| Navigator Management Partners, LLC was ranked the #1 'Best Places to Work' for all small businesses in Central Ohio Thursday, November 13th 2008. This is the third straight year the 50 person Business Consulting practice located in the Brewery District has been nominated for this prestigious award and the first year at the top of the list.
David Schoettmer, the firm's founding partner and President, is no ordinary boss. In the tradition of many entrepreneurs, he was an experienced IT Consultant in a big company with an idea how to do it better. So he started Navigator Management Partners, LLC in 2001 with a different approach toward business.
"The approach is to hire people who are very capable, intelligent people and once you hire those kinds of people, you've got to recognize them for what they are", Schoettmer said. "Give them the opportunity to self-direct. Give them boundaries to work within but also give them the chance to succeed. I think people respond to that very well."
Clare Vetrick, the company's Manager of Talent Acquisition and Development, said the company is made up of a combination of overachievers who are also laid back and like to have fun. "We're very supportive of family", Vetrick added. "We do a lot of corporate events to help the employees and their families get assimilated. It really does have this kind of family feel."
Vetrick said Schoettmer tempers his high expectations with sincerity.
"When he's contemplating an issue, he thinks to himself, 'If this were on the front page of the newspaper tomorrow, would I feel good about it or not?' He lives by that philosophy."
Sometimes that means walking away from business and walking away from revenue, she said. Doing the right thing also includes Schoettmer's desire to give the employees a piece of the company through a private equity plan.
Navigator's strong corporate culture, best-in-class compensation, 100% paid employee benefits, profit-sharing, dedication to employee training & development and the Employee Charitable Giving Fund were some of the many reasons why Navigator was deemed the best of the 'Best Places to Work' in 2008.
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