Short summary of Illinois Business Consulting and the projects I contributed to and lead for IBC.

1. My Illinois Business Consulting Projects
Teresa S. Spicer, PhD, PMP
teresa.s.spicer@gmail.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/teresaspicer

2. Outline
What is Illinois Business Consulting?
Why I and others join IBC
Projects where I was a consultant
Internet startup company
University institute part I
Projects I managed
University institute part II
Fortune 500 insurance company
Hiring IBC Students

3. What is Illinois Business Consulting?

4. Illinois Business Consulting is the largest student-
run, project-based consulting firm in the nation
We do real work for real clients.
Student Run Project Based Company Focused University Sponsored
• 200 to 250 students per • 40 projects per year • 500 clients since 1996, • Operates under the
year including: College of Business
• 750 projects
• Students are peer- completed since 1996 • Fortune 500 companies • Access to the research
selected and peer- and expertise of U of I
• Teams comprised of • Consulting firms
promoted • Faculty guidance and
diverse talent • Government, universities
• Revenue generated oversight
and not-for-profit
provides scholarships organizations
• Start-ups

5. IBC enables top students to gain work experience
• IBC has a rigorous application and
interview process
• Top undergraduates and graduate
students are extended an offer to
join
• Students come from top
undergraduate and graduate
schools such as the College of
Business, the College of
Engineering, and Library and
Information Sciences

6. IBC history
• Founded by Dr. Paul Magelli in
1996 as the Office of Strategic
Initiatives of the MBA program
• Extended to other graduate
students and undergraduates in
2003
MBA Undergraduate Other graduate
Right: Lobby of the Business Instructional Facility,
home of the IBC offices.

7. Value proposition
• Access to top talent
• Real value added business
solutions delivered at a fraction
of the market cost
• Ability to take advantage of
diverse resources of the
University of Illinois, including
library and faculty
• Ability to work on international
projects with exceptional
language capabilities
• Creative, fresh ideas and
approaches
• Quality deliverable or end
products

8. Organizational structure
Advisory Board
Dan Broadhurst, Huron Consulting Group Courtney Price, VentureQuest Ltd.
Michael D. Lyman, BearingPoint Jill B. Smart, Accenture
James D. Lynch, FTI Linda Toops, Clerestory Consulting
Dave Markham, Lockheed Martin Corp. Richard F. Westenberger, Hewitt Associates
John Clarke
Executive Director
Ron Watkins
Carissa Holler Cathy Ballew
Liezl Bowman
Research Manager Assistant to the Director
Associate Directors
Student-held position Student Executive Director
Marketing Manager Training Manager Operations Manager Senior Manager (6)

9. Consultant career path
Leadership Team
Project
Managers
Senior
Consultants Performance-
based promotion
Consultants

10. Roles and Responsibilities
Leadership Team Oversee, manage, and support
Responsible for project quality, client
Project Managers satisfaction, and the students’ experience
Support Senior Managers in project
Senior Consultants execution, quality, client satisfaction
Bring relevant skills, knowledge,
Consultants provide the required effort and energy

11. Sample client list
Allied Signal Aerospace Delphi Lockheed Martin
Allstate Disney Lucent Technologies
AT&T Solutions Dow Chemical McDonalds
B. F. Goodrich Eaton Microsoft
Bank One Ford Motor Company NASA
BASF Frito-Lay Nissan
Baxter General Electric Nortel
BearingPoint General Motors Procter & Gamble
Boeing Honeywell Walgreens
Caterpillar IBM Whirlpool
Cisco Systems John Deere
Deloitte Consulting KKR
Kraft

12. Why I and others join IBC

13. Why students join IBC
• Work experience Why I joined
• Work in a fast, enjoyable environment
• Real projects - real clients • Work in a team setting with others rather
than alone in a lab
• Career opportunities • Learn from others on the diverse teams
• Get a chance to practice leadership
• Professional development
• Work in a results-oriented environment
• Get clear feedback on performance
• Business acumen / industry
exposure • Make a difference in solving someone’s
problem
• Consulting skills • Be involved with business strategy in a
hands-on way while still in academia
• Differentiated experience • Get to work on a range of different
problems - new client, new problem
• Reap the lifelong benefits of formal
project management training

14. Projects I contributed to as a consultant

15. Business plan for internet startup company
Young internet entrepreneur had a novel idea and an investor, provided
they had a formal business plan. IBC was hired to develop a solid
plan for the client.
The team:
Senior Manager, MBA Candidate from the US
Project Manager, MBA Candidate from the US
MBA Candidate from the US
MBA Candidate from the US
Me

16. Business plan for internet startup company
My contribution: estimate the global market size for the client’s product
• I used the information-seeking skills I use to do scientific
literature searches to find
• Analyst reports from firms like Gartner and Forrester
• Newspaper and magazine articles from lay and trade
publications
• Demographic data
that could be combined to calculate an estimate
• I wrote a report on my findings, citing all the sources and
assumptions used in calculating the estimate
75.5 million people, it turns out.

