Firm Also Scores High in Quality-of-Life Rankings, Including Client Interaction (#3), Training (#5), Culture (#8), Work/Life Balance (#8) and Overall Satisfaction (#9)

NEW YORK - September 19, 2005 – Marakon Associates is one of the top 10 most prestigious management and strategy consulting firms, according to Vault, the career website and publisher. The findings, based on a survey of over 2,100 consultants at leading consulting firms worldwide, appear in the latest edition of the Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms: Management and Strategy.

Marakon’s tenth-place ranking marks an eight-spot leap since last year’s survey results – the greatest improvement of any firm in the top 10 (along with the Parthenon Group).

"It’s very gratifying to see that our efforts to raise awareness of our talent offer, as well as our client offer, are gaining traction," said Marakon Chief Talent Officer Lori Massad, a New York-based partner. "In 1998, Fortune called us ‘the best-kept secret in consulting.’ We are happy the secret’s finally out."

Survey respondents were asked to rate each of 50 well-known consulting firms on a scale of one to 10 based on prestige. Consultants were not allowed to rate their own firm and were asked only to rate firms with which they were familiar.

In addition to ranking other firms in terms of prestige, respondents were asked to rate their own firms in a variety of quality-of-life categories. Among the areas in which Marakon scored high:

Quality-of-Life Category	Marakon Rank
Client Interaction	3
Formal Training	5
Firm Culture	8
Work/Life Balance	8
Overall Satisfaction	9

The 2006 Vault Guide to the Top 50 Consulting Firms can be purchased online at www.vault.com in PDF format and will be available in bookstores next month. For a complete list of its prestige rankings, click here. To view an excerpt of the guide’s profile of Marakon, click here.

About Marakon Associates
Marakon Associates is an international management consulting firm that works with some of the world’s best-known companies on the issues that most drive their performance and long-term value. The Economist has called it "a consultancy that has advised some of the world’s most consistently successful companies." Marakon has offices in New York, London, Singapore, Chicago and San Francisco.