a brief introduction to the strategic offsites group

A Brief Introduction to our Firm

January 7, 2015

2©2015 The Strategic Offsites Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary and Confidential.

Strategic Offsites Group at a Glance

Boutique strategy consulting firm founded in 2002

• Work around the globe with CEOs, senior executive teams and Boards across industries on their

most important strategic issues and opportunities

Specialize in the design and facilitation of strategy processes and discussions to help executive

teams and Boards make better decisions and convert those decisions to measureable actions

Through our thought leadership, offer new ways of thinking about strategy process and decision

making

Operate single office in Boston with eightn-person team

• Leverage specialist research firms to gather market and competitor data when required


How We Serve Our Clients

Whether engaged for a single meeting or a multiyear change initiative, our role is to help design and manage critical strategic discussions

The common denominator underlying our work is expertly facilitated and prepared workshops and processes designed to achieve organizational and executive alignment

Beginning with setting clear objectives, we help clients maintain a balance of process, content, and conversation to ensure that strategies gain and hold momentum

We collect and synthesize relevant data that inform objectives and frameworks to drive management teams to actionable outcomes


Our Client Work Often Falls Into Five Categories

Vision and strategy developmentCreate a clear vision for an organization’s future and the strategies

and roadmap to achieve that vision

Priority setting and resource allocationClarify organizational priorities and ensure alignment of critical activities

and initiatives designed to make them a reality

Initiative development and dependency managementDesign and structure key initiatives and manage interactions with

key stakeholders to ensure consistent direction and buy-in

Accountability and measurementIdentify, define, and align behind strategic measures and processes

to monitor and analyze business performance

Organization and strategy process designWork with boards and executive teams to design and structure

appropriate strategic conversations and processes


We Enjoy Strong Client Relationships With Executive Teams Around the World

Selected Clients


Our Thought Leadership is Featured in our Books and Articles in Some of the World’s Leading Business Publications

“Off-Sites That Work” is the seminal Harvard Business Review article on

strategy offsites and has been reprinted in nine foreign editions


Bob Frisch, Managing Partner

For over 30 years, Bob has worked with executive teams on their most vital strategic and organizational challenges, both as aconsultant and a corporate executive. He is considered one of the world’s leading strategic facilitators, having conducted executive offsites in fifteen countries with companies ranging from Fortune 10 multinationals to German mittelstand family businesses. Bob’s work has been featured in publications ranging from Fortune to CFO Magazine to the Johannesburg Business Report, and he is the author of three Harvard Business Review articles: Off-Sites That Work (June 2006), When Teams Can’t Decide (November 2008) and Who Really Makes The Big Decisions in Your Company? (December 2011). When Teams Can’t Decide was recently named a ‘must read’ article on teams by Harvard Business Review. Bob’s first book, Who’s In The Room? How Great Leaders Structure and Manage the Teams Around Them, was published by Jossey-Bass/Wiley in January 2012 and quickly became an Amazon bestseller in the categories of Leadership and Decision Making. It is now in distribution in 12 countries.

Before founding the Strategic Offsites Group, Bob was a Managing Partner of Accenture, where he helped create the Organization and Change Strategy practice. Bob joined Accenture from Cap Gemini Sogeti, where he created the firm’s global capability in corporate vision and growth and led the Strategy practice for the Americas Region. He began his career at the Boston Consulting Group where he was among the last consultants to train under the legendary Bruce Henderson.

Bob’s executive roles began when he went to work for a client, running planning and business development forThe Dial Corporation. Bob went on to become the youngest Division President of this Fortune 500 company, nowa division of Henkel. A decade later, he took another leave from consulting to head corporate strategy for Sears, Roebuck and Co. where he helped guide what was the largest voluntary restructuring in US corporate history.

Bob is a magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University and earned his MBA at the Yale School of Management. Bob lives in Newton Centre, Massachusetts with his wife Iris and their four children.

Dangerous Company, a best-selling book on the consulting industry, says of Bob: "He has been there, small company and big, strategy and operations. He has lived much of his professional life on the road or in the corridors of power of huge institutions. In the game of business, he is equipped to be the perfect coach."


Cary Greene, Partner

Cary has over 20 years’ experience working with senior executives and boards on challenging and complex strategic issues. In addition to his expertise in strategy workshop design and facilitation, Cary leads SOG’s efforts focusing on large-scale transformation and strategy programs. These include strategy formulation and execution, executive and organizational alignment, and performance measurement. Cary's work has spanned the financial services, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, business services, software, and transportation industries in the United States and Europe. Examples of recent client engagements include:

Worked with 60 executives across six teams to develop a three-year growth strategy for a $5 billion wealth-management firm

Worked with 30 executives and 50 doctors across four teams from the second largest medical association to develop a comprehensive, multiyear strategy to transform a leading medical specialty

Designed and facilitated a series of workshops for the board and senior management of a $5 billion telecommunications provider to identify and prioritize critical growth opportunities

Supported 70 executives in six teams to create strategies and new functions across three strategic themes designed to drive and sustain 75% business growth over five to seven years

Designed and facilitated a two-day offsite for the top 30 executives of a $4 billion international network of institutions of higher education to identify opportunities to drive the next stage of growth

Prior to joining the Strategic Offsites Group, Cary led the Finance practice at the Palladium Group, where he worked closely with David Norton and Robert Kaplan (co-creators of the Balanced Scorecard) to pioneer Palladium’s “Planning for Results” offering. Previously, Cary co-founded Painted Word, a strategy and technology consulting firm specializing in corporate performance management, where he established and managed the firm’s Strategy and Financial Services practices. Inc. magazine twice named Painted Word to the Inc. 500 as one of the fastest-growing privately held companies. Cary led the process to sell Painted Word to Monitor Clipper Partners, a private equity firm, and the subsequent merger with the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative to form the Palladium Group.

Before founding Painted Word, Cary worked for A. T. Kearney, a management consulting firm. He began his career in investment banking at Prudential-Bache Capital Funding, where he was an Associate in the Financial Institutions Group.Cary earned a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and a MBA from Harvard Business School.


Andrew McIlwraith, Senior Engagement Manager

At Strategic Offsites Andrew has consulted across multiple industries in several continents. Sample industries include retail, financial services (including insurance, retail brokerage, clearing, credit cards, credit reporting), food and beverages(both retail and ingredient supply), upstream oil and gas, industrial products, and medical instruments. In addition multiple strategy development projects, Andrew has worked extensively on initiative prioritization and resource allocation issues helping connect the worlds of strategy and implementation.

Before joining Strategic Offsites in 2005, he spent nine years with Gemini Consulting (subsequently Cap Gemini Ernst & Young) in the Strategy practice. While at Gemini, Andrew leveraged his financial and strategy experience to develop Balanced Scorecards in a variety of industries, including consumer products, chemicals, and food ingredients. Other project work included a distribution strategy for a consumer lawn and garden chemical company and a debit card strategy for a major regional retail bank.

Prior to joining Gemini, Andrew worked as a credit analyst in the Specialized Finance arm of Dresdner Bank AG, London Branch. His responsibilities included analyzing new leveraged and project finance loans, as well as loans which had been reclassified into the specialized department.

Before Dresdner, Andrew was with Citicorp Investment Bank Limited, London. Andrew graduated from Duke University with an AB in Economics and History.

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Strategic Offsites Group

388A Commonwealth Avenue

Boston, MA 02215 USA

[email protected]

+1.617.266.8711

mailto:[email protected]