Many will no doubt find what Majdalany and I did, selling our firm to a holding company dedicated to the non-profit services sector, to be a bit strange. It’s certainly unorthodox in the AMC community, but to us it made a great deal of sense. (press release)
First, we’re not altering our firm’s offerings and we’re not giving up any control. Sure, the “higher ups” could meddle with the model, but they are enlightened enough to know that any intrusion would be contrary to their own success. They’ve constructed a firm of complementary services to the broader nonprofit sector and recognize that each operating unit can gain service-strength from every other firm in the enterprise.
Second, as a result of these complements, the real value comes from creating bridges between the operating units to collaborate where it makes sense, both for existing clients and to present more robust offerings to prospective clients. Retaining all the advantages of a small, closely held company but with the available resources to go toe to toe with the larger firms as needed.
Third, the broader foundation provides our staff with new and exciting career options that are simply not available in a smaller firm. This comes in the form of collaboration, temporary assignments to be involved in varied projects and even new jobs without losing the talent or loyalty of excellent staff. Ultimately the professional services firms that are going to grow and thrive long term are those able to attract and retain the most talent. Being part of Collegium gives us a tremendous advantage in this area.
Most important of all, our clients will not experience any change in support or service levels during the transition. What they will notice soon thereafter however are new service offerings and our expanded capabilities to help us better serve, and proactively anticipate, our clients’ needs.
All of us at L&M are excited about this new future as part of Collegium, for the firm and for our clients.