Snyder’s-Lance – Croixstone

Croixstone Consulting Turns “6”

The Croixstone Consulting team is celebrating its sixth business anniversary this month! Patti Weber and Mark Weber launched Croixstone as a boutique management consultancy in 2016. Their vision was to offer the world a highly differentiated business model in management consulting that would transform careers and businesses. The two entrepreneurs powered their vision by using their superpowers in strategic networking and relationship-building to connect the brightest minds.

In honor of the firm’s sixth business anniversary, here are six fun facts about Croixstone Consulting.

#1) Our name. Rivers are a hugely important part of life that connect humans in so many ways. The inspiration for Croixstone’s name is the St. Croix River (French: Holy Cross), a tributary of the Mississippi River that forms a border between the states of Wisconsin (the home state of Patti and Mark) and Minnesota (where the firm’s founders each began their careers).

#2) One more thing about our name. The correct way to pronounce the company’s name is “kroy-stone.”

#3) Our garage was a loft. Many of the world’s best known start-up companies were launched in garages. Croixstone launched its business in 2016 in Loft 309 of the former Lance Crackers building on South Boulevard in Charlotte’s booming South End Neighborhood. Not a garage, but a very cool loft to build a very unusual company.

#4) We LOVE constructive nonconformists. Business mavericks. Rebel talent. Call them what you will. One of our core beliefs is that these are the people who drive innovation in companies.

#5) We also LOVE portfolio professionals. We believe portfolio careers are the future of work. And so do many other thought leaders and futurists.

#6) Curiosity. One of our core values. We practice intelligent exploration and intellectual humility. We apply the best of our professional life experience, but always stay focused on what’s left to learn. From space exploration companies to solar farm developers to fintech unicorns, our curiosity has fueled Croixstone’s ability to build a truly unique client portfolio over the past 6 years.

Croixstone Consulting CXO Patti Weber Completes Harvard Program

Congratulations to Croixstone Consulting’s Chief Experience Officer, Patti Weber, who this week successfully completed the Harvard Business School Club of Charlotte’s “Management Development Program“.

The Management Development Program, a “mini MBA” style course taught at Queens University, is a favorite with Charlotte-based corporations and is taught entirely by Harvard Business School alumni to program participants. The course offers rising executives the chance to study business one night a week for 13 weeks with a roster of some of the most prominent CEO’s, Presidents and Managing Partners in the Charlotte region.

In addition to participation by Croixstone Consulting, this year’s Harvard program included leaders from companies including: Bank of North Carolina, SYNOPTICS Northrup Grumman, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Carolinas Medical Center, Schaeffler Group, ScentAir Technologies, Continental Tire, Snyder’s-Lance, Duke Energy, Carolina Cat, EnPro Industries, Skookum, National Gypsum Company, Ridgemont Equity Partners, Coats North America and more.

Patti completed the Harvard program to supplement her more than 20 years experience in helping global Fortune 500 companies and top-ranked public education schools implement forward-thinking and “game-changing” initiatives. Her background includes diverse business experience in the technology consulting (Accenture) and workforce solutions (Kelly Services) industries.

As an active community leader, Patti is a Partner with Social Venture Partners Charlotte and serves on the group’s Education Committee. Additionally, she serves as a volunteer Math Tutor at Charlotte’s Sedgefield Elementary School with Heart Math Tutoring and as PurpleStride Charlotte Teams Ambassador with the Charlotte Affiliate of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

Friday Fun Fact – Peanuts, Innovation + the Croixstone Consulting Offices

So what do you do when you get stuck with 500 pounds of unwanted raw peanuts?

If you are an innovator, you see the opportunity to build the foundation for a nearly $2 billion snack foods company. When food broker Phillip L. Lance was stuck with those raw peanuts back in 1913, he looked past the challenge and saw an opportunity to roast the peanuts and sell them on the streets of Charlotte. Those 500 pounds of peanuts, coupled with the visionary talents of a forward-thinking entrepreneur, led to the birth of Lance, Inc., now a publicly-held, multi-billion corporation named Snyder’s-Lance, Inc. that retains its headquarters in Charlotte.

In 1926, Lance built a plant along South Boulevard in Charlotte’s South End neighborhood from which to base its growing company. Fast forward to 2016, and you’ll find the company based in a shiny office tower in Charlotte’s Ballantyne district. The South End plant was renovated as a mixed-used building in the late 1990’s (now known as The Lofts at Factory South) and is home to a vibrant community of small businesses (like Croixstone Consulting!) while also providing cool residential lofts to some of the QC’s most creative folks.

We are inspired by the story of Phillip L. Lance and his legacy as an innovator and business-builder in Charlotte…and we are proud to base our unique Croixstone Consulting offices at his former plant.