Cicero Group

Cicero Group is a management consulting firm offering marketing, data analytics and strategy, market research, customer experience optimization, mergers and acquisitions, finance, outsourcing and more. They have worked with businesses in the aerospace, media, automotive, chemicals, consumer products, and services, education, energy, financial services, healthcare, retail, and technology sectors. The group works with private, public, and social organizations to provide data-driven support and guidance, offering a range of management services to their clients. Cicero group is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Cicero Group is a purpose-driven management consulting firm, their purpose being social impact, responsibility, and reform with an emphasis on measurable impact. The group values "Corporate Social Responsibility" and works with schools, governments, veterans, and other groups toward their goal of social change and ideally improvement, especially for those who are vulnerable. They work with their clients aiming to address issues such as recidivism, homelessness, and inter-generational poverty. They also prioritize investments geared toward sustainability and climate concerns. Cicero Group has been active in investing in the UN Sustainable Development Goals since 2019. The group values philanthropy and makes semi-annual charitable contributions of their own.

The company was founded in 2001 by Randy Shumway and Trent Kaufman. It started as a four-person team and has grown to be a global management firm with offices in Salt Lake City, Utah; Dallas, Texas; and Washington D.C., and employs 300 people. Prior to founding Cicero Group, Randy Shumway was Executive Vice President and Managing Director at the consulting firm Answerthink. Randy Shumway was CEO until 2017, and is now Chair of the Board at Cicero Group. Dr. Trent Kaufman was a consultant at Education Resource Strategies and the Buck Institute prior to the founding of the group. In 2017, Dr. Kaufman took on the appointment of CEO at Cicero.

The Cicero Group is split into two focused branches: one focused on management consulting and the other on social sector consulting. Dr. Trent Kaufman is a CEO of Cicero Group leads both branches. Dr. Kaufman is a co-founder and partner of the company as well. Lawrence Cowen is senior partner and COO of the group. Within each branch there are focused units, for instance the Ed Direction, Cicero Group’s K-12 Public Education within the sector. Units are led by directors and partners.

Cicero Impact Capital was founded as the investment arm of the Cicero Group, in 2018. Cicero Impact Capital Invests in SMEs, corporations, and industries that are in line with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. They also implement management and funding for SMEs that support lower- to middle- class households. They make investments in education, healthcare, housing, agriculture, clean energy and water. They offer revenue-based financing, in addition to consultation services.

The firm heavily utilizes data analytics in the formation of their strategies in management, as well as in their charitable work. In addition, Cicero requires the organizations that receive their charitable contributions to have an evaluation strategy in order to measure progress. Their charitable assistance is allotted to organizations working in public education (with great concern for the vulnerable) and caring for the immediately destitute (this covers struggles related to poverty, abuse, and mental health). Cicero Group also performs volunteer and pro bono work; they sit on a various boards and foundations and their employees contribute an average of fifty-three pro bono hours per year, per employee.