CONSULTING

OUR CLIENTS
Rise Above has worked with a variety of clients across a wide range of goals and challenges. From start-ups in need of seed funding to tenured non-profits with ambitious organizational and cultural goals, Rise Above has been a trusted partner to bring Integrity, hard work, and expertise to the table to unleash the potential of organizations, teams and individuals.

Jorge Hernandez - Founder
"Gavin has been an invaluable spark of energy and motivation to my project. I am so grateful to have someone so ferociously and unrelentingly on my side. Getting everything in line to raise several million dollars for a climbing facility and then execute is neither simple nor straightforward, and having Gavin on my team has been a huge blessing. To describe Gavin in a few words, he is: disciplined, organized, and focused on measurable results. When someone really cares about their work it shows in every aspect. Gavin really cares. He is a crusher on and off the wall."
MOONROCK CLIMBING
Rise Above was brought in to support development of brand identity, values, and business planning preparation for a multi-million dollar fundraise
Deliverables:
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Business Plan including industry data, market research, competitive analysis, executive summary and more
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Investor pitch materials
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Development of 5 year pro-forma
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Brand guidance: brand voice, look, feel, values and mission statement
Results:
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MoonRock is currently in fundraising
THE AMERICAN ALPINE CLUB
The AAC brought Rise Above on board to support a ground-up build of HR systems and processes, which ultimately lead to Rise Above leading the entire org through the development of a strategic plan for 2023
Deliverables:
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Performance Management training for all managers
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Org's first 360 eval process
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Fiscal year strategic plan and associated processes and tools to sustain on go-forward basis
Results:
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Board approved strategic roadmap ready for execution including connection to team and individual performance metrics on go-forward basis

Pete Ward - CEO, American Alpine Club
“Recently I worked with Gavin to build out an innovative and agile HR department to support the transformation of the American Alpine Club, a 120+ year old nonprofit. His ability to understand the dualistic nature of the nonprofit world where principle is as important as performance, and to adapt the methodology required for success has been crucial to the performance of the organization. Establishing Gavin's level of integrity and the highest quality organizational design as fundamental directional forces for the AAC has been a critical win.
Most importantly however, is Gavin's ability to understand the strategic implications of the leadership choices made by an organization and to craft strategy that meaningfully and effectively guides the tactical planning required for success. Strategic choices must be grounded in reality and supported by strong organizational design and there is no one that I have worked with in my career who is more qualified or able to craft effective strategy than Gavin.
When I am tasked with strategic decisions that have deep implications for my organization, Gavin is the first person I call and I trust him completely to deliver.”

CFO, Confidential Client
“Overall really great work. We've had 3 different consultants come in to do this work over the years. This was head and shoulders above the others. Best, most effective experience with a consultant I've ever had"
CONFIDENTIAL CLIENT
Rise Above delivered a full cycle market-based compensation strategy for a brand with 500 employees.
Deliverables:
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Market comping of all positions
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Compensation and headcount calculation tool
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Cycle & process for comp increases
Results:
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20% improvement in time-to-recruit
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Employee churn reduced ~10% Q over Q
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Employee NPS score increase to >90%