“Growth is not just about expansion—it’s about staying true to your values, building long-term trust, and never compromising on the quality of service provided.” – Mike Rosello
Consulting and advisory services are vital for businesses to navigate complexity and drive growth. Leadership in this field is critical in setting strategic direction, ensuring service excellence, and building client trust. Effective leaders balance innovation with risk management, aligning solutions with client needs and market trends. Their impact is evident in the industry’s projected growth to $570 billion by 2032, driven by demand for expertise in technology adoption and operational efficiency.
Mike Rosello, Senior Vice President and Head of the CIO Advisory Practice at Vernovis LTD has been a transformative leader throughout his career. Under his leadership, Vernovis transitioned from a staffing-focused company to a full-service advisory and consulting firm. Mike’s leadership strategy centers on delivering tailored, high-quality solutions and fostering strong, trust-based client relationships. His commitment to service excellence and a lean, value-driven approach have helped Vernovis maintain a competitive edge and solidified the company’s reputation in the advisory sector.
Strategic IT Leadership
Mike is a seasoned executive IT leader with more than two decades of experience, focusing on maximizing the value of technology investments by aligning them with organizational goals. Mike has spent half of his career as a CIO and the other half advising and consulting with CIOs. He optimizes IT performance across engineering, operations, and application development.
Mike’s strategy involves translating business needs into actionable technical solutions, ensuring that technology supports immediate and long-term objectives.
Known for his forward-thinking leadership, Mike remains committed to staying abreast of the latest technological innovations, enabling sustainable solutions that benefit the organization and his team. His strategic initiatives have saved organizations millions in CAPEX (Capital Expenditures) and OPEX (Operating Expenditures) through efficient solutions. A natural motivator and negotiator, Mike is recognized for fostering strong communication across teams and managing budgets effectively, all while ensuring timely delivery of results. His leadership style has earned him the respect of colleagues, who see him as a dedicated team player.
Overcoming Industry Challenges
A key challenge Mike Rosello faces is educating companies that relying solely on large consulting firms for their branding isn’t always the best solution. These firms often come with high costs, and many consultants lack the hands-on C-suite experience needed to address the complexities of executive roles. The industry is also driven by a “rinse and repeat” approach, where generic solutions are applied without considering a client’s unique needs, making it difficult to deliver real value and measure ROI.
Key Strategies Driving Vernovis’ Growth
Mike Rosello attributes the growth of Vernovis to three key factors: strategic partnerships, market focus, and unique delivery methods. By ensuring that their partners align with the company’s core values and delivery standards, Vernovis has created a strong foundation for success. The company’s focus on serving mid-market clients, specifically those with market caps between $50 million and $1 billion, has been crucial in carving out a niche. Furthermore, their commitment to providing customized, non-generic solutions sets them apart in an industry where many competitors rely on repeatable, one-size-fits-all models. These strategies have collectively enabled Vernovis to achieve sustainable growth.
Leading with Excellence
Mike Rosello joined Vernovis during a pivotal time when the company was transitioning from a staffing-focused model to the additional of a full-service advisory and consulting firm. With more than 14 years in the industry, Vernovis had established a strong reputation for staffing services but faced challenges as it expanded into advisory work. Mike’s leadership played a crucial role in establishing the company’s credibility as a trusted advisory partner, requiring a strategic shift. Through exceptional service delivery and leveraging referrals, Mike strengthened Vernovis’ reputation in the industry.
The company’s leadership philosophy centers on providing elite, white-glove service, excelling in core areas without compromising on quality. Vernovis emphasizes strategic growth by prioritizing service excellence over rapid expansion, avoiding overextension to meet client expectations consistently. Though this approach may slow the pace of growth, it fosters long-term trust and lasting client relationships. A key element of this strategy is Vernovis’ “three-legged stool” model.
- The first leg means expertise in strategy, assessment, and advisory services, where the company works closely with clients on new initiatives to develop and execute effective strategies.
- The second leg means a strategic partnership with TMG (The McCracken Group), offering in-depth analysis and aligning client project needs with the best solutions through a vast network of technology providers.
- The third leg means ensuring the successful execution of projects by staffing in the finance, accounting and IT fields, bringing the right resources and bridging any gaps in a client’s team for seamless delivery.
Driving Innovation While Managing Risk
On the staffing side, Vernovis follows a conservative, risk-averse approach, ensuring that the talent they place aligns perfectly with their brand values. Striving for perfection in finding the right fit, they ensure the best match for clients and candidates. In contrast, the company’s advisory and consulting practice emphasizes innovation. Many of their mid-market clients are slower to adopt advanced technologies like AI, cloud computing, and analytics, often trailing behind larger organizations. Mike Rosello creates clear roadmaps that balance budgets with measurable results, helping clients innovate while staying within their resources.
