West Monroe converted to an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). "This was very significant to us because it embodied our commitment to 100-percent employee ownership—a guiding principle we set out when we founded the firm 11 years ago—and all of the hard work that went into being able to take this commitment to the next level," he says. "We are very excited about the potential this offers for our people as well as our clients and proud of our ability to accomplish this in just 11 years."
WHAT'S YOUR TOP PRIORITY OVER THE NEXT 12 MONTHS?
Kevin McCarty, President and Co-founder of West Monroe, says: "Doing more important work for more important clients is our mission for this year and will continue into 2014. For the first time in West Monroe history, we are inviting all of our 50 Directors to participate in a retreat this fall. Over the course of a long weekend, we'll gather our collective experience, brain power and innovative ideas to plan the strategy for the next 12 months. Our mission has started to pay off and we are excited to continue partnering with our clients to guide them through transformation that is fundamentally changing the way they do business."
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