Chippewa Advisory Partners Builds a Boutique Consulting Powerhouse in Eau Claire

Sabrina Reyes spent seven years advising Fortune 500 executives out of a downtown Minneapolis office before she decided the clients she actually wanted to work with were an hour and a half south, in Eau Claire and the small manufacturing and agricultural companies scattered across western Wisconsin. She founded Chippewa Advisory Partners in 2017 with a single client, a family-owned lumber distributor struggling to modernize its operations after decades of steady but stagnant growth, and has since built the firm into one of the region's most sought-after strategy consultancies.

Reyes has been candid about how unusual her decision looked at the time. She was on track for a partnership at her previous firm, and colleagues questioned why she would trade a national client roster for a market many consultants overlooked entirely. "Everyone assumes strategy consulting only makes sense in big cities with big companies," Reyes said in an interview at Chippewa Advisory Partners' office near downtown Eau Claire. "But mid-sized Wisconsin companies have the same complicated decisions, just without anyone affordable to help them make those calls."

A Different Consulting Model

Rather than replicate the hourly billing structure common at large consulting firms, Reyes built Chippewa Advisory Partners around fixed-price engagements and long-term retainer relationships, a structure she believes better suits family-owned and closely held businesses wary of open-ended consulting fees. The firm now works with roughly 40 active clients across manufacturing, agriculture, and logistics, typically engaging on strategic planning, operational efficiency, and leadership succession projects.

Succession planning in particular has become something of a specialty for the firm, as a wave of Wisconsin's baby boomer-generation business owners approach retirement without clear plans for transferring ownership. Reyes has guided more than a dozen family businesses through leadership transitions over the past five years, work she says requires as much interpersonal diplomacy as financial modeling. "Half of succession planning is spreadsheets," she said. "The other half is getting a father and a daughter to actually talk to each other about what happens next."

Growing a Team in a Smaller Market

Building a consulting team in Eau Claire rather than a larger metro area required Reyes to get creative about recruiting, since many experienced strategy consultants assume such careers require relocating to Chicago, Minneapolis, or the coasts. She has hired several analysts directly out of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire's business program, investing heavily in structured mentorship to compensate for their lack of big-firm training, and has recruited a handful of experienced consultants seeking a better quality of life after burning out at larger firms.

Investing in the Chippewa Valley's Business Community

Beyond client work, Reyes has become an active participant in Eau Claire's broader economic development conversations, serving on a regional chamber of commerce committee focused on attracting professional services jobs to the Chippewa Valley. She has argued publicly that the region's affordability and quality of life make it an underrated location for remote-capable professional services firms, not just manufacturing and agriculture.

Staying Independent

Reyes has fielded acquisition interest from larger regional consulting firms eager to establish a presence in western Wisconsin, but has so far declined every offer, wary of losing the flexibility that lets Chippewa Advisory Partners tailor its approach to smaller clients. "I didn't leave a big firm to go build a smaller version of the same thing," she said. "This only works if we stay close to the businesses we actually serve."