As we get closer to celebrating West Monroe Partners’ eighth year in business this spring, I’ve been thinking a lot about the changes we’ve seen since launching the firm.  Certainly, we operate in a different economic climate than we did back then, with an assortment of legislative and regulatory changes.  As the firm has grown, we’ve expanded into bigger – and certainly nicer – offices than our first headquarters in the living room of one of our partners.  And as I think about the team of colleagues that have been with the firm since those early days, we’re certainly all a bit older, some a bit greyer, and – we hope – a bit wiser.

You may have recently seen a news announcement about West Monroe that introduces another change – perhaps one of the largest in our history.  On Wednesday, March 24, we announced the formation of a strategic consulting alliance with BearingPoint Europe – the first of its kind, which allows our organizations to expand our global market coverage and to better provide services to our international clients.  Under this agreement, both of our firms will refer business opportunities, collaborate on client work, and share intellectual capital with one another. 

While this announcement is a significant milestone in West Monroe’s growth and offers substantial benefits for our clients, I’m much more excited about what has stayed the same about our firm.  In selecting West Monroe as their preferred US partner, BearingPoint conducted due diligence and analysis on over 70 US companies.  They identified us as the up and coming management consulting firm that they wanted to do business with now and in the future because of the synergies they saw in our cultures, leadership styles, and corporate values. They also see us not as a current or future acquisition target, rather as the first step in the building of a powerful global network of firms serving the best and most opportunity laden corporate organizations in the world.

Our corporate values have not changed since our inception, and include putting people first, not settling for anything less than the best service, integrity, and seeking quality before growth in all that we do.

As someone who does business with West Monroe, you should know that these are long-term values we intend to stay true to for years of anniversaries to come, no matter how large we grow.  Events like our BearingPoint Alliance definitely create exciting new opportunities for us to serve our clients that may have operations overseas.  But whether you’re a client of ours who is operating out of a single office in a Chicago suburb, or a multi-national corporation with dozens of worldwide locations, our commitment to providing the best help in meeting your most aspirational goals remains consistent.

I’m grateful for the trust you’ve placed in West Monroe these past years, and look forward to continuing to earn that trust each day we go forward together.