Consilium is Latin for ‘Council of Wise Advisors’.

The Texas Consilium exists to help Texas companies, regardless of industry, improve their profitability, growth and stakeholder enjoyment from business. In short, Texas Consilium is in the business of business improvement in Texas.

Highly seasoned, world-class business advisors have come together to serve Texas companies and our local economies by helping companies diagnose and solve business problems across functional boundaries. As an experienced and objective third party, we are unrestrained by the blinders of ingrained “normal” and the emotional bias of prior decisions. Our aim is to remove the hurdles that block your growth and impair your profits. We apply our unique breadth and depth of experience to stimulate and accelerate your growth and help you build value.


As a Nonprofit, we focus on the profitability of Your Business, instead of ours.

Our mission of improving the prosperity of Texas through improving the prosperity of individual Texas businesses has drawn world-class business advisors to Texas Consilium — advisors who have a passion for using their experience and wisdom to help others.

Our success is based not on the revenues we generate for ourselves, but on the impact we create in your business and on the good we achieve for our State of Texas. 100% of your fees go into serving you and our Texas mission.

where we’ve been & where we’re going

OUR HISTORY

The Texas Consilium originated within The University of Texas at Arlington and the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center (TMAC). After receiving our charter in 2015, we sought to build on TMACs history of excellence in process reengineering by helping Texas businesses in all industry segments to thrive in an increasingly competitive global market.

OUR STANDING

Recognized by Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas House of Representatives for our unique role in the economic development of our state, Texas Consilium brings together proven and experienced leaders to help you achieve the level of business excellence to which you aspire.

OUR ORGANIZATION

We serve Texas business leaders as a nonprofit organization which allows us to focus on the profitability of our clients’ businesses instead of our own and enables us to focus on business growth, job creation, and community prosperity throughout the state of Texas.

OUR APPROACH

Unlike typical consulting organizations, our resources are not constrained to a static bench of “consultants” waiting for their next assignment. Instead, we assemble the optimal mix of industry experience and technical expertise required to address your untapped market opportunities and specific business challenges. 

Our Leadership Team

Our team is comprised of highly experienced business leaders who have come together to serve Texas companies and our local economies by solving problems across functional boundaries. Collectively we have worked with thousands of businesses to remove the hurdles that block growth and impair profits. The diversity of our team provides many unique perspectives that we coordinate in a cohesive manner. With our combined talents and experience, we are a powerful force in the business of business improvement.

Jim Ratchford

Executive Director &
Business Advocate

Improving Lives
for more than 30 years


Robert E. Gardner

Chairman of the Board &
Business Advocate

Planning for
Unforeseen Risk
for more than 30 years


Darryl W. Haynes

Board President &
Business Advocate

Improving Resource Management
for more than 30 years


Ritchie B. Norrell

Director of Finance

Improving Financial Performance
for more than 30 years



Karen Perkins

Director of Technology

Improving Processes and Client Relationships
for more than 20 years


Doug Taeckens

Director of Partner Relations

Improving Global Sales Performance
for more than 30 years


Phil O. Reyna

Director of Human Resources

Improving Employee Engagement
for more than 20 years


Rich Sweeney

Director of Business Advocacy

Improving Leadership & Sales Training
for more than 30 years

Frequently asked questions

How can my organization work with Texas Consilium?

Let’s explore what you do and what you would like to accomplish. Then we can discuss how Texas Consilium may complement what you do, and identify potential opportunities to collaborate. Those collaborative opportunities could include referrals, cross-marketing, partnering, events, training, knowledge sharing or other activities that increase our mutual ability to positively impact Texas businesses.

If you lead an organization that works with the top leaders of Texas businesses, then let’s talk.

Why should I consider asking Texas Consilium for business improvement assistance?

If you are shopping for advisors for your business, it can be a very confusing marketplace. Your options range from large global firms such as Deloitte, KPMG, McKinsey, Accenture and many more, all the way through the other end of the spectrum of boutique firms and individuals.