17. Feasibility of new degree issued by university
institute, phase I
A university institute wanted to issue a new type of PhD specialization. IBC
was brought in to conduct a feasibility study, internal and external
benchmarking, and gauge industry trends for that type of specialization.
The team:
Senior Manager, engineering undergraduate from the US
Project Manager, MBA Candidate from the US
MBA Candidate from the US
Engineering undergraduate from India
Me

18. Feasibility of new degree issued by university
institute, phase I
My contribution: evaluate possible industry and academic career
paths for potential graduates with the new specialization
• I used the information-seeking skills I use to do scientific
literature searches again to find
• Analyst reports from firms like Gartner and Forrester
• Academic papers published on similar topics recently
• Professional societies dedicated to similar topics
• Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
which pointed to great interest in both academia and industry
in people with in-depth knowledge of the specialization
• I summarized my findings in a few slides, which I presented to
the committee planning the new specialization

19. Projects I managed

20. Feasibility of new degree issued by university
institute, phase II
Our university institute client wanted to know more about how others had
executed similar plans and what kinds of jobs graduates could expect to find.
IBC was re-hired to interview directors of similar programs as well as
potential employers.
The team:
Senior Manager, MBA Candidate from the US
Project Manager I, MBA Candidate from Korea
Project Manager II, Me
Physics Doctoral Candidate from Greece
Finance undergraduate from Korea
Bicultural Indian-Dutch computer science and mathematics undergraduate
Engineering Doctoral Candidate from China

21. Feasibility of new degree issued by university
institute, phase II
My contributions:
• Replaced the first project manager mid-project, leading the team to
successful completion of the project
• Supported and encouraged the team when potential interview
subjects did not return calls
• Coached team members on finding contact information and
interviewing as needed
• Led the final presentation of our findings to our client’s committee
• Led the weekly client meetings
• Communicated and focused the team on the deliverable
requirements
• Conducted performance reviews with team members

22. Agent recruitment strategy renewal for Fortune 500
insurance company
Our client needed to replace thousands of retiring agents in the next five years
Young internet entrepreneurand wanted to supplement an investor,
while simultaneously expanding, had a novel idea and their existing
recruitment method.had was askedbusiness plan. IBC was hired to
provided they IBC a formal to develop a new marketing strategy
develop a solidinsurancethe client.
for recruiting plan for agents.
The team:
The team:
Senior Manager, MBA Candidate from the US
Senior Manager, MBA Candidate from the India who was a PMP
Project Manager, MBA Candidate from the US
Project Manager, Me, also a PMP by now
MBA Candidate from the US
MBA Candidate from Thailand
MBA Candidate from the US
MBA Candidate with a PhD from India
Me
Business undergraduate from Singapore
Business undergraduate from Singapore

23. Agent recruitment strategy renewal for Fortune 500
insurance company
My contributions:
• Created a project plan and an issue tree together with the Senior
Manager
• Walked the team through the issue tree and solicited valuable input
from them
• Led the weekly client meetings
• Followed up on project execution with team members, ensuring on-
schedule completion of project
• Encouraged the team to be creative, resulting in a team member
making one of the client’s favorite suggestions
• Stayed process-focused and supportive with the team when
obtaining important information became nearly impossible

24. Hiring IBC Students

25. Hiring IBC students
• Real-world experience • Less risky hire
• Dealing with clients • Students who have shown
commitment
• Working as a team to pull together the
deliverable • Ability to perform
• No set formula or answer to the • Work ethic
problem
• Essential training
• Working in a consulting firm framework
• Ability to contribute more revenue or
• Motivated candidates - no course drive performance more quickly
credit for IBC work performed
• IBC work and training is verifiable
• On the students’ own time
• In addition to the already demanding
workload
• Pre-selected the best students

26. Contacting IBC
• Website - http://www.ibc.illinois.edu/
• Contact the IBC team at 217-244-1286
• Questions
• Feedback
• Verification of résumé or employment
• Email Ron Watkins at ronw@illinois.edu, Liezl Bowman at liezlb@illinois.edu, or
Cathy Ballew at cballew@illinois.edu