TGG Announces Leadership Promotions and Hire

As The Gunter Group (TGG) continues its rapid expansion and deepens its partnerships with clients across diverse industries, we are thrilled to announce key leadership promotions and a strategic hire that will help guide the firm’s next chapter of success. These leaders represent the heart of TGG’s culture and an unwavering commitment to delivering exceptional value to clients. 

Founding Partners Mike and Ashleigh Gunter purposefully pursued a leadership team structure that would continue to maximize potential for TGG consultants, and maximize potential for TGG clients. “Each of these leaders exemplifies the values and vision that define TGG,” said Mike and Ashleigh. “Their commitment to our culture of excellence, client service, and Non-Negotiables — has been, and will be, pivotal to our organization and the long-term success of our clients. We are excited for what the future holds under their leadership.”

Co-Managing Partners: Matt Bader & Tony Schweiss 

Matt Bader has been promoted to Managing Partner at TGG. With a career that spans across diverse industries, including insurance, retail, education, finance, and professional services, his expertise in leading enterprise-wide transformations makes him a dynamic leader who will continue to drive impactful change and innovation at TGG. 

Matt’s leadership in enterprise-wide transformations has not only enhanced operational efficiency for clients but also driven measurable outcomes, making TGG a trusted partner to clients in achieving their strategic goals. His promotion comes at a pivotal moment as TGG deepens its presence in Colorado and beyond, continuing its focus on client success and value.

When asked about the promotion Matt shared: “I am honored to step into this role and excited for what lies ahead for TGG. Our team is incredible, and together, we will continue delivering outstanding results for our clients while staying true to TGG’s values.”

In tandem with Matt’s appointment, Tony Schweiss has also been promoted to Managing Partner. Tony has been instrumental in TGG’s growth, specifically in the insurance industry and is known for his expertise in building high-performing teams and guiding enterprise-wide initiatives which have been crucial to TGG’s success. 

Tony’s commitment to TGG’s values of Integrity and Intellectual Curiosity has fostered a culture of trust and continuous learning. These values are critical to TGG’s approach in developing long-term, impactful relationships with clients, especially in new markets.

Tony stated: “I’ve always believed in the power of relationships to drive meaningful change. I look forward to working with our clients and consultants to continue expanding our impact.”

Chief Financial & Operating Officer – Dave Montez

TGG is excited to welcome Dave Montez as its new Chief Financial & Operating Officer. Dave brings over 25 years of financial and operational expertise, having worked with organizations ranging from start-ups to multinationals. His deep understanding of business challenges and focus on delivering real-world solutions will help TGG achieve new levels of operational excellence and continue its strategic growth. As TGG strategically maps its growth for the next five years and beyond, Dave’s expertise will help TGG implement systems and operations to effectively support the company’s continued excellence.   

Dave’s approach is an ideal match with TGG’s Collaboration and Emotional Intelligence Non-Negotiables, and have enabled him to foster connections while driving operational improvements.

When asked about becoming part of the TGG team Dave stated: “Joining TGG is an exciting opportunity as I’ve admired the company’s culture for some time. I look forward to working alongside this talented team to build on the firm’s success.”

People & Culture Leader || Chief of Staff – Laura Emily

Laura Emily has been promoted to People & Culture Leader and Chief of Staff at TGG. Since joining TGG, Laura has spearheaded initiatives that have strengthened internal cohesion and driven our People & Culture strategy forward. Her promotion to Chief of Staff signals TGG’s commitment to creating an empowered, engaged workforce that fuels innovation and client impact. In her new role, Laura will ensure that the foundation of TGG’s business and its culture remain strong throughout TGG’s future growth.

Laura’s compassionate leadership exemplifies the core of TGG’s Non-Negotiables of Emotional Intelligence and Collaboration. In her role as Chief of Staff, she plays a critical part in strategic planning and governance, driving initiatives that support the firm’s culture and values. As a long-time member of the TGG team, Laura will continue to build on her strong relationships across the firm and her direct connection to TGG’s culture.  

