What changed in this filing

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Item 1. Business

2021-02-23 compared with 2020-02-26 · 75 added, 58 removed, 60 unchanged (69% of the section changed)

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Through a combination of strategy, expertise and creativity, we help clients accelerate operational, digital and cultural transformation, enabling the change they need to own their future.

By embracing diverse perspectives, encouraging new ideas and challenging the status quo, we create sustainable results for the organizations we serve.

By embracing diverse perspectives, encouraging new ideas and challenging the status quo, Huron creates sustainable results for the organizations it serves.

We are headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with additional locations in the United States and abroad in Canada, India, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

We provide professional services through three operating segments:

Healthcare, Business Advisory, and Education.

For the year ended December 31, 2019 , we derived 46% , 29% , and 25% of our revenues from the Healthcare, Business Advisory, and Education operating segments, respectively.

Our Healthcare segment has a depth of expertise in financial and operational improvement, care transformation, culture and organizational excellence, strategy, and technology and analytics.

We serve national and regional hospitals, integrated health systems, academic medical centers, community hospitals, and medical groups.

Our solutions help clients evolve and adapt to the rapidly changing healthcare environment and achieve growth, optimize performance, enhance profitability, improve quality and clinical outcomes, align leaders, improve organizational culture, and drive physician, patient, and employee engagement across the enterprise to deliver better consumer outcomes.

We help organizations transform and innovate their delivery model to focus on patient wellness by improving quality outcomes, minimizing care variation and fundamentally improving patient and population health.

Our consultants collaborate with clients to help build and sustain today’s business to invest in the future by reducing complexity, improving operational efficiency and growing market share.

We enable the healthcare of the future by identifying, integrating and optimizing digital and technology investments to collect data that transforms care delivery and improves patient outcomes.

We also develop future leaders capable of driving meaningful cultural and organizational change and who transform the consumer experience.

Healthcare, Business Advisory, and Education, which for the year ended December 31, 2020, we derived 42%, 32%, and 26% of our consolidated revenues from these operating segments, respectively.

Our Healthcare segment serves national and regional hospitals, integrated health systems, academic medical centers, community hospitals, and medical groups.

Our Healthcare professionals have a depth of expertise in business operations, including financial and operational improvement, care transformation, and revenue cycle managed services;

organizational transformation;

and digital, technology and analytic solutions.

Most healthcare organizations are focused on changing the way care is delivered;

establishing a sustainable business model centered around optimal cost structures, reimbursement models and financial strategies;

and evolving their digital, technology and analytic capabilities.

Our solutions help clients adapt to this rapidly changing healthcare environment to become a more agile, efficient and consumer-centric organization.

We use our deep industry expertise to help clients solve a diverse set of business issues, including, but not limited to, optimizing financial and operational performance, improving care delivery and clinical outcomes, increasing physician, patient and employee satisfaction, evolving organizational culture, and maximizing return on technology investments.

• Business Advisory

Our Business Advisory segment provides services to large and middle market organizations, lending institutions, law firms, investment banks, private equity firms, and not-for-profit organizations, including higher education and healthcare institutions.

We assist clients in a broad range of industries and across the spectrum from healthy, well-capitalized companies to organizations in transition, as well as creditors, equity owners, and other key constituents.

Our Enterprise Solutions and Analytics experts advise, deliver, and optimize technology and analytic solutions that enable organizations to manage and optimize their financial performance, operational efficiency, and client or stakeholder experience.

Our Business Advisory experts resolve complex business issues and enhance client enterprise value through a suite of services including capital advisory, transaction advisory, operational improvement, restructuring and turnaround, valuation, and dispute advisory.

Our Strategy and Innovation professionals collaborate with clients across a range of industries to identify new growth opportunities, build new ventures and capabilities, and accelerate organizational change.

Our Life Sciences professionals provide strategic solutions to help pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology companies deliver more value to patients, payers, and providers, and comply with regulations.

Our Education segment provides consulting and technology solutions to higher education institutions and academic medical centers.

We collaborate with clients to address challenges relating to business and technology strategy, financial and operational excellence, student success, research administration, and regulatory compliance.

Our research enterprise solutions assist clients in identifying and implementing institutional research strategy, optimizing clinical research operations, improving financial management and cost reimbursement, improving service to faculty, and mitigating risk compliance.

Our technology strategy, enterprise applications, and analytic solutions transform and optimize operations, deliver time and cost savings, and enhance the student experience.

