Public | |
Traded as | NASDAQ: ABCO |
Industry | Health care and education, best practices, research, technology, consulting |
Founded | 1979 |
Founder | David G. Bradley |
Headquarters | Washington, DC, United States |
Area served
|
Worldwide |
Key people
|
Robert Musslewhite (CEO, Chairman) David Felsenthal • President Michael Kirshbaum • Chief Financial Officer Mary Van Hoose • Chief Talent Officer Chas Roades • Chief Research Officer, Health Care Practice Scott Fassbach • Chief Research Officer, Education Practice |
Number of employees
|
3,600 |
Website | advisoryboardcompany.com |
The Advisory Board Company is a best practices firm that uses a combination of research, technology, and consulting to improve the performance of health care organizations and educational institutions.
The company was founded by David G. Bradley in 1979 as the Research Council of Washington with five employees. Its original mission was to answer "any question for any company for any industry," but in 1983 the company began to specialize in research for the financial services industry and changed its name to The Advisory Board Company. By 1986, the company had launched its health care-focused strategic research division, including its first membership program, the Health Care Advisory Board.
Across the next four years the firm grew to 150 employees, served more than 500 health care members, and published 15 major reports and 2,000 research briefs each year. In 1993, the firm launched a strategic research membership for large companies, bringing on almost half of the Fortune 500 within 18 months. The firm expanded in 1994 to include its first clinically based program, the Cardiology Roundtable—which has since evolved to become the Cardiovascular Roundtable—providing best practices to the nations’ cardiac programs.
In 1997, the company spun off its corporate membership group, forming The Corporate Executive Board (now CEB Inc.) as an independent company. It maintained its focus on the health care sector, working with more than 1,500 health care organizations. H*Works, a consulting business offering best practice implementation support launched in 2000, followed shortly by The Advisory Board Company’s initial public offering in 2001, in which Bradley sold his ownership interest.
By 2002, the firm topped 2,100 memberships and 500 employees, and launched The Advisory Board Academies leadership development division—now the company's Talent Development division—to address the leadership gap in health care. In 2003, the company was named to Washingtonian’s Great Places to Work and launched its business intelligence and analytics offering, Compass, providing memberships anchored by robust decision support tools. In 2005, the firm was named to Forbes’ Top 200 High-Growth Companies and again to Washingtonian's Great Places to Work.
In 2007, the company launched its first membership programs in higher education, working with student and academic affairs executives at several U.S. research universities. The firm continued to grow across 2008, acquiring Crimson, a data, analytics, and business intelligence software provider focused on physician performance, quality metrics, and cost of care outcomes.