Novantas Acquires Jackson LaSalle Group, a Leading Financial Services Consulting Firm Based in Chicago

March 01, 2007

NEW YORK - Novantas LLC, a management consultancy serving the majority of the largest banking and financial services companies in North America, today announced the acquisition of Jackson LaSalle Group, a leading financial services consultancy based in Chicago. The deal will anchor Novantas' Midwest practice expansion.

Novantas, based in New York, is the acknowledged leader in customer science and revenue strategy in the financial services industry. It specializes in investigating and interpreting customer needs, attitudes and behaviors to help companies refine decisions, customer strategies, and sales and service activities.

Jackson LaSalle Group helps to improve the performance of financial services companies in three major areas: 1) incorporating overall strategies into the daily activities of the company; 2) improving the value of customer relationships; and 3) improving operational agility and efficiency.

"Jackson LaSalle Group is an excellent fit with Novantas, both in terms of consulting philosophy and core capabilities," said Dave Kaytes, Managing Director at Novantas. "Together, the two firms will provide an outstanding array of performance improvement capabilities to major financial services companies worldwide."

Michael R. Rice, Managing Partner and Founder of Jackson LaSalle Group, said: "Our clients in North America, Europe and South America will now benefit from the expertise developed by Novantas over the course of its work with major financial services companies globally. In turn, the unique approaches and capabilities developed by Jackson LaSalle can now be marketed to more financial services companies, both domestically and internationally."

Since its founding in 2004, Jackson LaSalle Group has been highly active in commercial banking, payments, investment services and insurance. While the company is actively involved in strategy formulation, its forte is helping companies to identify the specific steps needed to bring performance improvement initiatives to life. Through analysis of customer behavior, for example, Jackson LaSalle identifies sales growth opportunities in line with major customer groups, and uses the "opportunity map" as a tool to organize sales and marketing activities.

Rice has more than two decade's worth of experience in financial services. Prior to founding LaSalle Jackson Group, he was a partner at Chicago-based Charter Consulting, a division of Technology Solutions Co. Earlier he was the head of the Americas Financial Institutions Consulting Practice of Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. Rice started his career at Northern Trust Corp., Chicago.

Rice has been named a Managing Director at Novantas, and he has built a seasoned staff that will also remain with the merged firm, including Principals William Clarkin, Robert Griffin and Scott Woepke, all three extensively experienced in financial services and veterans of numerous major client engagements.

The combined entity will operate under the Novantas name, with corporate headquarters in New York City. The Jackson LaSalle staff will remain in Chicago, and Rice will function as head of Novantas' Chicago office.

Kaytes said the Jackson LaSalle transaction is part of a larger Novantas expansion of its Midwest presence, which will be anchored in the Windy City. Rice said additional senior consultants are anticipated to join Novantas' Chicago office this year.

Novantas is a pioneer in applying customer sciences disciplines in areas such as customer segmentation, product design, pricing strategy, and improving the ability of sales and service representatives to interact with customers. Areas of particular expertise include retail and small business banking, branch sales performance, credit cards, insurance, brokerage, and commercial and investment banking.

Through disciplined analytics, pragmatism and deep industry experience, the Firm ensures that the resulting performance improvements are effective and enduring.

Along with consulting services, Novantas also provides computer-based services that support major marketing applications. The MindSwift® platform, for example, is used by clients to improve interactions with customers over the phone and the Internet. Qualytix, a Novantas subsidiary, is a leader in performance benchmarking.

The two firms said the complementary nature of their respective capabilities and client needs provided a compelling rationale for merging. Terms of the transaction between the two privately-owned companies were not disclosed.