Gerson Lehrman Group

Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) is a New York-based company that offers financial services, information technology and consulting platform. It is the world’s largest expert network firm. GLG's clients include strategy consulting corporations, hedge funds, private equity firms, professional service firms, and non-profit organizations. [1][2][3] The firm connects its clients with consultants with topical or industry expertise in a variety of fields (termed "Council Members"), as well as executive education, larger team training, and the placement of experts in long-term advisory, operational, and board roles.[4] GLG has a network of over 800,000 consultants[5]

Gerson Lehrman Group, Inc.
AbbreviationGLG
Formation1998 (1998)
FounderMark Gerson, Thomas Lehrman
TypePrivate company
HeadquartersNew York City
Location
  • United States
ServicesConsulting
CEO
Paul Todd
Staff (2018)
2,000+ (800,000 outside experts)
Websiteglg.it

The firm was founded in 1998 and has been backed by private equity firms Silver Lake Partners,[6] Bessemer Venture Partners,[7] and SFW Capital Partners.[8][4] GLG is headquartered in New York City, with offices in 22 cities in 12 countries. [4] GLG experts include consultants, physicians, scientists, engineers, lawyers, senior current and former c-level executives, and former government members.[9][10][11]

History

Gerson Lehrman Group was founded by Yale Law School graduates Mark Gerson and Thomas Lehrman in 1998. Alexander Saint-Amand, a former Bloomberg reporter, joined GLG shortly after, and served as CEO until 2018.[12][13]

GLG, initially funded by friends and family, was formed as a publishing house to produce industry guidebooks for institutional investors. However, the founders discovered that their clients wanted to talk directly to experts in casual conversations, rather than reading formal written reports. Accordingly, in 1999, GLG abandoned its publishing business and began offering subscriptions to its network of experts.[14] This business came to be called an expert network.

GLG's first customers were investors, and most of their growth from 1999 to 2005 was within the investment community. In 2006, they began working with big strategy consultancies and with companies in life sciences, chemicals and industrials, and technology. By 2010, The Wall Street Journal had described GLG as "dominating the U.S. expert networking industry".[15]

In the design space, GLG is a pioneer of activity based working office design, which does away with seating assignments for workers.[16]

In 2018, GLG named Paul Todd as its new CEO. Todd was previously the head of eBay's EMEA business, in such post from 2015.[5][17]

Nonprofit activities

In 2006, GLG worked with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide new primary data and analysis relevant for any other recovery plans in the rebuilding of Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita.[18] GLG has also done other philanthropy work with smaller charities.[19]

GLG now operates a global Social Impact Fellowship, an initiative that provides learning resources and expertise to a select group of nonprofits and social enterprises, at no cost.[20][21]

Institutional partnerships

As the use of alternative research providers within the financial industry has grown, brokerages themselves have been partnering with firms like GLG.[22] On September 10, 2008, the company announced a deal with Credit Suisse, whereby analysts from the financial services giant would be able to tap into GLG's experts as part of their research process. About 300 Credit Suisse analysts became members of the GLG expert network.[23] In 2009, Gerson Lehrman Group announced a partnership with Frost & Sullivan, making the company's 800+ market researchers available to consult with GLG clients.[24]

In July 2009, GLG announced that it has partnered with Amba Research, a leading financial services knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) firm that provides equity and credit research.[25]

On July 8, 2010, GLG and Bloomberg announced a partnership that enables clients of the Bloomberg Professional platform to access the GLG expert network through the Bloomberg platform.[26]

In October 2011, GLG partnered with and acquired a minority stake in Ushi, a leading China-based business social networking provider, and the largest competitor of LinkedIn in the region.[27][28]

Notable expert members

Controversies

The expert network business model has drawn scrutiny for concerns relating to adherence to disclosure rules and insider trading within the investment industry.[29] During 2005, for example, doctors who served as paid consultants to investment firms as a result of their role in an expert network generated a “fair share of controversy”.[30] GLG was part of a lawsuit filed by Biovail in March 2006, in which Biovail claimed that its shares had been manipulated.[31] In September 2006, GLG announced the creation of a proprietary system that helped identify and manage conflicts, leveraging its experience as a pioneer in its industry to craft risk-reducing rules for expert engagements.[32][33]

In January 2007, it was reported that the company and Vista Research, then a Standard & Poor's affiliate, were part of an inquiry by the New York State Attorney General's office into the consulting practices of investment firm clients.[34] As of December 2007, the Attorney General had taken no action, and the investigation appeared to be dormant.[35]

