The Saint Consulting Group (TSCG) was a privately held
management consulting firm based in
Hingham, Massachusetts. The Saint Consulting Group worked in land use consulting, generating public support to help companies navigate the local governmental approval process. The firm is reported to have had annual revenues of $30 million by providing political experts, media experts, and lawyers on behalf of casinos, colleges, grocery and retail chains, medical groups, utilities, and heavy industries.
Saint specializes in using political-campaign tactics, such as petition drives, phone banks, door-to-door discussions, and websites, to support or oppose controversial projects, such as oil refineries, shopping centers, quarries, and landfills.
As of 2008, the company employed approximately 90
land use experts in 10 offices in the
United States and an international office in
London, England.
Consulting Magazine named Saint Consulting one of their "7 Small Jewels" in 2007.
The annual "Small Jewels" list highlights exceptional firms with less than 250 employees.
History
P. Michael Saint is a graduate of
College of the Holy Cross
The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest ...
with a degree in
political science,
he earned his master's in business administration from the
Owen Graduate School of Management at
Vanderbilt University.
Saint, a Boston native, previously worked as journalist
before serving as the press officer for former Massachusetts lieutenant governor
Thomas P. O'Neill III (son of Tip, former U.S. House Speaker).
After serving on O'Neill's staff, Saint founded Saint Consulting in 1983 as a one-man operation, doing
public relations and political work. He began to focus on land use in the mid-1990s and met Patrick Fox, who was running political campaigns in Massachusetts.
Current business
According to an article in ''
The Wall Street Journal'', Saint Consulting has conducted about 1,500 campaigns in 44 states. Approximately 500 of those campaigns have been to block a development; many opposition campaigns have been clandestine. Many of Saint's
covert
Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret.
Secrecy is often controvers ...
projects oppose new
Walmart stores, by funding local opposition groups and paid for by Walmart's competitors or unions who oppose the non-union Walmart.
[Rival Chains Secretly Fund Opposition to Wal-Mart](_blank)
Ann Zimmerman, Wall Street Journal, June 7, 2010. Funding typically comes from large rival supermarket chains.
As of 2009, Saint is currently working on 135 cases in the U.S., UK and Canada.
As of 2006, the company had about 55 employees, most with backgrounds in
grassroots
A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...
political campaigns.
In 2009, three members of the Saint Consulting Group, Mike Saint, Robert J. Flavell, and Patrick F. Fox wrote the book
Nimby Wars.
External links
*
Website for The Saint Index Competitors Like Safeway Foods Retain "Hired Guns" To Try And Use Government To Stop Walmart SupercentersWalmart Store Protests Organized By Competing Grocery StoresRubloff Development Group, Inc. v. Saint Consulting Group, Inc., No 10 C 3917 (N.D. Ill. June 30, 2011)WSJ: Safeway, Supervalu Training Unions to Battle Wal-Mart*
ttp://www.inc.com/inc5000/profile/the-saint-consulting-group/ Inc. Magazine profile on Saint Consulting, from 2007 Inc. 5000, list of fastest growing companies in US
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Consulting Group
Management consulting firms of the United States
Companies based in Massachusetts