Focus Consulting Group
Focus Consulting Group is a privately-held Chicago-area consulting firm, founded in 1998, that provides culture, leadership, compensation, strategic alignment, and succession planning services exclusively to investment and wealth management firms.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1999
- HeadquartersLong Grove, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Focus Consulting Group does
Focus Consulting Group (FCG) is a privately-held professional services firm founded in 1998 by James Ware, CFA, operating from Long Grove, Illinois (Chicago area). It provides five core consulting service modules — Culture, Leadership and Team Development, Compensation and Rewards, Strategic Alignment, and Succession Planning — exclusively to investment and wealth management firms such as Polen Capital, Voya Investment Management, OPTrust, Driehaus Capital Management, Brandywine Global Investment Management, Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Balentine, and Disciplined Growth Investors.
The firm applies proprietary diagnostic instruments (trust-measurement tools and Enneagram-based assessments, managed by Partner Liz Severyns) and is an early experimenter with LLM-augmented executive coaching through consultant Paul Zemsky, formerly CIO of Voya's Multi-Asset Strategies team. Supporting assets include multiple published books (Type, Talent and Teams; Lessons on Leadership; Money Meaning and Mindsets), a podcast ('Get Focused'), a video blog series, and recurring speaking engagements at CFA Institute and other investment industry conferences.
FCG generates revenue through custom, quote-based consulting engagements with multi-year contract cadences, distributed through direct senior-executive relationship selling and client referrals rather than published rate cards. The firm remains founder-owned, with disclosed headcount in the 1–10 range, no institutional investors, no acquisitions, and no productization beyond services delivery.
Focus Consulting Group firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Focus Consulting Group
- Legal name
- Focus Consulting Group
- Website
- https://focuscgroup.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1999
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Focus Consulting Group is a privately-held Chicago-area consulting firm, founded in 1998, that provides culture, leadership, compensation, strategic alignment, and succession planning services exclusively to investment and wealth management firms.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Focus Consulting Group industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Management Consulting — Investment Management Advisory
- NAICS
- Human Resources Consulting Services (541612), Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services (541611), Management Consulting Services (54161)
- SIC
- Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Organization Design & Change Management Consulting (BPAHACAD)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Organization Design & Operating Model Consulting (BPAHAGAB), Performance Management & Productivity Consulting (BPAHAGAL), Financial Management & Performance Improvement Consulting (BPAHACAF), Learning, Training & Corporate Education Consulting (BPAHAGAE)
Keywords
Where Focus Consulting Group is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Long Grove
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Focus Consulting Group business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Strategic Consulting Services: Professional consulting services covering culture development, leadership and team development, compensation and rewards, strategic alignment, and succession planning for investment and wealth management firms. Revenue generated through client engagements, workshops, training, and coaching services.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Custom consulting engagements |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels7 records
Focus Consulting Group product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Focus Consulting Group is a professional consulting firm that helps investment and wealth management firms strengthen culture, leadership, compensation, strategic alignment, and succession through custom engagements, workshops, assessments, and coaching. It delivers five core service modules—Culture, Leadership and Team Development, Compensation and Rewards, Strategic Alignment, and Succession Planning—supported by proprietary diagnostic tools and an AI-driven executive coaching program.
Product overview
Focus Consulting Group offers a unified consulting services platform comprising five interconnected core service modules: Culture, Leadership and Team Development, Compensation and Rewards, Strategic Alignment, and Succession Planning. These services work together as a comprehensive approach to helping investment and wealth management firms develop and maintain outstanding workplaces by leveraging their talent. The company uses a data-driven approach combined with deep industry experience over 25 years to focus on key areas needed for organizational success.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Culture Consulting Culture consulting services that help investment and wealth management organizations create great places to work, attract and retain top talent, and support their mission and vision of success through strategic culture development.
- Leadership and Team Development Leadership development and mentoring services for the investment and asset management industry, helping leaders and talent develop the tools needed to Lead the Firm, Lead the Team, and Lead Themselves.
- Compensation and Rewards Compensation plan design services that are fair, transparent, and simple, helping investment and wealth management organizations attract and retain top talent while balancing intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.
