West Monroe Adopts New Incentive Program for Directors That Fuels Firm Investment

CHICAGO – West Monroe, a national business and technology consulting firm, today announced a key enhancement to its ownership model. The Capital & Profits Interest Program creates an additional avenue for senior leaders to invest in and benefit from the company’s rapid growth, in addition to their participation in the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). An award-winning consultancy known for the strength of its culture and workplace, West Monroe has achieved a 23% compounded annual growth rate over the past 10 years. 

Under the recapitalization program, the firm’s directors – currently more than 120 leaders – have the opportunity to purchase additional equity in the company - beyond the performance-based equity incentives – deepening their commitment to the firm’s long-term success.  

The program provides an incentive for directors and employees to build long-lasting careers with the company and fuel its growth. It also creates a new source of funding for investing in future growth. Executive leadership has set a goal for the firm to more than double its revenue by 2025 – growth that requires significant investment in innovation, services, assets, delivery models, capabilities, and acquisitions. The new funding is expected to help the firm achieve its aggressive annual growth goals. 

“Our employee ownership principle is extremely important and motivating to our people and one of the things that truly differentiates our organization from most other consultancies. As part of our commitment to our core value of stewardship, we regularly look at ways to strengthen our capital structure and financial sustainability while retaining employee ownership,” said Kevin McCarty, West Monroe’s chairman and CEO.

West Monroe, founded in 2002, restructured as an ESOP in 2012. It has since been recognized by the National Center for Employee Ownership as one of the largest employee-owned companies in the United States. The company’s ownership model is the foundation of its culture and workplace because it establishes a shared purpose that compels employees to work together to create mutual value. Employees have benefitted from an ESOP share value that has grown at a 56% compounded annual growth rate over seven years.

“Even amid the challenges of 2020, we registered positive growth for the year. This speaks to the quality of our work, which is a direct result of the talent we attract and the people who choose to build careers here. Our ownership model has a strong bearing on that,” said Zach Jones, chief financial officer. “That said, we want to make sure we are positioned to sustain and support similar levels of continued growth for years to come. This latest enhancement builds on the strengths of our previous program and provides attractive benefits for employees at all levels.”

As part of the new capitalization effort, West Monroe engaged a series of advisers: Macquarie Capital acted as exclusive financial advisor; Mayer Brown as legal advisor; BDO as tax advisor; and Polsinelli as ESOP counsel.  

About West Monroe
West Monroe is a national consulting firm that was born in technology but built for business—partnering with companies in transformative industries to deliver real, measurable results. Technology is who we are, it is not something we bolted on overnight, and we believe it is one of the greatest enablers of business value. That’s why we work in diverse, multidisciplinary teams that blend industry expertise with deep operational and technology capabilities to create quantifiable, financial value for our clients. Our 1,500 employees based in eight offices across the United States also own 100% of our business, so when you partner with us you know we are committed—because your success is our success. Our undeniably different approach breeds undeniable results. Visit WMP.com to learn more.

For all inquiries, please contact:
Christina Galoozis
Senior Manager, External Communications
cgaloozis@wmp.com 
847.302.1762