Transforming Organizations - Delivering Results

Since 1992 the Piñon Group has been helping global corporations and nonprofit clients to improve their effectiveness by transforming their organizations. By combining our whole system approach with our global experience and creativity, we help our clients achieve their business objectives.

We have built our reputation as a responsive and trusted advisor with our guided discovery approach to transformation and conscious change. We align your leaders around your business strategy, establish a resilient organizational structure to support that strategy and build the capability of your leaders to deliver the results you require by consciously leading the change process.

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“The Piñon Group partnered with us on the development of the Executive Lead Institute program. All our participants agreed it was a great success.”

Director of Human Resources
FedEx Ground

-What We Do-

Organizations are a dynamic, integrated system of critical activities that respond to a process of guided discovery and not ‘expert solutions’. We are a client centric boutique consulting company that combines a depth of global experience, and a powerful system thinking process with a passion for helping clients succeed.

Our work focuses into 4 key areas critical to your success:

Design with purpose.
Deliver with clarity.

We architect operating models, structures, and systems that turn strategy into action. By aligning people, roles, workflows, and governance with your mission, we help you create agility, accountability, and sustainable performance.

Change is inevitable. Successful transformation is intentional.

We help leaders navigate complexity and guide their organizations through transition. From planning and communication to execution and engagement, we ensure change is managed thoughtfully — reducing resistance and unlocking new potential.

Building the organizational muscle to perform and grow.

We strengthen your organization’s capacity to execute strategy and adapt to change. Through an integrated approach — aligning strategy, structure, culture, and capability — we help you develop high-performing teams and leaders who deliver measurable impact.

Executive Coaching & Succession Development

Empowering leaders to perform, inspire, and prepare for what’s next. Our one-to-one coaching helps executives sharpen decision-making, strengthen communication, and lead with clarity and confidence.

Whether you’re redesigning your structure, developing capability, or leading transformation,
The Piñon Group helps you design an organization that performs — and endures.

-About the President-

Nic Smith
Piñon Group President

Profile

For more than three decades, Nic Smith has helped organizations around the world design for performance, lead through change, and unlock their full potential. As President of The Piñon Group since its founding in 1992, Nic has advised global corporations and local nonprofits alike - bringing a rare blend of strategic insight, systems thinking, and hands-on experience across 30+ countries and multiple industries.

Nic specializes in organization design, effectiveness, and transformation—helping clients align structure, leadership, and culture to strategy. His work spans developing and implementing business strategies, building new operating and service delivery models, and strengthening organizational capability to sustain change.

He partners with leaders to integrate people, processes, and performance, creating organizations that are not only more efficient but also more adaptive and resilient. His approach combines rigorous analysis with a deep understanding of human dynamics—making complex change achievable and lasting.

Career Background

Originally from the UK, Nic began his consulting career in 1988 with Robert Purvis Consultants, followed by Crane Davies Consultants, before establishing The Piñon Group in the U.S. in 1992.

He later served as Managing Director and Leader of the Organization Design, Change, and Transformation Practice at CBRE, the world’s largest corporate real estate company. In that role, he worked with Fortune 500 clients across industries to design high-performing organizations and lead strategic transformation initiatives.

Before CBRE, Nic spent three years at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he led the People & Organizational Development group, building its capability to support mission- critical national projects.

A frequent keynote speaker, Nic has presented on organization design, leadership, and change at conferences in Shanghai, London, and across the U.S.

Pro Affiliations / Accreditations

  • PROSCI certified

  • Certificate in Organizational Design and Transformation – IAODT

  • Certified Management Consultant (CMC)

  • CCL 360 Certification and PDI Profilor

  • Personal Strengths Inventory (SDI)

  • Hogan Personality Assessment Tool

Education

  • Post Graduate Diploma in Management Studies, Norwich College for Further Education, England

  • BA (Hons) in Economic & Social History, University of East Anglia, England.