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For Immediate Release ACME BUSINESS CONSULTING FEATURED IN PORTLAND MONTHLY'S BEST PLACE TO WORK ISSUE Portland, Ore. - December 14, 2007 - ACME It hardly sounds like a radical business plan: "We decided we were just going to sell our work in town," says Scott Demorest, one of the three founding principals of ACME. Except that ACME is a business consulting fi rm, and in the standard industry model, consultants travel for weeks on end to advise their clients in every city but the company's own. Tired of the jet-setter's life, Demorest and his partners, Peter Lizotte and David Kelleher, set out to change the way consulting was done. To dedicate themselves to projects they felt a personal connection to, as well as reserve more time for their families, the trio began to build a client base exclusively in the Portland metro area, beginning with Bonneville Power in 2002. Today, ACME has 17 consultants working on a variety of complex projects, such as helping an international sportswear company develop a new global e-commerce strategy. "When we tell applicants, 'We'll get you off an airplane, but you're still going to work on incredibly interesting stuff,' they can't believe it," says Demorest. As a result, ACME receives hundreds of job applications for every opening. Current employees say they're thrilled to actually be able to eat dinner with their families and fl y only during vacation time, which starts at three weeks per year. ACME adds an additional week of paid volunteer time, and after only four years, employees receive a six-week paid sabbatical. Why so generous? The three principals say the companies they previously worked for merely paid lip service to helping employees achieve any real balance between work and life. At ACME, Demorest points out, it's the real deal: "It was a core value from Day One, because we wanted it for ourselves." | |||
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