Senior Leaders Shape Quality Solutions
Mike Rosello leverages a network of seasoned CIOs with decades of real-world expertise, many of whom are semi-retired or transitioning into advisory roles. These professionals provide valuable, senior-level insights that help clients navigate complex challenges. By avoiding junior-level resources, Mike ensures that the solutions delivered are authentic and of the highest quality, drawing from the hands-on experience of those who have implemented similar strategies themselves. This mentorship model is integral to the company’s approach, with senior leaders passing down their knowledge to foster a culture of experience-driven excellence.
This dedication to quality and expertise aligns seamlessly with the company’s broader strategy of balancing structure with innovation to consistently deliver value. The core services, or “tablestakes,” are designed to exceed customer expectations while remaining standardized enough that staff isn’t constantly learning new processes. These services incorporate common characteristics and automation to drive efficiency. However, the remainder of the workday is dedicated to taking calculated risks, exploring innovative solutions, and positioning the team to adapt quickly to changing client needs. This balanced path ensures that while foundational excellence is maintained, there is always room for growth and innovation.
Client-Centered Solutions
Ensuring that solutions are tailored to the unique needs of each client is a core principle at Vernovis. By maintaining a neutral stance on technology choices, the company focuses on providing guidance and support to help clients evaluate their options effectively. During the RFP (Request For Proposal) process, structured comparisons and thoughtful recommendations empower clients to make well-informed decisions. This unbiased, client-centered strategy ensures that the chosen technology aligns seamlessly with each client’s specific goals and preferences, fostering strong, personalized partnerships.
Comprehensive Services for Every Need
In addition to its core advisory services, Vernovis offers a wide range of solutions to further support businesses across various sectors. These include specialized offerings in finance, accounting, and IT staffing, as well as a comprehensive suite of CIO advisory and consulting services. Some key areas of focus include.
- Digital and IT Strategy
- IT Governance and Risk Management
- IT Organizational Design
- AI Strategy
- Vendor Management
- Data Modernization
- Cloud Assessment and Design
- Legacy System Modernization
Furthermore, TMG specializes in advising, designing, acquiring, and implementing infrastructure products and services tailored to meet the unique needs of clients’ projects, providing an additional layer of expertise to help clients achieve their goals.
Consistent Partnerships Fuel Growth and Trust
Mike Rosello attributes the success of Vernovis to two key factors: relationships and retention. He emphasizes the importance of building deep, long-term relationships at every level within client organizations, extending beyond top executives to create trust across the board. This trust is reinforced by the stability of Vernovis’ team, as clients consistently work with the same individuals over time. This continuity strengthens partnerships and fosters confidence, contributing significantly to the company’s growth and solidifying its reputation for reliability and excellence.
Complementing this relationship-focused approach, Mike collaborates with a prominent advisory firm that grants him access to approximately 20 subject matter industry experts who keep him informed about industry trends and emerging technologies. This partnership enables him to provide clients with tailored, innovative solutions. Additionally, Vernovis leverages the expertise of its sister company, TMG, which offers a diverse supplier network and deep product knowledge across industries.
TMG’s experts engage directly with clients during project delivery and planning stages, ensuring seamless execution. Looking ahead, Mike Rosello plans to incorporate these industry-specific insights earlier in the project lifecycle—during strategy and advisement—accelerating solution development, reducing costs, and enhancing time-to-market efficiency. This strategic alignment positions Vernovis as a trusted, forward-thinking partner in a competitive market.
Building a Unique Market Position
Maintaining consistency in its approach has been a cornerstone of Vernovis’ success, rather than pursuing disruptive strategies. The company’s cost-effective and efficient delivery model contrasts sharply with larger firms that often burden projects with excessive resources. By focusing on delivering precisely what is needed, Vernovis has become more competitive and challenging to replicate. This lean, value-driven strategy is a defining factor, giving the company a unique edge in the market. Through this route, it has firmly positioned itself as a standout in the advisory and consulting space.
Mitigating Risks and Maximizing Returns
Guided by a more conservative risk profile, the company has adapted its strategies in response to the impacts of COVID-19 and the Great Recession. This approach emphasizes detailed upfront planning and road mapping before onboarding resources, ensuring decisions are closely aligned with specific client needs. Clients are also offered a selection of risk profiles—low, medium, and high—allowing for tailored strategies that match their goals and risk tolerance. By minimizing risks while maximizing potential returns, this strategy fosters stability and sustainable growth for clients.
Consistency is a cornerstone of the company’s strategy. Even during challenging market downturns, when competitors may resort to layoffs, Vernovis has maintained stability. Clients continue to work with the same trusted faces, which is a testament to the strong retention rates. This success is largely driven by the company’s culture and a shared vision of what true success looks like.
