Brian Westerhaus, founding partner of Pioneer Management Consulting, said the independent Minneapolis firm has won big corporate clients with a "humble, hungry and connected" approach.
That has helped Pioneer grow to more than 30 consultants and increase revenue nearly 300% since 2017 while working with billion-dollar companies among 11 local clients, Westerhaus said.
It's also fueling Pioneer's three-year plan to expand Minneapolis to 50 to 60 consultants and open locations in three additional cities with 30 to 50 consultants each.
Westerhaus launched Pioneer in 2009 after 10 years in consulting. He began hiring consultants after a few years on his own before bringing in Molly Koenen, Nate Caskey and Lane Elmer as partners two years ago.
That move added organizational change and business strategy to Pioneer's program and project management services.
Pioneer's consultants, unlike those at most big consulting firm, have no utilization or sales targets, Koenen said.
"There's nothing distracting a consultant from anything other than value," Koenen said.
Koenen, who hired Pioneer a few years ago while leading organizational change management for a private global company, joined Pioneer after working with other consulting firms.