You also have the option to engage specialty firms who focus on specific functions such as accounting, technology, training or marketing. Each option can have its benefits, costs and risks, and there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution for every business. Your challenge is to find the best option for your business.

Here are a few facts about Texas Consilium for you to consider:

World-Class Advisors – All of our leading team members have decades of experience, including many years in business advisory and leadership roles with the major consulting firms and operating companies. These leaders have chosen to join the Texas Consilium team, in part, because it provides them with personal freedom and greater opportunities to help others.

Broad Bench – Most advisory firms have a defined staff with an objective to keep them billable. Texas Consilium has a broad bench of seasoned talent that we can draw upon to build a blue-ribbon team customized for your specific needs.

Holistic Approach – Regardless of the business issues you may need to address, our holistic approach and coordinated resources provides assurance that the root causes can be identified and resolved. Business issues exist within complex systems, not in individual silos.

Texas Focus – We are right here with you in Texas, helping grow Texas by helping you. Our local leadership, our local and national team members, and our contacts throughout the Texas communities and the world are all resources to support your success.

Recognized by the State of Texas – Texas Consilium has been recognized by both the Texas House of Representatives and Texas Governor Greg Abbott for our unique role in economic development for the State of Texas. It’s recognition that you can trust!

Your Prosperity, Not Ours – As a nonprofit, we can focus on the profitability of your business, instead of ours. Our mission of improving the prosperity of Texas through improving the prosperity of individual Texas businesses has drawn world-class business advisors to Texas Consilium — advisors who have a passion for using their experience and wisdom to help others. Our success is based not on the revenues we generate for ourselves, but on the impact we create in your business and on the good we achieve for our State of Texas. 100% of your fees go into serving you and our Texas mission.

If you are ready and willing to engage in a business improvement program, let’s talk. If we aren’t the right fit for you, we’ll gladly let you know. Your success is our mission.

Why should I refer a company and/or client to Texas Consilium?

Referring your clients and contacts to the Texas Consilium shows that you want the greatest success for them, which will enhance your success as well.

Business issues do not exist in silos. True improvement involves expertise across all functional areas, for every function is connected to others throughout an organization in a complex system. Symptoms often show themselves far from the root cause of the issues.

Regardless of your area of greatest personal expertise, Texas Consilium can support and enhance your client improvement efforts. We can help you build a team that will provide perspectives and expertise across all functional areas, allowing you to accomplish much more for your client. Increase the improvement impact for your client, and you can also enhance your personal and financial rewards.


Why is Texas Consilium a nonprofit?

Texas Consilium was founded as a Texas nonprofit corporation with a mission-driven, economic development purpose:  Grow the Texas economy by helping individual Texas businesses grow and prosper.

As an expansion out of the US Department of Commerce and NIST’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership program in Texas, our founders made the decision to remain consistent with the nonprofit economic development culture from which the Consilium had been formed.

Texas Consilium is not about creating wealth for our shareholders — for we have none. 100% of Texas Consilium revenues are applied to our mission of improving Texas businesses and growing the State of Texas. It’s a mindset difference that drives everything we do.  Rather than our prosperity, we focus on the prosperity of the clients we serve.

How does Texas Consilium charge for its services?

Before you ever incur a charge for our services, we will meet with you to discover the issues that exist and the objectives for your business that we might help you achieve. We will then prepare an Impact Estimate to clarify with you the positive financial impact that our services could create through our work with you, based on top-line revenue growth, cost savings, and overall profitability improvement. By looking at the potential of your business and projecting the results toward your future, it’s quite common to see improvement impacts worth millions of dollars.

If the Impact Estimate indicates that we can generate sufficient impact for your business, then we will prepare a proposal for services. Like most professional firms such as attorneys, CPAs, architects and engineers, we charge professional rates for our work. Our fees are generally based on an hourly rate for each professional, plus expenses for travel, supplies and other out-of-pocket expenses. For our Diagnostic Analysis & Action Plans, and in some other cases, we may work on a fixed fee project basis. As we identify with you the scope of our services for your business, we will develop the fee basis that we believe will be most beneficial to you.