Laura shared that: “At TGG, our people are at the heart of everything we do. I’m excited to lead our efforts in continuing to build a workplace that empowers every individual to realize their full potential.”

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In reflecting on TGG’s newly appointed Executive Leadership Team, Mike and Ashleigh Gunter said: “We couldn’t be more excited about the future of TGG with Matt, Tony, Dave, and Laura in these leadership roles. Their dedication to our people, clients, and Non-Negotiables gives us great confidence as we move forward. Looking ahead, the strategic appointments of Matt, Tony, Dave, and Laura mark a significant step in TGG’s ongoing journey to provide world-class consulting services. Their leadership will empower us to evolve alongside our clients, meet emerging challenges, and seize new opportunities as we expand our national footprint.”

The Power of Values: How Experience Shaped Our Firm

“Every step in your journey leads you to exactly where you are today.” – Unknown

Last November, I went to my reunion with the Class of 1993 from the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University. It was fun to see and reconnect with friends from b-school, catch up on life, and hear about some of the amazing things my classmates have done since we graduated. But it also means I have been in the world of consulting for 30 years!

Three decades in the industry have given me a variety of experiences in different organizations and the privilege of working alongside and learning from many different people. These experiences and people played crucial roles not only in my own journey but in The Gunter Group’s as well, because they formed the foundation for the values and philosophy that are core to our company.

As a newly minted M.B.A. in 1993, I started my consulting career at Deloitte Consulting. What a great place to start! I had the privilege to work with incredibly smart and talented people, many of whom are still friends and mentors. It was hard work, but it taught me how much I loved consulting… solving difficult problems, working with great teams, and most of all, serving clients. Looking back, I wouldn’t trade my experience at Deloitte for anything because it built the foundation for the rest of my career.

But after seven years with Deloitte, the road warrior lifestyle of a consultant started to become draining. I met my wife, Ashleigh, at Deloitte, and we both made the difficult decision to leave the firm soon after we got married in order to start our life together. We left a lot of friends and colleagues, and work that we enjoyed, but it was the first of many decisions Ashleigh and I made over time to put our lives and values first. At that time, what mattered was starting our newly married life together.

I ended up at two different startups in Atlanta, leading teams focused on delivering high-quality client service. The second startup, Rubbernetwork (now Elemica), was a great experience and gave me lifelong friends all over the world. What I learned in a startup of 65 people was how amazing it was to be part of a small, tight-knit team, and how much I valued being able to work alongside people that I considered friends. I still carry that lesson with me today.

At Rubbernetwork, I led the part of the organization focused on our clients in Europe. Given I was based in Atlanta, it meant a lot of time away. With a two-year-old at home and another one on the way, Ashleigh and I realized we needed a change and decided to move to Portland, Oregon (Ashleigh’s hometown), to raise our family. It was another hard decision because it meant leaving friends and family in Atlanta, but we knew it was the right decision.

To enable the move to Portland, I went back into consulting and joined a small (at the time) firm called Point B. It reminded me of how much I loved client service and also what it was like to be part of a small, growing firm that was really starting to build.

The point of all this is not to “walk through the highlights of Mike’s career”. The different organizations of which I have been part and the people with whom I worked had a profound impact on me and led directly to Ashleigh’s and my decision to start The Gunter Group in 2011. Exposure to different types of organizations gave us the foundation to develop our own perspective of what kind of organization we would like to create and build, and the values we would want to incorporate into it.

We’re now thirteen years in with The Gunter Group. We have an amazing team, many of whom have been with us since the very beginning, some of whom are new, and a bunch that fall somewhere in between. We have an incredible set of clients that we are privileged to serve. We have incorporated our values—our “Non-Negotiables”—into our organization, and our team reflects them every single day with how we work with each other and our client teams. We are building a sustainable organization that will be around for the long haul.

I am also proud to say that I still get to work alongside a bunch of my friends.