Our institutional strategy, budgeting and financial management, and business operations align missions with business priorities, improve quality, and reduce costs institution-wide.

Our student solutions improve attraction, retention and graduation rates, increase student satisfaction and help generate quality outcomes.

Huron is a Platinum level member of the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN), an Oracle Cloud Premier Partner within North America, a Gold level consulting partner with Salesforce.com and a Workday Services Partner.

Our Business Advisory segment works with C-suite executives, boards, and business unit and functional leadership across a diverse set of organizations, including healthy, well-capitalized companies to organizations in transition, and across a broad range of industries, including life sciences, financial services, healthcare, education, energy and utilities, industrials and manufacturing, and the public sector.

Our Business Advisory professionals have deep industry, functional and technical expertise that they put forward when delivering our digital, technology and analytics, strategy and innovation and corporate finance and restructuring services.

In today’s disruptive environment, organizations must reimagine their historical strategies and financial and operating models to sustain and advance their competitive advantage.

Organizations also recognize the need to adopt technologies, automation and analytics to improve their operations and compete in a rapidly changing environment.

Our experts help organizations across industries with a variety of business challenges, including, but not limited to, embedding technology and analytics throughout their internal and customer-facing operations, developing insights into the needs of tomorrow’s customers in order to evolve their enterprise and business unit strategies, bringing new products to market, and managing through stressed and distressed situations to create a viable path forward for stakeholders.

Our Education segment serves public and private colleges and universities, academic medical centers, research institutes and other not-for-profit organizations.

Our Education professionals have a depth of expertise in strategy and innovation;

business operations, including the research enterprise and student lifecycle;

digital, technology and analytic solutions;

and organizational transformation.

Our Education segment clients are increasingly faced with financial and/or demographic challenges as well as increased competition.

To remain competitive, organizations must challenge traditional operating and financial models and reimagine strategic, operational and research-centered opportunities that advance their mission while strengthening their business models.

We collaborate with clients to address these challenges and ensure they have a sustainable future.

We combine our deep industry, functional and technical expertise to help clients solve their most pressing challenges, including, but not limited to, transforming business operations with technology;

strengthening research strategies and support services;

evolving their organizational strategy;

optimizing financial and operational performance;

and enhancing the student lifecycle.

Huron is an Oracle partner, a Gold-level consulting partner with Salesforce.com and a Premium Partner with Salesforce.org, a Workday Services and Software Partner, an Amazon Web Services consulting partner, a Silver-level system integrator with Informatica and an SAP Concur implementation partner.

OUR CLIENTS AND INDUSTRIES

We provide professional services to both financially sound organizations and organizations in transition, including:

national and regional hospitals, integrated health systems, higher education institutions and academic medical centers, community hospitals, medical groups, large and middle market organizations, not-for-profit organizations, lending institutions, law firms, investment banks and private equity firms.

We provide services to both financially sound organizations and organizations in transition across industries, including healthcare, education, life sciences, financial services, energy and utilities, industrials and manufacturing, public sector and other commercial industries.

Our clients span hospitals, health systems and academic medical centers;

colleges, universities and research institutes;

banks, asset managers, insurance companies and private equity firms;

pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical device companies, oil and gas and utilities companies, manufacturing organizations and the federal government.

In 2020, we served over 1,700 clients.

Our clients are in a broad array of industries, including healthcare, education, financial services, life sciences, energy and utilities, manufacturing and industrials, government and other commercial industries.

HUMAN CAPITAL RESOURCES AND MANAGEMENT

Our success depends on our ability to attract, engage, develop and retain highly talented professionals.

We know that by creating a work environment where employees can shape their futures, and individuals are rewarded not only for their own contributions, but also for the success of our organization, we can accomplish these goals.

Our growth strategy depends on creating a work environment where employees can shape their future and where individuals are rewarded for their own contributions and the success of our organization.

We are focused on advancing every facet of the employee experience, beginning with the recruiting process through post-employment or retirement.

We create a personalized experience for our people, where they are empowered to make a meaningful impact on our clients, our communities, and with one another.

We have developed comprehensive programs incorporating learning opportunities, beginning with the onboarding process and continuing throughout one’s career journey.

We create a personalized experience for our people and empower them to make a meaningful impact on our clients, our communities, and one another.

We have developed comprehensive programs incorporating learning opportunities, beginning with the onboarding process and continuing throughout one’s career journey to enable the professional development of our team.

