Business News - TMNG Boosts Services in Weathersby Merger

Posted: 11/2000

TMNG Boosts Services in Weathersby Merger
By Josh Long

The Management Network Group Inc. (www.tmng.com),
a telecom and e-business management consultant firm, has announced it has
acquired The Weathersby Group (www.weathersbygroup.com),
which will enhance its standing in the provision of customer relationship
management (CRM) services.

Financial terms of the acquistion were not disclosed.

Through the acquisition, TMNG combines its marketing and CRM practices with
services offered by the Maryland-based Weathersby Group–a consultant firm that
has targeted the telecom, e-commerce, and technology industries–to establish a
TMNG subsidiary, TWG Marketing.

The merger "significantly and immediately boosts the marketing CRM
practice that we announced several months ago, and there is very little overlap
with clients" between the two companies, said Kelly Kirkendoll, TMNG’s
director of marketing communications and investor relations.

Clients have been requesting CRM services as prices fall industrywide,
Kirkendoll says.

TWG Marketing will provide a broad scope of consulting services, ranging from
strategic planning to product delivery and customer acquisition.

"We could not have found a better fit for TMNG’s first
acquisition," said Richard Nespola, TMNG’s president and CEO, in a prepared
statement. "Our clients and the marketplace are recognizing the
ever-increasing importance of marketing, product differentiation and customer
relationships, as price points become less relevant."

Nespola says he and his partners have developed a rapport with TWG founders
for nearly 17 years.

Amanda Weathersby, founder and CEO of The Weathersby Group, worked with
Nespola at MCI, now WorldCom Inc. (www.wcom.com)
She will oversee TWG Marketing.

"We have spent 10 years building a highly specialized consulting
practice focused on the critical areas of product strategy, product delivery,
and customer acquisition and retention," Weathersby says. "Companies
need people with a high level of experience to help them define and implement
marketing strategies, as well as build the requisite infrastructure to support
products and customers in a rapidly changing global marketplace. With TWG
Marketing, TMNG can provide that experience."