Academic rigor and 25 years of industry leadership, brought to bear on two questions: what's really driving your profitability, and how to prepare your business to maximize value at exit.
Venndigm was founded by Oommen Thomas, PhD — a financial economist, engineer, and educator who came to academia after a 25-year career in consulting and industry. His journey took him from engineering into finance via graduate school, and from industry into academia — a path that gave him a rare, multi-lens view of what actually drives performance inside a business.
Along the way, Dr. Thomas founded and led the IP Consulting practice at KPMG, held consulting roles at firms including Deloitte and Law & Economics Consulting Group, and served as Finance CVP at the global engineering firm AECOM. He currently holds a joint Finance and Supply Chain/Information Management faculty appointment at the D'Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University's San Francisco Bay Area campus.
That combination of academic grounding and hands-on operating experience is what he now brings to mid-market companies through Venndigm Consulting — and what led him to launch The Financial Library and Project SkillStrong, initiatives that reflect a broader commitment to putting that experience to good use.
Venndigm Consulting is the core of the practice — independent advisory work for mid-market companies. The Financial Library exists to show, for free, the same thinking that shapes that work. And Project SkillStrong reflects a separate commitment: giving back to communities working to build careers in manufacturing.
Alongside my work as a business school professor, I provide independent advisory consulting to mid-market companies, focused on two questions: how to improve profitability — understanding what's actually driving margin — and how to prepare a business to maximize value at exit.
Mid-market companies often face a frustrating trade-off: big consulting firm prices for advisory quality, or less expensive help of uncertain depth. Working independently and lean means clients get the benefit of academic rigor and decades of hands-on industry leadership, without funding a firm's overhead or a rotating cast of junior staff.
If your margins have drifted and you're not sure why, or you're considering a potential exit, I'd welcome a conversation.
A free, growing collection of interactive finance tools, videos, and written content, built for business owners and executives who don't always have formal training in finance. It's the same thinking that shapes my consulting work — available for anyone to judge for themselves, no engagement required.
A commitment to supporting manufacturing workforce development — separate from my paid advisory work. I've been fortunate in my career, and Project SkillStrong is how I try to give back, focusing on communities like underserved high school students, veterans, and women entering the manufacturing workforce.