Spencer Stuart Acquires Cambia Consulting
January 14, 2020 – Spencer Stuart has acquired Cambria Consulting, which specializes in individual and team development. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Cambria Consulting’s offerings complement Spencer Stuart’s growing set of leadership advisory services, which include executive assessment and development, coaching, CEO succession, team effectiveness, culture shaping, board effectiveness and the people side of merger integration, as well as those of its rebranded business, Kincentric. Spencer Stuart acquired several businesses from Aon last summer, with capabilities including culture and engagement, leadership assessment and development, and HR and talent advisory, and named them Kincentric.
“Cambria Consulting has an outstanding team and suite of offerings, and we are pleased to welcome them to Spencer Stuart,” said Patrick Hynes, global leader for leadership advisor services at Spencer Stuart. “This acquisition reflects our belief in the critical role of development in enabling leaders to create their desired impact. Cambria’s focus on talent strategy, with a network of more than 150 coaches, is a great match for our existing leadership development solutions and will help enable us to scale our efforts to advise leaders more effectively.”
Ellen Kumata, managing partner for Cambria Consulting, said the two firms are a natural fit. “We are delighted that Cambria Consulting is joining the Spencer Stuart family,” she said. “Our firms’ cultures and values are strongly aligned, and we share deep expertise in people and leadership solutions. We look forward to linking Cambria’s individual and team coaching and development capabilities with Spencer Stuart’s leadership advisory solutions to meet a broader spectrum of client needs,”
A Distinct Unit
This business will operate as a distinct unit. It will retain its brand and be known as Cambria Consulting, a Spencer Stuart Company.
Cambria Consulting, based in Boston, was founded in 1985 by a small group of senior consultants with advanced degrees in economics, business administration, and behavioral science. The consulting practice was inspired by the work of Harvard professor David C. McClelland, originator of job competency assessment technology. Cambria has helped develop and implement competency-based human resource management processes for Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. Cambria Consulting’s capabilities include coaching, executive assessment, competency modeling, role profiling, leadership development and leadership team effectiveness.
Critical Levers
Spencer Stuart’s acquisitions from Aon were completed last July 1 and renamed Kincentric: A Spencer Stuart Company. “Our new name, Kincentric, puts people at the center of business,” said Kevin Connelly, chief executive officer of Kincentric, and a former chairman and chief executive officer of Spencer Stuart, at the time. “We will continue to focus on helping organizations change from the inside, delivering new ways to unlock the power of people and teams.”
“This is a further step on our journey to extend our leadership advisory capabilities for our clients,” said Ben Williams, chief executive officer of Spencer Stuart. “As leaders increasingly focus on leadership, culture and engagement to drive change and positive outcomes in their organizations, together Spencer Stuart and Kincentric are uniquely positioned to engage with boards and the C-Suite more deeply on these critical levers.”
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
