November 1, 2006
Gerson Lehrman Group Launches Institutional Registry, A New Clearinghouse for Expert Consulting Restrictions and Conflicts
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New York, NY, November 1, 2006 -- Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) today announced the launch of the GLG Institutional Registry, a new clearinghouse for institutional expert consulting restrictions and conflicts.
As part of its rollout, GLG has contacted more than 1,500 investor relations and human resources professionals to encourage companies to register guidelines, free of charge, for their employees, consultants, and business partners participating in outside consulting projects, speaking engagements and publishing on the Web. The Institutional Registry also allows companies to raise their profiles by designating employees to serve as experts in the GLG system, thereby showcasing the companies and their employees as credentialed thought-leaders in their industries.
GLG provides systems that enable financial services firms, consultancies, corporations and notfor- profit institutions to find, engage, build, and manage proprietary networks of experts, drawing upon the more than 150,000 members of the GLG Councils. These Councils include top consultants, physicians, scientists, engineers, attorneys, market researchers and other professionals from around the world.
Since its inception, GLG has recognized that valued experts often have obligations to entities other than their consulting clients that shape, constrain or even prohibit certain consulting engagements. To help ensure that all parties involved in expert consultations recognize these obligations, a comprehensive framework of contracts, reminders, vetting processes and tracking tools is embedded in the GLG research platform to enforce a Standard of Conduct for the engagement and use of expert consultants. This framework requires, among other things, that experts participating in the GLG research system review and adhere to previous agreements before joining the GLG Councils and list any subjects on which they can and cannot consult.
GLGs framework also contains supplemental safeguards for experts who are employed. In the GLG framework, industry experts who are employees are prohibited from consulting on projects involving their own companies and are required to obtain the explicit assent of a senior manager to participate in any extensive or ongoing outside consulting work. In addition, GLG already has an expert registry containing hundreds of companies guidelines for their employees and affiliates participation in consulting projects.
Recognizing that the Registry would prove more useful if it contained information on a larger number of companies, GLG invested in the technology necessary to sustain a more robust database and is pro-actively soliciting organizations participation.
Our Institutional Registry is the most recent evolution in GLGs services and is the latest extension of our efforts to use technology to increase transparency and controls in the expert consulting and primary research fields, said Alexander Saint-Amand, Chief Executive Officer of GLG. We also see this Registry as an important business opportunity. In soliciting companies views as to the subjects and groups of employees, consultants, and business contacts that are appropriate for consulting projects, we hope to streamline the conflict-checking process and develop a database of conflict information that can be leveraged by any number of industries.
Companies can register their guidelines and restrictions on outside consulting and designate any employees as experts by visiting the Institutional Registry website at http://www.glgroup.com/Registry.asp. There is no charge for registration. GLG will honor any confirmed guidelines that are posted for consulting projects undertaken through the GLG research platform.
GLG clients will have the benefit of the data entered into the Institutional Registry through their subscriptions to the various GLG Councils. Access also may be licensed to other organizations that utilize outside experts and require comprehensive and efficient conflict checks. Publishers, conference organizers and other expert networks are among those businesses that may find this information valuable as they seek to engage appropriate experts while remaining mindful of any guidelines organizations have set.
About Gerson Lehrman Group
Gerson Lehrman Group provides technology and services to support a marketplace for expertise. Since 1998, its platform for consultation and collaboration has helped the world's leading financial services firms, consultancies, corporations, and nonprofits find, engage, and manage experts in a broad range of industries and disciplines. Gerson Lehrman Group's unparalleled network of the world's leading expert consultants, known as the Gerson Lehrman Group Councils, includes more than 200,000 subject-matter experts who educate and provide insight to decision makers through a wide range of consulting methods, including telephone consultations, expert surveys, and seminars. Gerson Lehrman Group has invested in one of the world's most sophisticated infrastructures for expert recruiting and compliance. For more information about Gerson Lehrman Group, please visit www.glgroup.com.
Gerson Lehrman Group Contact:
Christopher M. Stella
212-880-6517
Gerson Lehrman Group and the Gerson Lehrman Group logo are registered trademarks of Gerson Lehrman Group, in the United States and other countries. Failure to list any other Gerson Lehrman Group trademarks does not constitute a waiver of any rights to any Gerson Lehrman Group trademarks, including unregistered trademarks. Other names included in this press release may also be the registered or unregistered trademarks of their respective owners.