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New business club is preparing UMass Lowell students for the consulting world

UMass Lowell’s newest business club, the Manning Consulting Club, is headed up by student Greg Montemurro (Courtesy of UMass Lowell)

Prabakar Adithya
Connector Contributor

The Manning Consulting Group is a business organization on campus that is quickly rising up the ladder as one of the most influential organizations on campus. Led by student Greg Montemurro, the Manning Consulting Group is committed to benefiting not only the members within the organization but also UMass Lowell and the city of Lowell.

“Consulting is a way of approaching problems, structuring problems, and solving problems,” Montemurro said. “To dig into it a bit more, it’s the provision of external advice for organizations that require specialist expertise or an objective outside perspective on their business.”

The Manning Consulting Group is not your average business organization. When students join, they are given a case study to start working on (either with a team or by themselves), and are guided through the process of identifying, analyzing and solving problems observed in companies today. Members are  provided the tools and the direction to get started in consulting. By joining the Manning Consulting Group, students will be able to apply the knowledge that they learned in school to real business problems.

One of Montemurro’s goals is to develop the organization to benefit the students as well as the community, and he is focused on giving back to the community that has supported him.

“Culture starts at the top, and culture starts when you build a group, so it’s about building an organization that values giving back,” Montemurro said. “[It’s about] helping the community, helping the school, helping yourself and doing something mentally stimulating.”

The organization allows members and companies to work along with one another, and with so many companies in and around Lowell, the Manning Consulting Group allows students to get some real exposure into the world of consulting.

The Manning Consulting Group is also preparing its members for the demanding consulting world.

“My hope is to drive students to successful placement at MBB (McKinsey, Bain and Company, Boston Consulting Group),” Montemurro said. Although it is very challenging for people to get into MBB, that is not stopping him.

“Imagine if you have a consulting group on campus that’s known for getting students into interviews, prepared, then boom, that organization can go from zero to three people hired, while also providing value by placing students at other firms, [and so] now 10 other kids are in Consulting that would have never been in consulting otherwise,” Montemurro said.  “It’s offering the chance to prepare the members to talk to [companies] so you can bring your ‘A’ game.”

If you are not interested in management consulting, there is still a place for you within the organization. Montemurro wants the members to fit around different positions in the workforce, not just management consulting.

“I would encourage any non-business major to get involved because, A: you’re solving problems, B: you’re helping people, C: you’re learning and D: you’re being mentally stimulated,” Montemurro said. “Even if you’re not interested in management consulting, you’re engaging with some of the brightest students, community business leaders and, faculty through this group. Problem-identification and problem-solving skills are valuable for quite literally anyone. If you want a job, you will run into problems, and you need to solve those problems constantly throughout your day.”

It does not make much of a difference whether you are a business, engineering or even an art major; problem identification and solving skills are a useful tool for everyone.

If you are interested in joining the Manning Consulting Group, the next meeting is on Tuesday, March 5, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in Southwick Hall, room 240. From there onwards it will be on every other Tuesday. Anyone who would like to learn more about the group, is welcome to  email Greg at Gregory_Montemurro@student.uml.edu.

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