We provide a competitive total rewards package including robust benefits that are tailored to the diverse needs of our employees and are refreshed regularly to maintain competitiveness.

Our commitment to corporate social responsibility is facilitated through our employee and community experience team and encompasses our Helping Hands program, diversity and inclusion efforts, and a renewed focus on sustainability.

Our total rewards program has continuously helped Huron be recognized as a Best Firm to Work For by Consulting magazine, including in 2020.

In addition to external recognitions, we monitor our human capital resources through internal metrics.

Our leading measure is our quarterly employee engagement score, which was consistently in the low 80s throughout 2020 compared to the Glint Employee Engagement global benchmark of 72.

In addition, we review voluntary turnover across a number of key variables including practice area, performance, geography, and demographics in order to assess the effectiveness of our employee development and total rewards programs.

Our employee population is divided into two groups:

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As of December 31, 2020, we had 3,807 full-time employees, including 169 client-serving managing directors.

Our client-serving employees serve as critical business advisors;

collaborating with clients to help solve their most complex business problems.

Our managing directors are the key drivers of growth in our business, generating new revenue streams from existing and new clients.

They enhance our market reputation by partnering with clients as advisors and engagement team leaders.

Internally, they create our intellectual capital, develop our people, and are stewards of our culture.

Our senior directors, directors, and managers manage day-to-day client relationships, develop our people, nurture our culture, and oversee the delivery and quality of our work product.

Our client-serving employees act as critical business advisors, collaborating with clients to help solve their most complex business problems.

Our managing directors are the key drivers of growth in our business, generating revenue streams from existing and new clients.

Our managing directors also enhance our market reputation by partnering with clients as advisors and engagement team leaders.

Internally, they create our intellectual capital, develop our people, and are stewards of our

Our principals, senior directors, directors, and managers manage day-to-day client relationships, develop our people, nurture our culture, and oversee the delivery and quality of our work product.

Our associates and analysts gather and organize data, conduct detailed analyses, and prepare presentations that synthesize and distill information to support recommendations we deliver to clients.

Our support professionals include our senior management team as well as those who provide sales support, methodology creation, software development, and corporate functions

consisting of our facilities, finance and accounting, human resources, information technology, legal, and marketing teams.

These employees provide strategic direction and support that enables the success of our client-serving employees.

Our support professionals include our senior management team as well as those who provide sales support, methodology creation, software development, and corporate functions consisting of our corporate development, facilities, finance and accounting, human resources, information technology, legal, and marketing teams.

These employees provide strategic direction for the enterprise and support that enables the success of our businesses and client-serving employees.

At December 31, 2020, our support professionals team was led by 30 managing directors, executives and corporate vice presidents.

In addition to our full-time client-serving employees, we engage temporary employees on an as-needed basis to provide unique skill sets that are not required to be staffed on a full-time basis.

In addition to our full-time client-serving employees, we engage temporary employees on an as-needed basis.

We primarily use this contingent workforce to engage talent with specialized skills and/or experience or to expand our capacity to be able to deliver on client engagements or internal initiatives.

We will continue to use temporary employees going forward as a key part of achieving our growth strategy.

The ability to advance one’s career is critical to our employee retention and engagement.

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We strive to develop world class leaders and are committed to providing programs and opportunities that achieve this goal by focusing on key leadership attributes at all levels.

We also provide a variety of learning opportunities, through online and classroom environments, to further develop employees’ capabilities, including technical knowledge;

people skills;

team dynamics;

and coaching and developing others.

We also provide a variety of learning opportunities, through online and virtual classroom environments, to further develop employees’ capabilities, including technical knowledge, people skills, team dynamics, and coaching and developing others.

We encourage our employees to enhance their professional skills through external learning opportunities that certify their technical skills and to pursue certain advanced degrees.

Employees are matched with internal performance coaches and mentors to facilitate their growth, including identifying opportunities for professional development, formal training, and technical skill certifications.

All employees have a coach to support them.

Employees are matched with internal onboarding stewards, performance coaches, and mentors to facilitate their growth and network of support.

Our total rewards philosophy focuses on rewarding and retaining our high performing employees.

To accomplish this, we offer employees a competitive base salary;

performance incentives;

and robust, market-competitive benefits.

To accomplish this, we offer employees a competitive base salary, performance incentives, and robust, market-competitive benefits.

