Hopkins' Concord Thrives as Other Businesses Cut Back

Stu Nutting, Jeff Northrup and Chris Davis have been friends for many years. They are so close, in fact, that Nutting and Davis wound up marrying twin sisters. As long as they were at it, the three decided they might as well go into business together.

That was in 2003. , the company they started, began with operations in Nutting’s basement. It now has its own office building in south Hopkins, more than 300 full-time and independent consultants and numerous clients—many of whom are Fortune 500 companies.

Northrup is the company’s CEO. Davis is its COO. And Nutting is its chief resource officer.

Concord—a name chosen because the three founders lived near and had kids attending Edina’s when they launched the company—carved out a niche well suited to economic times that have other companies cutting back. The company’s consultants allow businesses to avoid huge investments in large, experienced staffs—vital when there’s a demand for greater efficiency and results. As a result, Concord will finish 2011 with close to $60 million in revenue when it hasn’t even seen its 10^th birthday .

“People pay for fluff when they have a lot of money," Nutting said. "But when things get tight, they need to execute and do it efficiently and within restricted budgets. We see this current economic situation as well-suited to our philosophy, the way we work with clients and the results we get for them. I told our people recently that this economy suits us very well, and we are going to continue to grow.”

Concord offers information technology and business consulting for a variety of needs.

“We decided we could do IT servicing better than was being done at the time,” Nutting said. “Costs are always an issue and we have proven time and again that using us is a much more cost-effective approach.”

While Concord serves a nice cross-section of the business community, it has an especially strong presence in retail banking, property and casualty insurance and health plans.

“Health plans are especially in need of our help because of the new, ever-changing regulations and codes they face,” Nutting said.

Not only does this save companies money, it provides new, impartial ideas and approaches.

“Like any successful business, we have surrounded ourselves with really talented, hard-working people who relate well to our clients and genuinely help them and their business,” he said.