These days my role is a lot different. I am not as deeply involved anymore in day-to-day client delivery or in the operations of the firm. We have a talented team that does an amazing job of those things. I see my role as trying to think strategically about the direction of the firm and how to get there, and guiding, mentoring, coaching, and lifting up the emerging leaders in our company. That has been an evolution; one that has been challenging at times (I have a hard time not getting in the middle of things and almost always have an opinion 😀), but one that has and continues to be immensely rewarding. It has been a humbling experience to watch people start at TGG as brand new consultants and grow into incredible leaders and amazing professionals.

Back to my reunion. 30 years have gone by pretty fast. As smart as I’m sure I thought I was back then, I could not have predicted where the journey would take me. There were definitely a few turns we didn’t expect, but we embraced them and adapted to the change.

I couldn’t be happier to be where I am now. I am proud of our team and what we’re building. It has been incredibly rewarding to watch the company and my teammates grow, and see how TGG reflects our values and who we are as people. I am excited about where we are going as a firm and what the future holds for us, and I am also excited to continue writing about our (and my) journey along the way.

“Every step in your journey leads you to exactly where you are today.” – Unknown

FROM OUR PARTNERS:
ANNOUNCING OUR NEWEST PRINCIPAL, PERIN WEHDE

The Gunter Group is excited to announce that Perin Wehde has joined the firm in Denver, CO as its newest Principal.  

Perin comes to TGG with over 22 years of multinational consulting experience and brings significant expertise helping organizations develop visions and align strategies in order to successfully execute complex change initiatives that improve business performance. Perin is a passionate problem solver and an energetic, relationships focused leader that uses a listen-first approach to help organizations and teams drive towards a common goal. Perin’s leadership role will serve as another valuable addition to our Denver based team and our growing list of client partners in Colorado.  

When asked about the announcement, TGG Founding Partner Mike Gunter stated: 

“Welcoming Perin as Principal and as a member of our senior leadership team is a very exciting moment. Perin’s high level of experience and strong professional background in the consulting industry will be a great addition to TGG. Her skills, leadership, and natural alignment with the TGG culture will complement our focus and growth in Denver and additional new markets.”   

FROM OUR PARTNERS:
A DECADE OF SERVICE – JIM CALKO

The Gunter Group prioritizes and focuses on our “people first” mission, and it is with great excitement that we recognize Jim Calko for his 10 years of service with TGG. Not only is Jim one of our most tenured team members, he is also TGG’s newest Principal having been promoted to the position in the fall of 2022.  

Jim was one of TGG’s earliest hires when he joined the firm in 2013 after serving for over five years in The United States Army. Jim’s service and leadership in the Army immediately added significant value to our young organization. Since joining TGG Jim has served in a variety of roles including: Consultant, Internal Operations, New Hire Ambassador, Manager, and Agile Services Lead. Jim’s experience and diverse background has been an impactful building block for our growth and success over the past decade. His ability to successfully drive change within various client organizations and focus on leading teams through digital and agile transformations has helped a wide range of client partners achieve their short and long term goals. 

When asked about Jim’s time with the firm and promotion to Principal, Partner Tony Schweiss stated: 

“From our earliest days as a firm, Jim naturally aligned with our goal to help organizations achieve success by delivering great work through building great relationships. He has been, and continues to be a great extension of our organizational culture and values. TGG is honored and proud to have Jim as part of our senior leadership team. Jim lives our non-negotiables on a daily basis and shares our drive toward personal excellence, building a high-performing team, and maximizing client potential through world class client service.”

We want to congratulate Jim on his 10 years with The Gunter Group, and we look forward to Jim continuing to help lead our firm as we work together to help our clients, consultants, and communities thrive!

TGG CULTURE IN ACTION:
INCLUSION AND FLEXBILITY

At the beginning of 2023, we implemented a new paid holiday policy at The Gunter Group: we changed all our paid holidays to “floating holidays” so that our team can choose to celebrate the holidays that mean the most to them.

The genesis of our decision started last year when a team of our consultants came forward to the leadership team with an idea for a “Day of Service” for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. At the time, our holiday policy included 7 paid company-defined holidays plus one “floating” holiday, which could be used on any day during the year. 

