ABOUT VERTEX
Vertex was founded in 2009 by four partners who wanted to give boards the rigour of a large consultancy without its conflicts. We are still owned by the people who do the work.
OUR STORY
We started in a borrowed room in New York with one client, a regional manufacturer weighing whether to sell. The answer was no. Ten years later that company had tripled in size, and its chair had introduced us to half the people we still work with.
That first engagement set the pattern. We take on fewer clients than we could, we put partners in the room, and we tie a real share of our fees to whether the advice works. Seventeen years on we are 380 people in four offices, and the pattern has not changed.
380
62
1,200+
WHAT WE BELIEVE
We are judged by what changes in the business, not by the size of the final document. Most of ours are under thirty pages.
No software, no outsourcing arm, no referral fees. Partners own the firm, and nobody else has a say in our advice.
We build the plan with the managers who will run it, so the capability stays with you when we leave.
Straight answers
If the honest answer is to do nothing, or to hire someone else, we say so. It has cost us work, and won us more.
SINCE 2009
2009
Founded in New York
Four partners, one client and a borrowed meeting room on Park Avenue South.
2012
London opens
Our first office outside the US, to follow two clients into Europe.
2016
Outcome-based fees
Tying part of every delivery fee to agreed results becomes firm policy.
2019
Zurich and Singapore
Two offices in one year, built around our financial services and energy teams.
2023
Digital & AI practice
Data scientists and engineers join consulting teams on every operations engagement.
2026
1,200 engagements
Across 41 countries, with 86% of clients coming back for more.
HOW WE WORK
Every engagement follows the same four steps. What changes is how long each takes and who from your side is in the room.
01
2–4 weeks
Diagnose
We take the business apart with your numbers, your customers and your front line, and agree what is really driving the problem.
02
3–6 weeks
Decide
We put two or three real options in front of the board, each with its cost, its risk and what it asks of your people.
03
3–12 months
Deliver
Our team works inside yours to land the plan: owners, milestones, a weekly cadence and a scorecard everyone can read.
04
Ongoing
Sustain
We hand over the tools and the habits, then check in at six and twelve months to make sure the gains have held.
RECOGNITION
What others say about how we work
Best Firms to Work For
Top 25 Strategy Advisors
Operations Advisor of the Year
Great Place to Work
OFFICES
Contact an office
Headquarters
New York
400 Park Avenue South, 18th floor
New York, NY 10016
Webinar: scenario planning for the 2027 board calendar
scenario-planning-2027-webinar
Event
Elena Marsh and Priya Raman
A one-hour online briefing for directors and executives on building scenarios, triggers and prepared moves into the board's regular cycle.
Scenario planning that boards will actually use
scenario-planning-for-boards
Article
Elena Marsh and Thomas Reid
Most board scenario exercises produce a thick report and no decisions. A lighter approach, tied to triggers and pre-agreed moves, makes them useful.
Making cost savings last: a breakfast roundtable for CFOs
making-cost-savings-last-roundtable
Event
David Okafor and Hannah Cole
A closed-door breakfast in London for finance leaders planning their next cost program, built on the findings of The CFO Cost Agenda 2026.
Operations AI Benchmark 2026: from pilots to the P&L
operations-ai-benchmark-2026
Report
Marcus Lindqvist and Priya Raman
How 286 operations leaders are using AI in maintenance, planning and quality, how much of it reaches production, and what the companies seeing returns do differently.
Zero-based organization design, done properly
zero-based-organization-design
Article
Hannah Cole
Designing an organization from a blank page sounds radical. Done well, it is the most practical way to remove layers and duplication without starting a political war.
The first 100 days after a merger
first-100-days-after-a-merger
Article
Lukas Brenner and Amara Nwosu
The first hundred days after closing set the pace for everything that follows. What to settle before day one, what to do quickly, and what to leave alone.
The CFO Cost Agenda 2026: why savings fade and what keeps them
cfo-cost-agenda-2026
Report
Thomas Reid and David Okafor
A survey of 412 chief financial officers on cost programs, how much of the savings survive, and the practices that separate durable results from temporary ones.
Making AI pay back in operations, not in pilots
making-ai-pay-back-in-operations
Article
Marcus Lindqvist and Kenji Watanabe
Most operations AI never leaves the pilot stage. The few use cases that pay back share a set of traits that have little to do with the model itself.
Pricing power after the inflation years
pricing-power-after-inflation
Article
Elena Marsh and Priya Raman
Companies raised prices faster than costs between 2021 and 2024. Customers remember. How to set prices now that the cover of general inflation is gone.
Why cost programs fail in year two
why-cost-programs-fail-in-year-two
Article
David Okafor and Thomas Reid
Most cost programs hit their first-year targets. The savings disappear in the second year, for reasons that are predictable and largely avoidable.