The 2018 Best Small Firms to Work For: AArete

Consulting Service Lines:  Strategy, Operations Management

AArete is no stranger to Consulting magazine's rankings. The firm has been a regular on the Fastest growing Firms list and was recognized as one of the Seven Small Jewels back in 2016. However, this is the first time the Chicago-based firm finds itself among the Best Small Firms to Work For. 

"Being named one of the Best Small Firms to work for is certainly something to be proud of," says Loren Trimble, CEO & Managing Director of AArete. "The impact on employees and clients alike is positive, it gives us all a renewed sense of pride and purpose, this, no doubt, passes on to our clients through the work we do."

And those clients, Trimble says, have a lot to do with AArete being named to this list. "We have the best clients in the industry and since we enjoy making them better it makes us better," he says. "We also have several internal initiatives such as 'AAreaching Out' our philanthropic program, our annual off-site 'AArete Retreat' and our comprehensive benefits package to name a few."

On the survey, the firm excelled in the areas of Client Engagement and Compensation & Benefits. "Again, our clients are the reason we do what we do every day. If you aren't engaged with your clients it shows in their results and that is something that each AAretian understands," Trimble says. "Also, we are very proud of our benefits and perks, we've worked really hard to keep them competitive and progressive and always look for new ways to show our employees they are valued."

Meanwhile, Trimble says working at AArete is truly a team atmosphere. "We have an open-door policy with management and many opportunities to bond with colleagues outside of the office. In general, we have a high energy and positive morale and we believe those things have a lot to do with it. AArete's employees, each and every one of them, is thoughtfully selected with the firm's core principals in mind and that makes a difference." 

When Trimble looks to the future, the goal is now, as it always is "to deliver excellence and provide meaningful and long lasting positive results for our clients," he says. "Our clients are, have been and will continue to be our No. 1 priority."

When you look at the remainder of this year and 2019, what excites you? What opportunities do you see in the markets you serve? 

Trimble: "We're particularly excited about some work we're doing internally on the distributed computing environment, which will make the promise of Big Data and trends like AI a reality for our clients. We can start taking in data at a faster rate than we ever dreamed of before. Secondly, with these new Big Data capabilities, we'll be able to provide incredible insights from a data visualization and machine-learning perspective. We have some of the greatest data scientists in the world at AArete. All of them are focused on helping our clients transform, become more effective and, consequently, making a meaningful impact to their business through analytics."