Queen Consulting Group

Queen Consulting Group

• Rank: 62
• Headquarters: Boston
• Top staffing segment(s) served – IT
• 2019 US staffing revenue – $27,755,668.0
• Compound annual growth rate – 18.3%

Doing the Right Thing

For Queen Consulting Group, managing the changes brought about by rapid growth has been a challenge - but one the company welcomes.

The Boston-based technology staffing consulting firm appears on SIA’s annual Fastest-Growing US Staffing Firms list for the first time in 2020, coming in at number 62.

It’s a big achievement for the company, for which growth has been a goal since it started in 2011. “In October 2011, we set the goal to have 20 contractors on billing. It took us almost a year to hit that goal,” says Market Director Amy Migliore. “It was the hardest year of our lives. When we would get close, things would fall apart. It was disheartening, overwhelming, and exciting. Then we hit it!” The company then moved the goal line to 40 contractors. And then 60. And then 100. “And we just kept making the goal bigger to keep shooting for more growth and more success.”

Queen Consulting Group has offices in historical Faneuil Hall in Boston and in Glastonbury, Connecticut, and places IT professionals nationwide in industries including healthcare, insurance, academia and retail. President Carl Foster has more than 30 years’ experience in the IT consulting industry and gives full credit for the company’s growth to his people. “Our growth is a by-product of a very talented team doing the ‘right’ thing all day, every day,” he says. “Our respect for our consultants, our staff and our clients and our vendors drives everything we do.”

Foster’s staff, in turn, value his leadership. “The cornerstone of our success is Carl Foster,” Migliore says. “He tells us what we need to do - and then gives us the power and confidence to do it. He believes in our decisions to hire and manage and gives us the freedom and support to follow the plan.”

Queen Consulting Group leaders and staff have repaid Foster’s trust in them by driving sustained growth and building an energetic, enthusiastic company culture. Members of the leadership team, including Migliore and Vice President Jessica Doherty, have organized the company around three “pillars”: the sales team, the recruiting team, and the operations team. Developing a structure that works has been an iterative process.

“It is definitely challenging to grow quickly!” Doherty says. “Processes, workflow, communication patterns, and even our internal systems have needed to be adapted many times to accommodate the changes we needed to make to support our growth. It’s not easy to be in a state of constant change, but agility and adaptability have become part of our culture. We have to be okay with always evaluating what could be a better way to do things.”

Like the rest of the staffing industry, Queen Consulting Group has had the additional challenge of adapting to the global pandemic. “We started the year strong, and then the pandemic hit in March and we spent a good five months just trying to get our bearings,” Migliore says. “There were parts of our team that could easily transition to remote work, but there were other parts that had to learn a new way of doing business.” Meanwhile, the management team also faced a learning curve in figuring out how to lead and manage a remote team for the first time. “Fortunately, our team has continued to work independently and in unity, and we have continued to grow and meet our goals,” she says.

Foster, Migliore and Doherty are planning for 2021, with a focus on training and onboarding for new employees to accommodate continued growth in a remote workforce. While the company’s processes may change, its basic values remain the same. “At the core, what we do never really changes,” Doherty says. “It’s about caring about people, working to understand what clients and consultants need, and going the extra mile to provide great service. At the same time, the future offers an open book of learning about new technologies and projects, and exciting possibilities for growth.

“We plan to continue to expand our team, make investments in our business, and see what adventures the future holds!”