Issue 3 2019

8 Acquisition International - Issue 3 2019 Feb19131 Simon Associates Management Consultants (SAMC) is an innovative consultancy firm drawing on the vast business and academic experience of its founder, Dr. Andrea (Andi) Simon. We caught up with Andrea to find out more about the firm and learn about the secrets behind the incredible success it has achieved over the past 17 years. stablished in 2002, SAMC offers its clients a wide range of consulting services and innovative resources, with particular focus on the unique tools and methods of anthropology to help businesses successfully drive change. Andrea talks us through her depth of experience in the corporate landscape and how she came to create the firm. “Personally, I am a corporate anthropologist. Prior to founding SAMC, I was an executive for 20 years in a number of financial services and healthcare organizations, all of which were forced to adapt to rapid changes in their business environments. I built my executive experience from an academic foundation, having been a tenured professor of Anthropology and American Studies at Ramapo College in New Jersey for 10 years. In 2006, I was a visiting professor teaching entrepreneurship to Arts and Science students at Washington University in St. Louis. “These academic appointments provided me with an exceptional base on which to apply a social science perspective to the pressing needs of fast-changing businesses. At SAMC, we urge clients to pause, step out, and ‘see, feel and think’ about their organization with fresh eyes, much as an anthropologist might conduct ethnographic research on their company and their customers. The idea is to help them see what they are missing, the important opportunities that are happening all around them. We help them get past their biased brains and “see” opportunities, and then capitalize on them so they can better adapt to what’s coming at them, fast. “Drawing on my experience, I founded SAMC to offer the benefits of my expertise to a wide range of clients. I felt the time was right for me to bring the theory, methods and tools of anthropology to industry. Once in business, we picked up clients rather quickly, including Montefiore Medical Center, Atlantic Health System, the paper manufacturer Marcal Paper, Centenary College and Elkay Manufacturing. We have grown successfully ever since, continually helping our clients find the way forward that is often all around them. “My husband, Andrew (Andy) Simon is a serial entrepreneur. He sold his last business in 2017 and joined SAMC to bring his business experience to clients that are trying to shift from early-stage companies to scalable middle-market success stories. He grew his own company, Questar Assessment Inc, from a start-up to the fifth largest in the U.S. summative assessment field, so he knows what he’s talking about. Simon Associates Management Consultants: Bringing Anthropology Into Business “Today, as SAMC continues to grow, I’m focusing on building the strategic direction of the firm. Having brought together a support staff of talented experts in their own right who keep things ticking along, my role is to carry out the majority of the public speaking and workshop engagements while Andrew leads our Inbound Marketing division. Together, we are certified HubSpot Partners, an inbound marketing platform.” Offering a full array of idea generation, innovation and change management services, SAMC specializes in helping companies respond to new economic climates, capitalize on shifting customer demands, identify new unoccupied market space, and when necessary, change their corporate culture. Below, Andrea describes these services in more detail and outlines how they benefit a range of clients. E