AArete
AArete is no stranger to
Consulting magazine’s rankings.
The firm has been a regular on
the Fastest growing Firms list
and was recognized as one of
the Seven Small Jewels back
in 2016. However, this is the
first time the Chicago-based
firm finds itself among the Best
Small Firms to Work For.
“Being named one of the Best
Small Firms to work for is cer-
tainly something to be proud
of,” says Loren Trimble, CEO
& Managing Director of AArete.
“The impact on employees and
clients alike is positive, it gives
us all a renewed sense of pride
and purpose, this, no doubt, pass-
es on to our clients through the
work we do.”
And those clients, Trimble
says, have a lot to do with AArete
being named to this list. “We have
the best clients in the industry and
since we enjoy making them bet-
ter it makes us better,” he says.
“We also have several internal
initiatives such as ‘AAreaching
Out’ our philanthropic program,
our annual off-site ‘AArete Re-
treat’ and our comprehensive ben-
efits package to name a few.”
On the survey, the firm excelled
in the areas of Client Engagement
and Compensation & Benefits.
“Again, our clients are the reason
we do what we do every day. If you
aren’t engaged with your clients it
shows in their results and that is
something that each AAretian un-
derstands,” Trimble says. “Also,
we are very proud of our benefits
and perks, we’ve worked really
hard to keep them competitive and
progressive and always look for
new ways to show our employees
they are valued.”
Meanwhile, Trimble says
working at AArete is truly a team
atmosphere. “We have an open-
door policy with management and
many opportunities to bond with
colleagues outside of the office.
In general, we have a high energy
and positive morale and we be-
lieve those things have a lot to do
with it. AArete’s employees, each
and every one of them, is thought-
fully selected with the firm’s core
principals in mind and that makes
a difference.”
When Trimble looks to the fu-
ture, the goal is now, as it always is
“to deliver excellence and provide
meaningful and long lasting posi-
tive results for our clients,” he says.
“Our clients are, have been and will
continue to be our No. 1 priority.”
WHEN YOU LOOK
AT THE REMAINDER
OF THIS YEAR
AND 2019, WHAT
EXCITES YOU? WHAT
OPPORTUNITIES
DO YOU SEE IN
THE MARKETS YOU
SERVE?
TRIMBLE: “We’re particularly
excited about some work we’re
doing internally on the distributed computing environment,
which will make the promise
of Big Data and trends like AI a
reality for our clients. We can
start taking in data at a faster
rate than we ever dreamed of
before. Secondly, with these
new Big Data capabilities, we’ll
be able to provide incredible insights from a data visualization
and machine-learning perspective. We have some of the greatest data scientists in the world
at AArete. All of them are focused
on helping our clients transform,
become more effective and,
consequently, making a meaningful impact to their business
through analytics.”
Q HEADQUARTERS: Chicago Q BILLABLE CONSULTANTS: 154 Q CLIENT INDUSTRIES SERVED: Healthcare,
Transportation, Financial Services, Retail Q CONSULTING SERVICE LINES: Strategy, Operations Management
9
BEST
FIRMS
the
TO WORK FOR
SMALL