In the 25 years since its founding, Strategic Consulting Partners has grown from an idea into a multi-million-dollar consulting business serving federal, state and local government agencies as well as corporate and nonprofit organizations. Through the years, Strategic Consulting Partners CEO Monica Gould and her team of employees and consultants have delivered tens of thousands of hours of training and development programs for their clients – programs which have improved the performance of countless employees and prepared up-and-coming leaders to implement changes both subtle and dramatic – to ensure long-term success of their organizations.

Monica knew she had a great idea in 1994. She had just left MCI Telecommunications in Atlanta, Georgia, where as a Director of Operations she was responsible for twelve customer service call centers across the U.S., representing $1.1 billion of revenue for the company. At age 30, she was the youngest female director in the company’s history, and she was doing an extraordinary job in her role at MCI. While her future in Corporate America was bright and she loved and was inspired by the work she was doing, the idea of finding more work-life balance and spending more time with her two young daughters pulled her into entrepreneurship.

The journey from the first year in business to the twenty-fifth has been full of ups and downs and cross-country moves. It’s been marked by big challenges and major wins. Where first there was just founder Monica Gould and slow growth, now there’s steady growth and a team of nearly 50 employees and consultants, each of whom is adept at deploying a think-outside-the-box approach to address the specific needs of every client. The SCP team’s five specialties are depicted below:

Monica’s remarks about the laudable work that her team does signals her admiration and appreciation for their commitment. “One of the most important elements in the formula for our long-term success is the people on the SCP team. They really ‘get it’ in every sense of the word. They know that every client has unique circumstances, so first they listen and learn and then they design creative ways to achieve the clients’ goals,” she said. The team includes her daughter Jasmine, whose role as Chief Development Officer has been instrumental in developing relationships and forging long-term partnerships with federal government agencies such as the Department of the Navy and the U.S. Army, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and U.S. Agency for International Development.

In addition to federal government projects, SCP also works with state and local government agencies, such as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Public Safety Agencies and its  Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Human Services, and PennDOT – as well as nonprofit organizations such as United Cerebral Palsy of Central Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Parks and Forest Foundation, Disability Rights of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Center for Independent Living, Bridges 2 Independence, and many more.

Every client has unique challenges, and Monica leads her team to find creative, customized approaches to solving them. “Helping clients through major organizational and cultural transformations has been the most rewarding aspect of our work. Being able to see the change and growth that these organizations achieve after working with the SCP team gives us all a sense of accomplishment,” said Jasmine Gould. She shares the company’s five guiding principles with potential clients, and the SCP team is reminded of them at regular intervals:

Integrity – We do the right thing at the right time–ALL THE TIME.

Respect – We actively honor and protect the dignity of our clients, partners, stakeholders and each other. We practice positive regard, esteem, and courtesy.

Customer Centric – All that we do is for the benefit of the customers we serve.

Solutions Oriented – We SOLVE PROBLEMS by taking initiative, developing innovative ideas and consistently deliver high quality results and services.

Adaptable – We are agile in our thinking, flexible in our approach, and relentless in our pursuit of solutions that exceed our customers’ expectations.

“The importance of being visible, being available and being responsive to each and every client cannot be overlooked,” said Monica when asked about what clients most like about SCP. And with respect to SCP’s secret for growth and longevity, Monica cited other rules the SCP team routinely follows both internally and externally: Listen intently to the opinions of others, set goals, routinely measure progress against those goals, quickly identify barriers as they occur, and commit to breaking down those barriers with speed and efficiency. As in many professional service businesses, receiving client testimonials is akin to receiving a gift. Two of the many testimonials that the team recently received are typical of the thanks and praise that clients express:

“Strategic Consulting Partners were our PARTNERS, in every sense of the word, through our entire strategic planning process. After working for many years in the business of managing organizations – and I have worked with Accenture, BDO and various other consultants on similar projects – I found that SCP’s work is far and above the rest in every capacity. I could not give a more confident recommendation.”

Judith McCowan, President and CEO of United Cerebral Palsy of Central Pennsylvania