Goldman To Provide Capital to Help Grow Leading Diversity Consulting Firm
New York, NY and Cincinnati, OH – May 17, 2006 – Global Lead Corporation (“Global Lead”), an international management consulting firm specializing in strategic diversity and productivity, announced today its partnership with the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group (“Goldman Sachs UIG”). Goldman Sachs UIG invested an undisclosed sum in privately-held Global Lead to accelerate the company’s organic growth and to provide capital for future acquisitions.
Global Lead, a certified Minority Business Enterprise by the National Minority Supplier Development Council, is one of the largest and oldest diversity and inclusion-focused management consulting firms in the industry. Global Lead advises over 100 major corporations, including Fortune 100 Companies and trains over 250,000 individuals annually around the globe.
Over 95 percent of Fortune 500 companies have diversity and inclusion initiatives in place and many engage outside consultants to develop custom programs to increase productivity and competitiveness. U.S. corporations spend in excess of $2 billion annually on diversity and inclusion strategy development and education initiatives.
“Global Lead is one of the thought leaders in the diversity and inclusion consulting space. We believe this is an attractive investment opportunity for us in an area that we consider to be strategically important to us as a firm,” said Martin Chavez of Goldman Sachs UIG and board member of Global Lead. “Goldman Sachs UIG welcomes opportunities where we can put the firm’s capital to work in support of successful minority management teams and create attractive financial returns.”
“As our clients respond to the rapidly changing domestic demographics and the challenges of a global marketplace, we find they are increasingly turning to best practice advisors to help develop and deliver tailored diversity and inclusion solutions,” said Oris Stuart, managing partner of Global Lead’s Philadelphia office. “Our partnership with Goldman Sachs UIG will accelerate our integration of cutting-edge research, product development, technology and infrastructure to address the increasing market interest in this business imperative.”
About Global Lead Corporation:
Global Lead Management Consulting is a full-service management consulting firm dedicated to delivering the highest quality products and services to help individuals and organizations enhance their productivity. The company provides consulting, training programs, e-learning solutions and products in the areas of: diversity and inclusion, pairs and team development, mentoring, human resources development, research, consumer/customer development, supplier development, and strategic planning/process improvement. Global Lead is based in Cincinnati, OH, with offices in Baltimore, MD, and Philadelphia, PA. For additional information, visit: www.globallead.com.
About The Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group:
The Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group is a private equity initiative within The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS), that invests capital in ethnic minority-owned or targeted businesses and urban real estate. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm. The firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other major financial centers around the world. Goldman Sachs also has offices in Chicago, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia. To learn more about the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group, please visit www.gs.com/uig.
CONTACTS:
Jess DeBevec
Padilla Speer Beardsley
212.752.8338
jdebevec@psbpr.com
Gia Morón
Goldman Sachs
212.902.4307
gia.moron@gs.com
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