GLG's compliance program of over 50 individuals has been cited as a reason for SFW Capital's $200 million investment in GLG.[36][4]


References
  1. "Gerson Lehrman Seeks New Image as Investor Cashes Out". The New York Times. July 1, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  2. "Investors Are Paying $1,300 Per Hour for 'Expert' Chats". Bloomberg.com. 2018-02-28. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  3. "GLG's Richard Socarides Believes In The Power Of Learning". CMO. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  4. "Gerson Lehrman Gets New Private-Equity Backer". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  5. "Gerson Lehrman Recruits New Technology CEO from eBay". Integrity Research Associates. March 27, 2018. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  6. "Portfolio Companies - Prior Investments". Silver Lake Partners. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  7. "Portfolio - Gerson Lehrman Group". Bessemer Venture Partners. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  8. "SFW Capital Partners Invests Over $200 Million in GLG". SFW Capital Partners. December 21, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  9. John Bruton"John Bruton - Professional Activities"Retrieved April 15, 2012.
  10. GLG Research Council Members""Council Member - Hans Eichel, Retrieved April 15, 2012.
  11. German-British Chamber of Industry & Commerce "‘Austerity must be softened’ - former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder Archived 2014-08-08 at the Wayback Machine", Retrieved April 15, 2012.
  12. "Transforming Professional Learning". Leaders Mag. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  13. "Terms of Service Violation". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  14. "Investing; It's Not What They Know, but Whom". The New York Times. December 23, 2001. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  15. "Talent holds key to growth in Asia for Gerson Lehrman boss". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  16. "More New York Companies Experiment With Innovative Office Space". The Wall Street Journal. July 7, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  17. "Two Minutes with our European Chief Paul Todd". www.ebayinc.com. 2015-08-03. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
  18. "Rebuilding after Katrina and Rita" (PDF). Schulten Ward Turner & Weiss, LLP. April 12, 2006. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  19. "Eye-Care Charity Gets Free Fund-Raising Insights". The Chronicle of Philanthropy. November 11, 2011. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  20. "About GLG Social Impact". GLG Social Impact. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  21. "This Woman's Novel Approach to Poverty Relief is a Game-Changer". Nation Swell. January 30, 2017. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  22. "Gerson Lehrman and Morgan Stanley Alphawise Tie Up". Integrity Research Associates. March 27, 2008. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  23. "Credit Suisse in alliance with consultancy firm". Financial Times. September 10, 2008. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  24. "Gerson Lehrman Group Announces Addition of Frost & Sullivan to the Council Partners Program". GLG Press Release. April 23, 2009. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  25. "Amba partners with Gerson Lehrman Group". Amba Press Release. July 27, 2009. Archived from the original on July 19, 2012. Retrieved October 13, 2017.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  26. "Bloomberg Professional Offers Access to Global Industry Experts". Bloomberg, GLG Press Release. July 8, 2010. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  27. "GLG Invests in Chinese Social Media Startup". Integrity Research Associates. November 8, 2011. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  28. "Ushi, China's Answer To LinkedIn, Raises $3 Million From GLG, Others". TechCrunch. October 13, 2011. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  29. Dutton Associates Online Interview
  30. Marcy Tolkoff, April 21, 2006. "Consult for Wall Street? Consulting for Wall Street may be lucrative, but some critics say such arrangements involve inherent conflicts of interest", Medical Economics. Retrieved August 13, 2008.
  31. Jenny Anderson, February 23, 2006. "Claiming Stock Manipulation, Biovail Sues Hedge Fund", The New York Times. Retrieved August 13, 2008.
  32. GLG, November 1, 2006. "GLG Press Release Gerson Lehrman Group Launches Institutional Registry, A New Clearinghouse for Expert Consulting Restrictions and Conflicts", GLG Press Release. Retrieved August 13, 2008.
  33. "GLG Web Site Compliance Framework Description". Retrieved August 13, 2008.
  34. Jenny Anderson, January 17, 2007. "Wall Street ‘Matchmakers’ Under a New York Inquiry", The New York Times. Retrieved August 13, 2008.
  35. Andrew Ross Sorkin, December 19, 2007. "Silver Lake Partners to Buy a Quarter of Research Firm", The New York Times. Retrieved August 13, 2008.
  36. "Information matchmaker looks beyond Wall Street". Financial Times. Retrieved October 13, 2017.

Further reading
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