Our History:

Selected Milestones

1972 – Founding Vector Group Partners Bob Carleton and Claude Lineberry meet for the first time at the ISPI Conference. This was Bob’s first International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) Conference and Claude’s 4th or 5th.

1978 – Bob Carleton and William Daniels are founding partners of Operants, Inc. Claude Lineberry works with Joe Harless at The Performance Guild. Joe Harless pioneered “front-end analysis.”

1977 – Bob Carleton is one of the founding members of the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance and Instruction (ibstpi®) which grew out of the Joint Certification Task Force. IBSTPI celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2007.

1981 – Claude Lineberry serves as the national President of ISPI. Operants, Inc. is sold to The Forum Corporation. Bob Carleton serves as Director of the Operants Division for The Forum Corporation.

1983 – Work begins at British Airways with several of Vector Group’s earlier principals along with Warner Burke, George Litwin and others of notoriety in the field of performance. The original contract is held by The Forum Corporation.

1985 – Meeting of several independent consultants at an English pub working on the BA transformation to discuss possibilities of forming a new company and working together. Vanguard Consulting Group, Inc. is formed with Bob Carleton, Claude Lineberry, Stephanie Jackson, Bob Powers, et al, as partners. Bob Carleton serves on the ASTD Standards Task Force. Our London office opens.

1988 – Work begins with General Motors. “Positive Leadership” transforms GM and brings an 11:1 ROI.

1989 – Gary Craig and Janet Schliefert associate with the firm. Vanguard Consulting Group authors a “white paper” on merging organizational cultures.

1993 – Vanguard International Alliance, Inc. (VIA) is formed with Bob Carleton, Claude Lineberry and Mark Kiefaber as founding partners.

1995 – VIA is disbanded and Vector Group, Inc. is launched with Bob Carleton and Claude Lineberry as Founding Partners.

1996 – 1998 Gary Craig serves on the American Society for Training and Development’s National Board of Directors. He leads the initiative establishing organizational values for this 70,000 member professional society.

1997 – Bob Carleton’s first article on Cultural Due Diligence is published in Training Magazine. Carleton is contacted by the Wall Street Journal two weeks later for a story. With his seminal publication, Bob is credited with coining the term Cultural Due Diligence. Claude is honored as an Honorary Member for Life with the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI). Dan Chenoweth associates with the firm.

1998 – Vector Group, Inc. completes its last project with British Airways with the transformation of BA Worldwide Sales.

1998 – 2000 Vector Group embarks on the Prudential Assurance, Ltd. engagement resulting in the organizational transformation of the Retail Services Division.

2001 – 2002 – Vector Group is called upon and conducts a highly successful Cultural Due Diligence assessment of hp and Compaq prior to their merger. Vector Group is instrumental in post-merger cultural integration efforts. hp hits all projected financial targets every quarter for the first three years following the merger. Vector-Europe, Ltd. opens its office in London. Gary Craig and Claude Lineberry publish Management Mirror in the UK.

2003 – Founding Partner and Managing Partner Claude “Butch” Lineberry dies following surgery in December. A celebration of his life was held in May of 2004 in Adairsville near Rome, Georgia.

2003 Vector-Turkey opens an office in Istanbul.

2004 –  Bob Carleton’s and Claude Lineberry’s book, Achieving Post-Merger Success: A Stakeholder’s Guide to Cultural Due Diligence, Assessment and Integration, is published in March.

2008 – Vector-Middle East opens its office and begins work with Dubai World.

2009 – Vector Group, Inc. is disbanded and restructured as Vector Group, LLC with Bob Carleton, Gary Craig, and Janet Schliefert as principals. Bob is CEO and Gary Craig is named as Managing Partner and COO.

2010 Bob Carleton’s newest book, Implementation and Management of Performance Improvement Plans, is published in March through HRD Press.

2011 Vector Group, LLC is restructured once again as Vector Group, Inc. John Amarant joins the firm in July as a Partner.

2012  Bob Carleton is honored by the International Society for Performance Improvement with the prestigious Geary Rummler Award for for the Advancement of Performance Improvement. He was recognized during their 50th Anniversary Conference in Toronto, April 20-23, 2012.