BrassRing Acquires ThinkShed Assets

Acquisition Brings Cultural Fit Analysis Expertise to Talent Management Leader

BrassRing, a leading provider of global talent management solutions, announced today that it has acquired the assets of Austin-based ThinkShed, Inc., a leading provider of cultural fit assessment technologies. The acquired assets include ThinkShedís intellectual property, exclusive organizational analysis methodology, customer relationships, and software.

ìOur acquisition of the ThinkShed brand marks a significant leap forward in BrassRingís long-standing commitment to matching great employers with great job applicants,î said Deb Besemer, CEO of BrassRing. ìTalent management solutions providers have focused largely on candidate capabilities and employer attraction, but understanding the cultural fit between the two is a critical competency for ensuring that a candidate will perform in the long-run. We believe that ThinkShed has the most sophisticated cultural analysis solution on the market, and we are very excited at the potential to deliver integrated talent management solutions that bring cultural fit analysis and consulting into the sourcing and hiring process.î

Under the terms of this asset acquisition, BrassRing will preserve the ThinkShed name and methodology and is thrilled to have ThinkShed founder and CEO Keith Jones in place as the practice leader for all cultural assessment offerings. These assessment offerings will be integrated immediately into BrassRingís talent consulting business, which already includes recruitment strategy analysis and integration services. In the future, BrassRing will integrate ThinkShed technology into its own product offerings to deliver enhanced recruitment and workforce management solutions.

ìI founded ThinkShed with a passion for developing models and methodologies that help companies optimize workforce performance and increase retention,î said Keith Jones. ìOver the years, weíve seen our approach validated across industries and organizational cultures. BrassRing shares ThinkShedís commitment to helping companies build strong, productive workforces, and I am thrilled to have their backing as the ThinkShed approach continues to change the way companies think about human capital management.î

ThinkShedís web-based solutions help companies improve effectiveness and reduce risk during workforce transformation initiatives such as employee selection and retention, mergers and acquisitions, and organizational restructuring. ThinkShedís solutions were designed and developed in an exclusive partnership with world-renowned organizational culture experts Charles OíReilly, III of Stanford GSB, Jennifer Chatman of The Haas Business School at UC Berkeley, and David Caldwell of Santa Clara University. OíReilly, Chatman and Caldwell will work with BrassRing to support the use and commercialization of the ThinkShed technology.

ìIn todayís volatile business market, effective teamwork is the advantage that separates the companies that succeed from the companies that do not,ì said Professor Jennifer Chatman, who is also a member of BrassRingís Advisory Board. ìBuilding and managing great teams is about assessing the cultural fit between people and organizations. The ThinkShed methodology has been proven to greatly reduce turnover and ramp up times and significantly increase workforce productivity. Having worked closely with both ThinkShed and BrassRing, I believe this acquisition of ThinkShedís assets will contribute significantly to the research and development of new tools that optimize organizational performance.î

ThinkShedís customers have included Coors Brewing Company, Chase Auto Finance, BankOne, The U.S. Army, Alcoa, SouthWest Airlines, Korn Ferry and Russell Reynolds.