When I joined SEI almost 10 years ago, I immediately found a home and became part of a family. SEI was founded in Cincinnati by Dan Pierce nearly 25 years ago and each new hire has grown the SEI family. Like myself, there are numerous others with 10+ years of tenure. Today, our Cincinnati office boasts 65 team members and is still growing.
It’s not just the consultants that have stuck with us; several of our clients have also been with SEI for 10+ years and trust us with their most important initiatives. Since joining SEI, like many of my colleagues, I have consistently been engaged at a client. As we demonstrate consistent delivery excellence and our collective value, we build trust with each client. As that trust grows, the client looks to engage more SEI’ers as strategic partners responsible for their most critical initiatives. For example; my current client grew from one SEI consultant to having six in various roles in just a short amount of time. The merit of our work allowed us to build trusted relationships and grow.
Up until now, I had not given much thought to the differences between working in Cincinnati and other locations. You could say, I’ve taken for granted that in our office, we’ve had access to our founder and our shared Services team on a ‘walk-in’ basis. As we are the founding office, the Managing Directors for all the locations make frequent visits to Cincinnati for workshops and summits, which enables us to get to know the leadership team better. Furthermore, all new hires across all locations come to Cincinnati on a quarterly basis for Orientation, so we get to meet every new employee.
Like the other offices, our culture is our most valued and unmatched asset. In Cincinnati, we enjoy spending time with each other through various social events such as gathering families for play groups, taking our children to the petting zoo, going snow tubing, hiking in Yellow Springs, visiting the driving range at Top Golf, engaging in group dinners, happy hours, holiday parties, family picnics, and of course sporting events (Go Reds!). Because Cincinnati is the founding location, we have a large percentage of consultants with 10-25 years of tenure. This makes us unique because we have longstanding relationships with each other and a historical view of SEI, which gives us “tribal knowledge” that shapes our approach to solving challenges.
Our spirit of volunteerism is a reflection of who we are as a company and as individuals. We strive to make our city a better place to work and live through our involvement alongside organizations such as Josh Cares, Paint the Town, Matthew 25, Lighthouse Youth Services, Green Acres, Scouts and others. Our impact is felt by so many and I am proud to be part of a family that has a spirit of generosity.
And what’s the best part? I enjoy all SEI-Cincinnati has to offer in the city where I grew up and love to live! Cincinnati may not seem like a must-see pit stop on your next family road-trip, but did you know:
- Cincinnati was voted a Top 100 Best Place to Live
- SEI Cincinnati was voted a Best Place to Work
- We have great neighborhoods! SEIers are not unfamiliar with the never-ending competitive banter between those from the Eastside and those from the Westside
- We boast educational opportunities from some of the finest schools in the country!
- There are a multitude of top attractions to keep you busy: The Cincinnati Zoo, Music Hall, Museum Center, Cincinnati Reds (no one can top our Opening Day parade), Cincinnati Bengals, FC Cincinnati, Flying Pig Marathon and Kings Island.
- And finally don’t forget Graeter’s Ice Cream and Cincinnati chili
Over the years, SEI has opened new locations, hired excellent talent and positively impacted our clients and communities all while protecting our coveted culture. We are the same SEI today as we have always been. As our founder said at the start of it all, “…No A team and no B team – just seasoned professionals with similar values, talents, and motivation.”
