April 28, 2010

The Hackett Group's 20th Best Practices Conference Offers Guidance on "Excelling in a Volatile Recovery"

  • Highlights Include Presentations by Leaders from Heidrick & Struggles, Hewlett-Packard, McDonald's, and Molson Coors, Plus Insights from Hackett's New World-Class Performance Research

ATLANTA & LONDON, April 28, 2010 - The worst of the global recession may be behind us, but economic uncertainty remains very high. This is the focus of The Hackett Group's 20th Annual Best Practices Conference, "Excelling in a Volatile Recovery," at the InterContinental Hotel in Atlanta May 19-20.

The Hackett Group (NASDAQ: HCKT), a global strategic advisory firm, is a leader in best practice advisory, benchmarking, and transformation consulting services including strategy and operations, working capital management, and globalization advice.

This year's Best Practices Conference brings together speakers from nearly a dozen of the world's most successful companies, including CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, and leaders in procurement and human resources from Heidrick & Struggles, Hewlett-Packard, McDonald's, and Molson Coors.

The invitation-only event will also feature Hackett insights into the development of world-class transformation strategies and performance levers for Global 1000 companies. Hackett leadership will offer previews of the company's latest research detailing the cross-functional performance of world-class and typical companies in terms of spending, staffing, economic return, and other key efficiency and effectiveness metrics.

"To thrive in today's environment, you have to be smarter and faster than ever before," said Hackett Chairman and CEO Ted A. Fernandez. "Decisions and actions need to be backed by the latest business intelligence to capitalize on opportunities to drive growth with greater confidence and clarity. In the current economy, as in any economy, best practices produce results. But now the stakes are higher, the competition is fiercer, and there is more to lose - and more to win. World-class companies understand this, and are quickly adapting to the new 'normal' to get and stay ahead of the competition."

According to Hackett President of Research & Advisory Services Sean Kracklauer, "The Hackett Best Practices Conference has always been an exceptional forum for business leaders to learn from real-world examples of how their peers are improving performance in finance, information technology, human resources, procurement, and global operations. Each year many attendees tell us they see an almost immediate 'return on investment,' and come away with actionable information that can drive competitive advantage - details on everything from proven research insights and successful business process improvement initiatives to enhanced delivery models and new technology capabilities. But for this year, we've gone still further, adding new voices and varied perspectives from thought leaders to add greater richness to the discussions."

The following executives are currently scheduled to present:

  • Coty Inc. – David Berry, SVP & Global CIO — Coty's Journey to Global Information Management
  • Cytec – David Drillock, VP & CFO — Managing Working Capital: Cytec's "cash for" growth program
  • Fidelity Investment – Claire Leblanc, SVP Corporate Finance — Enabling Better Decisions: How Fidelity is improving business analytics capabilities and overall efficiency within Finance
  • Heidrick & Struggles – L. Kevin Kelly, Author & CEO — Leading in Turbulent Times: How top executives stay the course
  • Hewlett-Packard – Dr. Teri Eyre, VP Personal Systems Group HR — The HR Optimization Model: Hewlett-Packard's talent management framework
  • Husky – James Reid, VP Global HR & Organizational Development — Charting a Course for Improvement: How Husky embarked on its HR transformation journey
  • McDonald's – Michael Riordan, Head Indirect Procurement — Procurement's Golden Arches: How McDonald's is using sourcing as a driver to stimulate growth
  • Molson Coors – Stewart Glendinning, CFO — Outsourcing in 365 Days or Less: How Molson Coors transformed its back office support
  • NCR – Bill VanCuren, VP & CIO — Repositioning IT: How NCR's IT Services team transformed from "order taker" to strategic partner
  • Philips Latin America – Ronald Eikelenboom, CFO — Business Process Outsourcing: How Philips successfully transformed its accounting processes
  • Solo Cup – George Chappelle, COO — Recipe for a Successful Business Transformation
The Hackett Group
  • Chris Brennan, President, Benchmarking & Business Transformation Services and Sean Kracklauer, President, Advisory Services & Research — Excelling in a Volatile Recovery
  • Sean Kracklauer, President, Advisory Services & Research — Finance Excellence: How world-class finance delivers more value
  • Chris Sawchuk, Global Procurement Advisory Practice Leader — Procurement Excellence: How world-class procurement delivers more value
  • Honorio Padron, IT & Global Business Services Advisory Practice Leader — IT Excellence: How world-class IT is the great enabler
  • Harry C. Osle, Global HR Practice Leader — HR Excellence: How world-class HR delivers more value

More information on The Hackett Group's 20th Annual Best Practices Conference is available online at: www.thehackettgroup.com/events/usbp10


About The Hackett Group, Inc.

The Hackett Group (NASDAQ: HCKT), a global strategic business advisory and operations improvement consulting firm, is a leader in best practice advisory, benchmarking, and transformation consulting services including strategy and operations, working capital management, and globalization advice. Utilizing best practices and implementation insights from more than 5,000 benchmarking engagements, executives use The Hackett Group's empirically-based approach to quickly define and implement initiatives to enable world-class performance. Through its REL group, The Hackett Group offers working capital solutions focused on delivering significant cash flow improvements. Through its Archstone Consulting group, The Hackett Group offers Strategy & Operations consulting services in the Consumer and Industrial Products, Pharmaceutical, Manufacturing and Financial Services industry sectors. Through its Hackett Technology Solutions group, The Hackett Group offers business application consulting services that help maximize returns on IT investments. The Hackett Group has completed benchmark studies with 2,800 major corporations and government agencies, including 97% of the Dow Jones Industrials, 84% of the Fortune 100, 80% of the DAX 30 and 49% of the FTSE 100.

More information on The Hackett Group is available: by phone at (770) 225-7300; by e-mail at info@thehackettgroup.com.