The sixth annual Shade Family CBL Emerging Leaders Consulting Experience, a two-week experiential, immersive experience developed and led by EY Professor Brian Ballou, was once again held this January in Chicago, with students of all majors—including accounting—living the life of consultants working for one firm. The Shade Family sponsors the program, which reduces fees for each student to enable greater access to the program for students who might not otherwise get to attend. The Shade family works with the Union League Club of Chicago to allow students to stay in the luxurious club for a very reasonable rate, providing students a place to work and recreate during downtime.
In 2024, the participating clients included four-time participant WTW (in partnership with Andy Goldstein ’83, WTW Executive Compensation Consultant and the Isaac & Oxley Center for Business Leadership [CBL] Advisory Board Chair); three-time participant Mintel (in partnership with Mintel Americas President Ben Dietz ’04); and first-time participant Bredwell (in partnership with Co-Founders Lisa Shade ’98 and Heidi Shade ‘03).
Students bonded as teammates via a Chicago scavenger hunt on the first day. They were then treated to excellent client visits (check out Master of Accountancy student Ross Nixon’s Day in the Life Instagram post on the Department of Accountancy feed). First, Ben Dietz opened the Mintel’s new offices for the team before its grand opening to all employees later in the month. He invited the students to attend a virtual global meeting with marketing and sales professionals for the launch of its new generative AI product, Leap, which performs searches of all of the many consumer data analysis reports for customers across all industry segments for which they subscribe. The excitement of introducing such a disruptive technology into their project offerings made a strong impression on the participants.
The team then visited Willis Towers Watson and were treated to a first-class tour of the Willis Tower building, which benefitted from $500 million in improvements by owner BlackRock, including a beautiful gathering area on the 66th floor and elaborate workout facilities and equipment on the 33rd floor offered to tenants at extremely low monthly rates. They then received what Ballou believes is the clearest and best overview of artificial intelligence and its impact on society and the workforce by Andy Goldstein and WTW Chief Strategy, Innovation, and Accelerator Officer John Bremen (see his Forbes blog that reflects his comments). Further, 2022 ELCE participant Nana Hemaa ’22 once again served as the lead point person at WTW for the team assigned to the client, as she has been successfully working for WTW since graduating (based in part on her experience in Chicago that winter).
The third client visit marked the first time the program ventured outside of the Chicago Loop for a client. Start-up craft dog nutrition provider, Bredwell, has one store location in Barrington, Illinois, which is a one-hour train ride northwest of Chicago. The trip became more exciting because although the train ride started while it was raining downtown, the group arrived in Barrington to 7 inches of falling snow. Lisa and Heidi, along with leadership team member Chris Emery, toured the participants around the store and explained how their dog food and treat formulas only use human-edible, top-quality ingredients (see their website and feel free to order something!). They also explained the evolving relationships of people and their pets, with their focus on “pet parents” and “dog people” who view their dogs as family members and prioritize nutrition for them. Lisa, Heidi, and Chris then joined the students for dinner at a nice Italian restaurant before the team took the train back that evening.
During the remainder of the program, students worked on their projects involving the impact of generative AI on technology research platform companies (Mintel) and human capital and how people work (WTW). The Bredwell team focused on how to leverage social media channels to influence pet parents to learn about the brand and shift to subscription-based meals using its e-commerce platform. The student teams made presentations to their clients, which were attended by all participants in the program before returning home to work remotely on a report to send the client during the third week of the program.
Other highlights during the 2024 Program included the following:
- Presentations on executive leadership and executing strategy by Ballou, the consulting process and effective team skills by Isaac & Oxley CBL Johnson Director Megan Gerhardt, along with ELCE and accounting alumnus Jack Watson ’22.
- A CBL alumni event held this year at PB&J Jukebox in the West Loop.
- A half-day tour of MxD, an operations innovation and cybersecurity facility located on Goose Island. The event was arranged by EY consultants David Shade ’01 and Kevin Koval ‘12. The day featured a number of presentations and a factory tour on how technology and engineering is being bolstered by AI and generative AI to help improve the quality and cybersecurity of the critical needs in manufacturing operations. Further, students toured the EY Long-Term Value Engineering Lab and reverse engineered frozen pizzas to understand how to improve long-term product quality and sustainable materials. Overall, the visit was a great experience for students, as the tours typically are geared toward consulting partners and clients.
- A visit to the Chicago Art Institute on Saturday (check out Master of Accountancy student Grace Tiffin’s Day in the Life Instagram post on the Department of Accountancy feed).
- Annual EY Consulting Workshop was held two-thirds into the program, in which alums David Shade, Ryan Coli ’10, and other professionals in the office meet with the participants in small group breakouts to help them prepare for their presentations at the end of the week. The insights shared with the participants by experts in the field help them pull tighter their materials and provide them with confidence to present to the professionals.
- Shade Family Celebration Dinner sponsored by EY held the last evening of the Program at the Union League Club. The dinner included leaders from the three clients in addition to members of the Shade Family and EY professionals who participated in the workshop.
