About Cadence
Cadence Strategy Group was founded in 2006 by Eleanor Marsh, after 14 years at McKinsey, with a conviction that mid-market companies deserve the same quality of strategic counsel as their Fortune 500 counterparts.
Our Story
In 2006, Eleanor Marsh left McKinsey after 14 years as a Principal in the firm's Corporate Finance and Strategy Practice. She had spent over a decade advising some of the world's largest companies, and she had grown increasingly frustrated by a simple observation: the mid-market - companies with $50M to $500M in revenue - faced many of the same strategic challenges as large enterprises, but had access to a fraction of the analytical firepower.
She founded Cadence Strategy Group to close that gap. The model was simple: hire practitioners with deep operating experience, not generalists with good presentation skills. Diagnose before recommending. Stay through implementation. And structure fees around client outcomes, not billable hours.
Eighteen years later, the firm has grown to a 24-person practice with offices in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. We have completed over 140 engagements, contributed to transactions totaling $2.4B in enterprise value, and maintained an average client tenure of 4.2 years - in an industry where the average is 18 months.
Our Values
We tell clients what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. We have walked away from engagements where the data did not support the outcome the client was hoping for. This is what builds trust over the long term.
Every partner at Cadence has held an operating role - as a CFO, COO, divisional president, or business unit head. We don't theorize about management; we've practiced it.
Strategy without execution is a presentation. Our standard engagement structure includes a dedicated implementation phase where we work alongside your team to ensure the plan translates into results.
How We Work
01
We spend the first two weeks listening before we make a single recommendation.
02
Every recommendation is backed by data, benchmarks, and a financial model.
03
We don't hand over a deck and disappear. We implement alongside your team.
The Firm
Managing Partner
22 years in management consulting. Former McKinsey Principal with a Harvard MBA. Eleanor founded Cadence Strategy in 2006 with a belief that mid-market companies deserve the same caliber of strategic counsel as Fortune 500 enterprises.
Senior Partner
16 years specializing in M&A transactions and post-merger integration. Wharton MBA. David has advised on over $1.2B in deal value across manufacturing, healthcare, and technology sectors.
Partner
12 years in operations and performance transformation. MIT Sloan MBA. Priya leads Cadence's performance practice, specializing in cost structure redesign and organizational efficiency for mid-market industrials and services firms.
Advisory Board
Our engagements are informed by a 12-person advisory board of former CEOs, CFOs, and C-suite executives across manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, and technology. When your situation calls for a domain perspective that goes beyond our core practice, we bring the right voice into the room.
Every engagement starts the same way: a 90-minute diagnostic call. No charge, no obligation, and you leave with our honest read on the problem - whether or not you hire us.
