Innovative brand and marketing partnership firm will use Gerson Lehrman Group platform to extend market reach

NEW YORK, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Gerson Lehrman Group today announced that Brand Value Advisors, LLC (BVA), a leading brand and marketing partnership that advises investor groups who invest in brands, will become a Premium Gerson Lehrman Group Council Partner. Under the terms of the agreement, Gerson Lehrman Group will be the only marketplace offering access to BVA's innovative diligence and portfolio company products and services. BVA will utilize Gerson Lehrman Group's platform to extend its reach and market its services, manage its own sales pipeline, and access other Gerson Lehrman Group experts as needed to greater serve their own clients.

"Ten years ago, potential buyers would have missed out on the type of services that BVA offers. This is because many niche consultancies lacked the scale to build robust sales and sales-related functions," said Dmitri Mehlhorn, Managing Director of Gerson Lehrman Group. "Now, through Gerson Lehrman Group's platform, entrepreneurial consultants can simply put up a storefront in the world's marketplace for expertise, and focus on their own distinctive capabilities."

"For a firm like ours, this is a breakthrough channel in which to market our services," said Mike Kelly, Managing Partner of BVA. Mr. Kelly added that his business has grown quickly, largely through referrals, but that the partnership with Gerson Lehrman Group will allow BVA to extend its reach significantly. "We have a world-class group of professionals and outstanding products to offer--our focus should be on presenting to our clients and prospects. Our traditional selling approach takes an enormous amount of time, and, as we have grown, it has increasingly put stress on our ability to focus on delivering for our clients. The partnership with Gerson Lehrman Group will greatly relieve that stress by directing a large universe of qualified and interested buyers to our services. This outsourcing of our sales-related functions will help balance how we grow and service our business going forward."

In addition to aggregating and enlisting active, qualifying buyers of expertise, the Gerson Lehrman Group platform provides Council Partners with other go-to-market solutions including search engine optimization, forums, speaker series, publishing tools for its professionals, a contract management system, and payment processing service. BVA intends to have its Internet presence hosted entirely through the Gerson Lehrman Group Council Partners program.

"This agreement makes immediate sense for our clients," said Michael Duran, Managing Director of Private Equity Business Development, Gerson Lehrman Group. "We expect to see our typical project growing in scale to include longer term engagements on functional topics--sometimes, with multiple different consultants involved. Members of the BVA team had already participated in our network and were well received by our clients; Premium Council Partners like them give our clients an edge."

Mr. Mehlhorn sees the agreement with BVA as part of a broader trend. "The initial participants in our Council Partner program were established firms such as the law firm Bingham McCutchen LLP, or the research firm Jon Peddie Research. We are excited that fast-growth innovators are also choosing our Council Partners platform. From C-level marketing professionals like the team at BVA, to top white-collar talent that has left the full-time workforce, we increasingly see talented innovators using our platform to incubate and accelerate their growth strategies."

About Gerson Lehrman Group

Gerson Lehrman Group provides technology and services to support a marketplace for expertise. Since 1998, its platform for consultation and collaboration has helped the world's leading financial services firms, consultancies, corporations, and nonprofits find, engage, and manage experts in a broad range of industries and disciplines. Gerson Lehrman Group's unparalleled network of the world's leading expert consultants, known as the Gerson Lehrman Group Councils, includes more than 200,000 subject-matter experts who educate and provide insight to decision makers through a wide range of consulting methods, including telephone consultations, expert surveys, and seminars. Gerson Lehrman Group has invested in one of the world's most sophisticated infrastructures for expert recruiting and compliance. For more information about Gerson Lehrman Group, please visit www.glgroup.com.

About Brand Value Advisors

BVA is a partnership of c-level marketing and brand professionals created to specifically provide diligence and advisory services to firms investing in brands. BVA provides both pre-investment and portfolio services to their clients, ranging from brand valuation and assessment to brand turn around and management sourcing.

Gerson Lehrman Group and the Gerson Lehrman Group logo are registered trademarks of Gerson Lehrman Group [in the United States and other countries]. Failure to list any other Gerson Lehrman Group trademarks does not constitute a waiver of any rights to any Gerson Lehrman Group trademarks, including unregistered trademarks. Other names included in this press release may also be the registered or unregistered trademarks of their respective owners.

    Gerson Lehrman Group Contact:
    Christopher Stella
    212-880-6517
    cstella@glgroup.com

    Brand Value Advisors Contact:
    Mike Kelly
    646-704-4437
    mkelly@brandvalueadvisors.com

SOURCE Gerson Lehrman Group