About Our Firm
- Founded in 1986 by Tom Beaton
- Organizational consultant supported by a group of high-EQ, organizational “coaches”
- Clients: private equity and venture capital firms…
& their portfolio companies - We often invest in clients’ funds & companies
Our Mission
Provide hands-on organizational consulting that drives outstanding returns for our investment firm clients and their portfolio company teams
Straightforward truth
Optimistic
Committed to results
About Tom Beaton
Tom founded Next Step in 1986.
During the firm’s first decade, Tom and a group of affiliated consultants consulted with the CEOs and leadership teams of some of the Fortune 500’s best-managed companies. For example, Tom led dozens of organizational change projects to support GE’s well-publicized transformation effort known as “Work-Out”. He also led executive development programs for PepsiCo, Walt Disney Company and many other global companies.
In 1995, Tom took a refreshing “executive sabbatical” of sorts, spending an entire year with one of the firm’s long-standing clients, Walt Disney World. Serving as the VP of Transformation, Tom led the successful completion of 91 projects focused upon improving guest service, productivity and cast (employee) satisfaction. He also enhanced his own understanding of the challenges his clients face when implementing cultural change.
Since 1996, Tom has been a catalyst for positive change at private equity and venture capital firms, as well as many of their portfolio companies. Often, he has invested a good portion of his fees in those firms and companies. Again, he has been fortunate to work with many outstanding clients.
Prior to founding Next Step, Tom worked at Harbridge House, an international, organizational consulting firm and at the Marriott Corporation, where he was the human resources planner on the company’s strategic planning team.
Tom earned a B.A. from Princeton University, a M.B.A. from the University of Virginia and a M.S. in Human Services Management from Brandeis University. He was a Princeton Teaching Fellow at Anatolia College in Thessaloniki, Greece and an exchange student at Oxford University.