The team that brought forward the idea about the Day of Service also asked the question of whether the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday should be one of our “official” holidays. This led to a much deeper discussion about not only our holiday policy, but also Inclusion. In other words, how could we make it so that our policy on holidays would be fully inclusive and reflect our core values and Culture as an organization? Why should the company dictate that employees take off Christmas Day versus Yom Kippur, Diwali or days during Ramadan? Or New Year’s Day instead of Chinese New Year? Maybe the discussion about whether to observe a particular holiday was missing the point.  

Our point of view is that Inclusion is not about a particular holiday, it’s about all of them. This is what led us to change our company policy so that TGGers can decide which days to observe based on what is most meaningful to them and their families.

Back to the Day of Service on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday: a large team of TGGers and their families came together to assemble and deliver 35 Sack Lunches, 20 Winter Kits, and 44 Hygiene Kits to the Blanchet House in Portland, an organization that supports people experiencing homelessness and that is “On a mission to alleviate suffering and offer hope for a better life by serving essential aid with dignity”. I am super proud of the team and the support they provided to such an amazing organization.

At The Gunter Group, we strive to create an environment to support our consultants, clients, and communities such that each can achieve excellence, realize their full potential, and thrive. We live by our Non-Negotiables:  Collaborative, Integrity, Intellectual Curiosity, Thrives in Ambiguity, Emotional Intelligence and Grounded Confidence. Our Non-Negotiables reflect who we are and who we will continue striving to be. We value engagement and creative ideas from our team, and we are always working to make TGG a better and better place to work!

TGG RANKED IN TOP THREE: 2022 BEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR IN OREGON

We are excited to share that for the eighth year in a row, The Gunter Group has been ranked as one of the ‘100 Best Companies to Work For in Oregon’ according to Oregon Business. 

The Gunter Group was recognized as the #3 Best Company to Work For in Oregon, in the medium-sized businesses category!

According to Oregon Business one TGGer stated, “This is the kind of company that I always wanted to work for, but didn’t think could actually exist. I feel cared for, appreciated, and there’s always support from every co-worker when it’s needed.”  

We are honored to be recognized on Oregon Business Magazine’s 100 Best Companies list again this year. 

Congratulations to our amazing team!

Be sure to visit guntergroup.com and discover what makes The Gunter Group so unique.

To learn more about the 2022 100 Best List, view the 2022 top ten video, and see the complete rankings visit: oregonbusiness.com

The 100 Best Companies to Work For in Oregon is an annual showcase that recognizes top Small, Medium, and Large businesses in the state. More than 9,000 employees across a wide range of industries complete an employee engagement survey that encompasses areas such as: management & communications, decision-making & trust, career development & learning, benefits & compensation, and work environment. 

TGG RANKED AS A BEST SMALL FIRM TO WORK FOR IN THE NATION BY CONSULTING MAGAZINE

For the third year in a row The Gunter Group has been recognized as a “Best Small Firm to Work For” in the nation according to Consulting Magazine.  

It is an honor to share that The Gunter group was selected as the #6 “Best Small Firm to Work For” in the nation for the 2021 rankings and finished in the top 10 for the third consecutive year.

When asked about this year’s recognition TGG Founders Mike and Ashleigh Gunter commented, “We are so proud to be recognized again as a Top 10 Consulting Magazine Best Small Firm to Work For nationally, alongside so many other great firms. It is an important recognition for us because we believe it reflects the culture we have worked so hard to build, and our amazing team. What a great way to celebrate our 10th Anniversary!”

The Consulting Magazine rankings were announced on September 9th, 2021 at a dinner gala in Chicago. Only 18 small firms were chosen for recognition, based on an annual survey of over 12,000 consultants from approximately 300 firms nationwide. Award candidates were evaluated across six different categories of employee satisfaction including, client engagement, culture, firm leadership, career development, and compensation and benefits.