Our incentive compensation plan is designed to recognize and reward performance of both the organization and individuals and to ensure we retain our top performers.

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The intent of the incentive compensation plan is to differentiate rewards based on individual performance, ensuring that our top performers for the year receive incentives that are commensurate with their contributions, which enables Huron to retain them and continue to provide our clients with exceptional service.

The incentive compensation plan for our named executive officers is funded based on a blend of achievement of financial goals and strategic initiatives.

The incentive compensation plan for our named executive officers is funded based on a blend of achievement of company-wide financial goals and strategic initiatives.

Managing directors’ individual compensation levels, including base salary and target incentive awards, are set to align with the value of their expected contributions to the organization, including collaboration across practices.

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Our benefit programs are designed to be comprehensive, competitive and personalized to the needs of our employees.

Examples of these programs include flexible paid time off and a travel reward program which recognizes the significant travel commitment of our client-serving workforce.

We provide opportunities that allow employees to focus and care for their personal well-being which are aimed at providing tools and resources to focus on their physical, financial, social, and emotional health given the demanding nature of their work.

In addition, our health and welfare plans, retirement benefits, and stock purchase plan provide a core foundation of security to our employees and their families.

Our corporate social responsibility efforts are designed to support an individual’s charitable interests while also providing a venue for our employees to come together to make an impact in the communities in which we live and work.

In addition, the diversity and inclusion efforts support the needs of our growing employee population through employee resource groups that provide corporate-wide educational opportunities, build awareness, celebrate our differences, develop mentoring relationships, and ensure we are fostering a welcoming and engaging environment for all employees.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

Huron’s value of inclusion has been embedded across our organization since our founding and is fostered in our work environment every day.

In 2020, we renewed our commitment to holding ourselves accountable by defining a diversity and inclusion action plan to help build a more equitable society.

Through our action plan we will continue to foster an inclusive culture, advance diverse representation across all levels of the organization, expand our community outreach and support, perform pay equity studies, and strengthen our vendor processes.

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY

We are fully committed to our expanded societal role in making a lasting, positive impact on our people, our clients, our communities and the environment.

In 2020, we refocused our corporate social responsibility efforts to align with five of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

promoting good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, decent work and economic growth and climate action.

We have and will continue to support these goals through our Huron Helping Hands program, employee resource groups

and corporate partnerships.

In addition, our focus on these goals carries through in the work we do each day.

From healthcare and life sciences to education and other not-for-profit institutions, we serve clients in industries that have a significant impact on the health, well-being, and development of our communities.

For additional information on Huron’s commitment to a more sustainable future, refer to our 2020 Corporate Social Responsibility report, which includes our Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) index, and is available on the investor relations website which is located at ir.huronconsultinggroup.com.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING

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and senior level influencers and decision makers of middle market and large corporate organizations.

We believe excellent service delivery to clients is critical to building and maintaining relationships and our brand reputation, and we emphasize the importance of client service to all of our employees.

Currently, we generate new business opportunities through the combination of relationships our managing directors have with individuals working in healthcare organizations, academic and research institutions, and corporations, and marketing lead generation activities.

We believe excellent service delivery to clients is critical to building and maintaining relationships and sustaining and strengthening our brand reputation, and we emphasize the importance of high-quality client service to all of our employees.

Currently, we generate new business opportunities through the combination of relationships our managing directors have with individuals working at our prospective clients and marketing lead generation activities.

We also view market-based collaboration between our managing directors as a key component in building our business.

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All of our managing directors understand their roles in ongoing relationship and business development, which is reinforced through our compensation and incentive programs.

We actively seek

to identify new business opportunities and frequently receive referrals and repeat business from past and current clients.

We actively seek to identify new business opportunities and frequently receive referrals and repeat business from past and current clients.

In addition, to complement the business development efforts of our managing directors, we have dedicated business development professionals who are focused exclusively on developing client relationships and generating new business.

The professional services industry is extremely competitive, highly fragmented, and constantly evolving.

The industry includes a large number of participants with a variety of skills and industry expertise, including other strategy, business operations, technology, and financial consulting firms;

The industry includes a large number of participants with a variety of skills and industry expertise, including other strategy, business operations, technology, and financial advisory consulting firms;

general management consulting firms;

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regional and specialty consulting firms;

consulting divisions of our technology partners;

and the internal professional resources of organizations.

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Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.

What changed 10-K

Item 1. Business