- Strategic Alignment Strategic alignment services that create living blueprints for long-term success, ensuring organizations are aligned around and moving towards their vision of success.
- Succession Planning Succession planning services that develop plans to ensure succession is a non-event, identifying future leaders and preparing them to lead inside and outside the organization.
Quantifiable outcome
- Voya Investment Management named 'Top Place to Work' by Pensions & Investments every year for the past seven years following FCG engagement
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Focus Consulting Group
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Focus Consulting Group technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability2 records
Feature3 records
Focus Consulting Group partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators2 records
Recent moves4 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Focus Consulting Group competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Heidrick & Struggles: Executive search and leadership consulting firm with a significant financial services practice, providing leadership assessment and culture-related advisory that overlaps with FCG's offerings.
- Egon Zehnder: Executive search and leadership advisory firm with significant asset and wealth management coverage; competes for CEO succession, board, and senior leadership advisory work.
- Spencer Stuart: Global executive search and leadership advisory firm with deep investment management practice; competes for board, CEO, and leadership advisory mandates that overlap with FCG's succession and leadership work.
- Korn Ferry: Global organizational consulting firm offering executive search, leadership development, and rewards consulting — overlapping with FCG across compensation, succession, and leadership development.
Direct peers
- ghSMART: Leadership advisory and executive coaching firm that explicitly serves the investment management industry with talent assessment, team effectiveness, and CEO advisory — closely mirroring FCG's culture and leadership offering for asset managers.
- YSC (Yates Spencer Consulting): Coaching and leadership development consultancy focused on the investment management industry; competes for the same client pool on executive team effectiveness and leadership transitions.
- Segal Group: HR and compensation consulting firm serving investment management and other financial services clients; directly comparable to FCG on compensation design and broader human capital advisory.
- Pearl Meyer: Compensation and rewards consulting firm specializing in financial services and investment management; directly comparable to FCG's Compensation & Rewards practice and adjacent on culture and leadership.
- BanyanGlobal: Consulting firm dedicated to the investment management industry covering strategy, organizational design, and talent — overlapping directly with FCG's culture, alignment, and succession work.
Emerging players
- Casey Quirk by McKinsey: Strategy consultancy exclusively serving asset and wealth management; complements FCG's strategic alignment services and shares the same narrow investment-industry client base, even though focused more on commercial strategy than people/organization work.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Focus Consulting Group social profiles
Digital presenceFocus Consulting Group financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Focus Consulting Group leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles9 records
Focus Consulting Group funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Focus Consulting Group M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Focus Consulting Group
What does Focus Consulting Group do?
Focus Consulting Group is a professional consulting firm that helps investment and wealth management firms strengthen culture, leadership, compensation, strategic alignment, and succession through custom engagements, workshops, assessments, and coaching. It delivers five core service modules—Culture, Leadership and Team Development, Compensation and Rewards, Strategic Alignment, and Succession Planning—supported by proprietary diagnostic tools and an AI-driven executive coaching program.
Is Focus Consulting Group a public or private company?
Focus Consulting Group is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Focus Consulting Group founded?
Focus Consulting Group was founded in 1999. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Focus Consulting Group based?
Focus Consulting Group is headquartered in Long Grove, United States, in the North America region.
How does Focus Consulting Group make money?
One revenue line is on record: strategic Consulting Services.
Who are Focus Consulting Group's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Heidrick & Struggles, Egon Zehnder, Spencer Stuart and Korn Ferry. Direct peers are ghSMART, YSC (Yates Spencer Consulting), Segal Group, Pearl Meyer and BanyanGlobal. Casey Quirk by McKinsey is listed as an emerging player.
Does Focus Consulting Group have an API?
No public API is recorded for Focus Consulting Group.
What industry is Focus Consulting Group in?
Focus Consulting Group's product category is Management Consulting — Investment Management Advisory. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHACAD, Organization Design & Change Management Consulting, with a secondary code of BPAHAGAB, Organization Design & Operating Model Consulting. Its NAICS code is 541612 and its SIC code is 8742.