CEB, a subsidiary of Gartner, was a global best practice insights and technology company providing products and services to business leaders in IT, finance, HR, customer service and support, legal and compliance, marketing, sales, and supply chain functions worldwide. Gartner announced its acquisition of CEB in January 2017, completed the acquisition in April 2017, and integrated the company in July 2018.
History
CEB offered its first program to executives, the Council on Financial Competition, in 1983 when it was part of The Advisory Board Company. In 1997, the company split from Advisory Board Company and opened a new office in London. CEB went public in 1999 on the NASDAQ exchange under the leadership of James J. McGonigle, the company's General Manager from 1995-1999, and Chairman and CEO from 1999 to 2005. Tom Monahan was appointed CEO in 2005. At that time, the company expanded offerings to accommodate middle market companies. In 2007, the company expanded domestically and opened offices in San Francisco and Chicago. The company left Washington, D.C. in 2008 to move its global headquarters to the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia. In May 2015, the company changed its legal name to "CEB Inc." The company had over 50 offices globally.
Acquisitions
In 2009, CEB acquired Toronto-based Warrillow & Co. and the financial services firm, TowerGroup. In May 2010, the company acquired consumer research and advisory company, Iconoculture. Later that year, CEB transferred listing of its common stock from NASDAQ to the NYSE, and began trading on 20 August 2010. The company acquired Baumgartner & Partner, a Germany-based consulting firm in October 2011. In July 2012 CEB acquired Saville and Holdsworth Ltd. In March 2014, CEB acquired KnowledgeAdvisors. In September 2015, it acquired and integrated WANTED Technologies. In May 2016, CEB acquired Evanta Ventures, Inc. for $275 million. Evanta is based in Portland, Oregon, and provides events, platforms and information offerings to train IT-security, human-resources and finance staff in collaboration and best practices. On January 5, 2017 Gartner said it agreed to buy research and advisory company CEB Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal worth $2.6 billion, expanding Gartner into a wider range of industries. The acquisition was concluded in April 2017. On July 16, 2018, the CEB brand was discontinued.
Publications
The company has published three books through Portfolio/Penguin. The Challenger Sale by Brent Adamson and Matthew Dixon was published on November 10, 2011. In 2013, Matthew Dixon with Nick Toman, and Rick DeLisi wrote The Effortless Experience, published on September 12. The third book, The Challenger Customer was written by Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson, Nick Toman, and Patrick Spenner and published on September 8, 2015.
