OUR FOCUS:
We help firms gain a deeper understanding of their own performance capabilities, provide organizational change expertise, build up new business capabilities, and accelerate EBITDA growth. Catalyft partners with Private Equity, top-performing companies looking for their next areas of growth, organizations facing operational and financial adversity, and firms in merger transition. We’re a navigator and an accelerant.
OUR ORIGIN:
Disheartened by management consulting’s bad habits and wasted energy (such as recycling generalized solutions, emphasizing theoretical guidance over practical implementation, focusing on invoicing rather than solving problems, gazing myopically inward, pushing organizations down untested rabbit holes, crewing inexperienced staff with limited support…feel free to add your own personal fave), Catalyft’s founder, Dean Lampman, was inspired to hang out a shingle of his own and create a flexible, practitioner-led consulting firm – designed around each clients’ unique, complex requirements.
Catalyft’s model is built around customizing every partnership to fit client needs. By infusing flexibility in every collaboration, ensuring only relevant technology applications and subject matter experts are brought to bear on business needs, and emphasizing tangible results over internal politics, Catalyft sidesteps the consulting industry’s expensive bad habits. All for the benefit of our clients.
» Identify, qualify, and quantify improvement opportunities considering all trapped value
» Design practical solutions capturing those opportunities releasing the trapped value
» Implement solutions to realize tangible benefits showing up in operational metrics, cultural assessments, and financial statements
Together, we define shared operational and financial targets, calibrate our ambitious approach with a strong cultural fit to get your team actively involved in the transformation, and allow freshly-visible data analytics to guide us through all the inherent trials and exciting breakthroughs along the way. Preparing for your bright future, we ensure your team is empowered with the capacity, know-how, and data-backed confidence to keep the improvements moving onward and upward.
While our firm may be young and enthusiastic, the collective experience of our team is best measured in decades. In fact, most of us have worked together for years. The core team’s time together as colleagues has outlasted most of our business cards. Our trust in each other pays off for our clients by ensuring we build the best team for each engagement – customized specifically to our clients’ needs – rather than naively applying the same skill sets for every situation.
Our success depends upon leveraging collective strengths, accurately assessing new risks, and thoughtfully applying individual expertise to our clients’ most pressing opportunities. We are dedicated to creating a collegial environment – built upon respect for our clients and for our own professionals. We know supporting each other in an open, collaborative manner pays off in several ways: the daily spark of a job well-done, the lingering satisfaction of building new business capabilities, and the definitive sense of accomplishment from seeing improvements translate into EBITDA and cash upside for our clients.
While perspectives may initially vary, rigorous measurement of progress must be in place during every Catalyft engagement. “Let the numbers do the talking” is a hallmark of our culture. We know the numbers will confirm our chosen approach is paying off. They will also provide early warning when we need to make adjustments. We know the numbers will provide objective assurance to our clients – who have so graciously entrusted us to be part of their firm’s complex transformation. It’s a universal language we speak early and often.
We know if we take care of our clients, then everything else falls beautifully into place. We’ve experienced it. We embrace the fact that our success is solely contingent upon our clients’ success. Everything else is a means to that end.
Clients tell us our dedication to their daily needs and alignment with their long-term goals set us apart from other more internally-focused firms they’ve worked with in the past. Thankfully, our clients show us our values are aimed correctly by continuing to partner with us on additional opportunities.
Our values provide the foundation for the way we conduct ourselves both personally and professionally. We embrace meritocracy, encourage active debate, and cultivate self-development. These values, added to our out-sized entrepreneurial spirit, make working with Catalyft a rewarding experience.
the quality of being honest and maintaining a firm adherence to a code of moral and ethical principles: incorruptibility; an unimpaired condition: soundness; the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished: completeness.
The integrity of men is to be measured by their conduct, not by their professions.
— Junius
the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight.
The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance – it is the illusion of knowledge.
— Daniel J. Boorstin
the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation; the demonstration of the ability to be brave in facing possible danger and hardship by drawing upon an inner strength of character to stand firm on matters of personal principles and conviction.
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.
— Winston Churchill
the center of the total personality, especially with reference to intuition, feeling, or emotion; the center of a person’s thoughts and emotions, especially love, compassion, or enthusiasm.
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
GETTING STARTED:
We have an extensive interview and vetting process to ensure the people we hire are the right fit for us and we’re a great fit for their professional needs.
ALWAYS LEARNING:
Our working environment is challenging – but exciting. Team members enjoy an entrepreneurial culture, individualized career development opportunities, and a cross-training philosophy to build skills and broaden strengths. We are very proud of our collaborative working relationships at every level of our organization.
CLIENT-CENTERED:
Working with us, you will be immersed in demanding, creative work that produces tangible results. Unlike traditional consulting firms, we work shoulder-to-shoulder with our clients to implement the very solutions we propose rather than just providing the framework. If you want to see your efforts come to life, Catalyft just might be for you.
CARROT OVER STICK:
To attract and retain the best professionals in the marketplace, we offer a highly competitive compensation package.
EXCELLENCE OF CHARACTER:
We provide unmatched service by only hiring people with proven character, business acumen, and work ethic, and by providing the team with supportive leadership, tools, and encouragement to thrive.
ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT:
You’re the driver of your own career with us. To support you, we offer a robust, non-traditional career development planning process, regular opportunities for performance feedback, and a pragmatic performance review process designed to help you succeed.
ENGAGEMENT IN THE NOW:
No such monster as “The Daily Grind” here. Working side-by-side with incredibly smart clients and highly-experienced teammates on innovative solutions, we are confident even our most seasoned veterans will learn something new.
Dean W. Lampman – Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Catalyft, LLC.
Build-up, Turnaround, and Organizational Excellence Experience: For 33 years and counting, Dean has led significant performance gains partnering with 310+ organizations. With every collaboration, he has shared his ability to quickly interpret complex issues, develop comprehensive improvement strategies, design innovative business models, and implement dramatic changes. To date, his teams have delivered $2.5+ billion in annualized client benefits across 14+ sectors.
While ultimately focusing on EBITDA and cash flow, Dean’s experience has shown all engagements must also embed leadership development and change management programs along the path to financial results. He is often requested to provide insight on organizational readiness for upcoming market challenges, assess trapped value levels in existing models, and participate in mergers & acquisitions activities. His experience spans across complex turnaround collaborations as well.
Life Before Catalyft: Dean held multiple executive positions in Management Consulting and Global Transportation Services – including 10 years as Senior Partner, Executive Vice President of Logistics, Director of Operations, and Lead Analyst (Americas).
Professional Organizations: Active member of Turnaround Management Association (TMA), Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), and The OSU Department of Mathematics Advisory Board. OSU Dept. of Mathematics Link
Education: The Ohio State University.
Interests Outside Of Catalyft: Any activity involving outdoor adventures and college football.
