Our Story

Nick & Kyle's kids after a MERU planning breakfast

MERU began over bacon and eggs. Nick Campbell and Kyle Sturgeon, friends and former colleagues at a global professional services firm, had a tradition of taking their kids to Saturday morning breakfast at a local Atlanta restaurant to allow their wives an extra hour of sleep. Over the course of many breakfasts, the pair discussed their careers, their firms, and what they both saw as an unmet market need. An idea started to germinate.

The market for turnaround services was broken. Large incumbents were increasingly focused on lucrative bankruptcy administration projects, where incentives were aligned towards dragging out cases and generating billable hours. Top management consulting firms offered differentiated operational expertise, but at high prices and without shoulder to shoulder partnership.

Breakfast discussions evolved into alignment on core values; a business plan; a long Asana checklist of action items to be completed; and, in January 2017 the firm opened its doors, focused on turnaround & restructuring services to middle-market companies.

In the years since the firm has grown significantly. From two partners to four; from zero strategic partners to over 130; from zero engagements to dozens. All the while, the team remains focused on attracting high-quality people who share the same set of core values and doing impactful work for its clients.