Company Background

The Mezzanine Group evolved from its roots at the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario.

Lisa Shepherd, president and founder of The Mezzanine Group, worked as a student consultant at Ivey Business Consulting Group while completing her MBA in 2001. As an IBCG consultant she was trained in the methodologies of the global strategy consultancies including AT Kearney, Bain Consulting, Monitor Consulting and Accenture. IBCG worked with small businesses and non-profits providing business plans, marketing plans and growth assessments.

Lisa became Managing Director of IBCG and was the driving force behind its expansion from 2002 onwards.

IBCG opened its second office in Toronto in 2003 and gained numerous corporate clients such as Bell Mobility, Capital One Canada, Rogers, Lexmark and Philips Respironics. In 2004 IBCG began its first national project for the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. At this time the scale of projects merited an evolution of IBCG – and Mezzanine was born. The company launched as Mezzanine Business Consulting and evolved to The Mezzanine Group.

Mezzanine grew rapidly and in 2005 was named to the 'PROFIT Hot 50' – PROFIT Magazine's ranking of fast-growing young companies in Canada. In 2006 Mezzanine was again named to the PROFIT Hot 50, which was followed in 2007 and 2008 by being named to the PROFIT 100. Lisa was nominated for the Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year award and the Top 40 Under 40.

Mezzanine launched its Business to Business Marketing Outsourcing service in 2009 and focused its services on B2B strategy and marketing for small and mid-sized companies, F500 brands and professional associations.