To learn more about the 2021 Consulting Magazine Awards and see the complete rankings visit: https://www.event.consultingmag.com/best-firms-to-work-for

The Gunter Group is a management consulting firm headquartered in Oregon, serving the west coast with offices in Portland and Reno, Nevada. Learn more about us and the services we offer here.

TGG RANKED IN TOP THREE FOR BEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR IN OREGON

We recently learned that for the seventh consecutive year, The Gunter Group has been ranked as one of the ‘100 Best Companies to Work For in Oregon’ according to Oregon Business. 

We are excited to share that The Gunter Group was recognized as the #3 Best Company to Work For in Oregon, in the medium-sized businesses category!

The 100 Best Companies to Work For in Oregon is an annual showcase that recognizes top Small, Medium, and Large businesses in the state. More than 10,000 employees across a wide range of industries complete an employee engagement survey that encompasses areas such as: management & communications, decision-making & trust, career development & learning, benefits & compensation, and work environment. 

To learn more about the 2021 100 Best List and to see the complete rankings visit: oregonbusiness.com

OUR NON-NEGOTIABLES:
A LOOK BACK

A year and a half ago, we introduced a blog series on our company’s Non-Negotiables. At TGG, our Non-Negotiables are six traits and characteristics that guide us in our everyday interactions with each other, our clients, and our communities. They are the pillars on which we have built, and will continue to build, the company. 

The Non-Negotiables came about in a particularly organic way. We did not sit down in a “strategy session” to “identify our Non-Negotiables”. They came about naturally as we thought about the values that are important to us, how we wished to create, cultivate and maintain relationships, our culture, and most importantly….the traits and characteristics we saw really successful TGGers demonstrating. The Non-Negotiables became an articulation of how we were already living. 

Our Non-Negotiables are reflected not only in our day to day interactions, but in our recruiting, our professional development, and our feedback process. They are our framework for holding ourselves accountable in our work and relationships, and it is our greatest point of pride that our team consistently reflects them.

Our six Non-Negotiables are:

1. 1. Collaborative
2. 2. Integrity
3. 3. Intellectual Curiosity
4. 4. Thrives in Ambiguity
5. 5. Emotional Intelligence
6. 6. Grounded Confidence

When we began this blog series, we asked different members of our team to write each of the six blogs, and we are really proud of how they turned out. The authors reflect a group of individuals with different backgrounds, varying years of experience (and time with the company), diverse perspectives, and different working styles. We also sat down and filmed the historical context of our Non-Negotiables and how they guide our focus as we grow our firm. 

Little did we know that half way through this blog series, we would find ourselves in the middle of not only a global pandemic, but also significant societal upheaval in the ongoing fight for equity, inclusion and racial justice. 

We knew how our Non-Negotiables guided us in “normal” times, but how would they hold up in such uncertain and stressful times? 

The answer is that we have relied upon them even more heavily. We focused on taking care of and supporting each other (Integrity, Emotional Intelligence).  We engaged even more deeply, and in many cases with more flexibility and an even stronger sense of service, with our clients (Thrives in Ambiguity, Intellectual Curiosity, Collaborative, Grounded Confidence). We also revamped our recruiting and evaluation processes to further embed these characteristics and traits (all six).  

We believe the increased level of depth and focus on our Non-Negotiables has been motivating and rewarding for our entire organization. It has also furthered our commitment to putting people and culture first in times of prosperity and uncertainty alike.

Our Non-Negotiables continue to be the most accurate representation we have of our company’s culture. They reflect who we are and who we will continue striving to be as we build our team and company.

We hope you have enjoyed this blog series as much as we have enjoyed sharing it. We encourage leaders and teams to think critically about the aspirational and lived culture you desire for your organization and orient everything around bringing it to life.   

About the Author:
Mike is passionate about client service and leading people. He enjoys watching people grow, develop, and discover their true path. Mike is a visionary and forward thinker with extensive multinational experience and a proven track record of serving clients. With more than 25 years of business leadership and consulting in a wide variety of challenging and ambiguous environments, Mike got his start in the industry at Deloitte Consulting and has since held executive leadership positions in consulting, supply chain services, and public education organizations.