Quite simply, the cost of our services will be far less than the value you get — or we’re not going to do it.


Does Texas Consilium have experience in my industry?

It’s highly likely that we do. But keep in mind that we are not coming to you as industry specialists because our focus is not on your technical issues — its on your business issues.

At their core, business issues tend to be the same regardless of the industry. Every business, regardless of industry, can benefit from good systems, procedures, controls, planning, operating information, organizational structure, teamwork, effective leadership, market research, sound growth strategy, adequate capital and financing, and other basics of business.

In fact, it’s quite common for best practices to come from other industries, and our broad experiences with different industries and business models is one of our greatest strengths. If we encounter technical issues or market dynamics that require special expertise, we will discuss those with you and, if appropriate, secure a specialist to work with us.

Are you looking for more team members?

Yes. We are always looking for the best expertise to help clients improve within a wide range of business functions, industries, sizes and business locations. If you have at least 10 years of experience improving business in areas of operations, managerial accounting, information systems, human resources, marketing, sales, leadership or other area of expertise that would add value to Texas businesses, we invite you to submit your bio for consideration at contact@txconsilium.org. 

Who does Texas Consilium serve?

As an economic development organization for the State of Texas, our mission is to improve the prosperity of Texas by improving the performance, growth and profitability of Texas businesses. We are often asked about the profile of those businesses that Texas Consilium can serve. When accepting a client for assistance, here are the key criteria we consider:

Those with a Desire to Improve, Grow and Prosper
Is the leadership of this business committed to improvement? Improvement requires change, and change takes people out of their comfort zones. As many people seek to get back into their comfort zones they need support and encouragement from the cheerleaders of the organization, without which the great potential of the future can never be realized. Top leaders of the business must be dedicated advocates for the future vision.

Those with a Texas Connection
We prefer to work with businesses that are Texas-based and Texan-owned, because it provides the greatest opportunity for the wealth that we help create to remain in Texas. However, any business with a Texas connection can qualify. We have assisted Texas divisions of large multi-national companies. We can also assist companies considering a move to Texas. We should note that once a company qualifies with a Texas connection, our work is not limited to their Texas operations — we can travel the world to assist them.

Potential Impact Matters More than Current Size
We measure our success based on the Impact we help create — as measured primarily by the improvement in cost savings, revenue growth and overall profit improvement. See more about our Impact Estimate  HERE. As you might expect, larger businesses often have the greatest opportunity for improvement since even small % improvements can create large impact measured in dollars. But smaller businesses often have the greatest opportunities for growth and improvement, and there are many more small and mid-sized businesses who could benefit from our assistance.

We generally don’t work with startups because there are some great Texas incubator and accelerator programs who already provide effective early-stage services. We are strongest working with companies with existing operations who are trying to get to the next level, enhance their culture of improvement or resolve specific issues. Our size criteria is much less about the current size of the business and much more about their true potential.

What does Texas Consilium mean when we say, “Improve Your Business?”

The reality is that we all come from different experiences and perspectives, so the term “Improve” naturally creates a different image for each of us. There is no cookie-cutter resolution to business improvement, but there is a process that we follow. Your business is unique, but your business issues are not — we have seen them many times before.

You know about your business. You may also know that there are certain things about your business that you  don’t know. But here’s the most important question — “Is it possible that you don’t know what you don’t know about your business?” 

As you will see in our client case studies, some of our greatest success stories have come from resolving issues the business owners and leaders didn’t even know they had.  Getting past the perspective that everything in your business is “normal” is a major step to the improvement process — and the beginning of a pursuit of excellence journey that can create an impact beyond what anyone thought was possible.

Partner with us!

Do you support our mission of helping Texas businesses achieve their true potential?  Can you or your business add value?  Would you like to get better connected?  Explore the many ways you can work with Texas Consilium to bring excellence to more Texas businesses.