Willie Johnson is wise enough to know what she does not know.
She had experience in education and nonprofits, but none in the growing health care field. But she wanted to broaden the scope of her firm, WCJ Consultants, to include that sector.
When the opportunity arose six months ago to merge her firm with another that had experience in the health care industry and was led by her former student in BRAC’s Leadership Institute, Kimberly Bardell, Johnson knew it was a good fit.
A rebranded WCJ Consultants launched three months ago. The company’s current client is the Health Resources and Services Administration, a division of the federal Department of Health and Human Services. The duo provides technical assistance and grant writing reviews.
But they are also still looking for clients in other sectors like strategic planning and emergency preparedness.
Bardell and Johnson, the firm’s principal partners, both say their cross-generational makeup makes them unique.
“I’m learning how to work with someone much younger than I am and she’s learning how to work with a more mature, wiser person,” Johnson, the older of the two, says with a chuckle. “She had skills and expertise that I did not have and I had some that she didn’t have.”
Johnson launched her firm in 2008 after 15 years at BRAC, retiring as a senior vice president. Before that, she was a teacher and assistant principal at Woodlawn High School in Baton Rouge.
At BRAC, she handled a plethora of issues, including public safety, leadership training and—what she calls her most rewarding achievement—overseeing the desegregation case in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System with volunteers and community leaders.
But in 2008, she retired from BRAC, wanting a new challenge. She opened WCJ Consultants and tapped into her contacts made over the years from teaching and at BRAC to build a good client base. But she wanted to break into the health care industry.
In came Bardell and her firm, Bardell and Associates, with 10 years experience consulting in the health care field.
Bardell, the former planning and policy manager at the state Department of Child and Family Services, and Johnson knew of each other’s expertise from Bardell’s time in Johnson’s leadership class in 2012.
Once they starting talking about merging, things moved quickly. Bardell moved her business to WCJ Consultants and became a co-owner of the company.
“We just kind of put two and two together and said this would make a great a partnership,” Johnson says. “She has expertise in that area and the opportunities are now available to go into that area.”
A database of associates with varied areas of expertise allows WCJ Consultants to address a variety of challenges for its clients.
see more at: https://www.businessreport.com/article/baton-rouge-consulting-firms-expertise-different-areas-merge-one-entity
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