Who We Are

Oculus Partners is a leading full-service, strategic consulting firm serving the financial services industry with a concentration in retirement and wealth management. Since forming in 2008, we have applied our vision, insight and innovative spirit for over 35 clients, including asset managers, banks and broker/dealers, insurers, recordkeepers, clearing agents, custodians, and technology companies.

How We Work

We Tailor Our Teams to Meet Your Needs

No two clients are alike—in terms of their goals, culture, personality and ability to execute—which is why we take great care to assemble our consultant teams for each individual project, aligning their skills, expertise and personalities to your needs. Our clients are unique and so is our approach to each engagement, allowing us to forge unparalleled and lasting partnerships.

We Solve Problems from the Outside-In

Our focus is on the big picture with our clients. Rather than just looking internally to solve problems, we bring an ‘outside in’ perspective and consider the customer, the market, the competition and the needs of the company as a whole when it comes to developing high-impact solutions that can be executed in a practical manner.

Learn more about our Engagement Framework

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Testimonial 1

We were beginning a journey to build out the Retirement Customer Experience journey and needed to bring in some expertise to assist in building out the CX structure and foundation. Oculus not only brought the expertise of the market, but they also were effective at collaborating, guiding and coaching our team to structure and create an in-depth research foundation to support our CX goals.”

VP, Customer Experience, Global Technology Firm

Testimonial 2

While knowledge is key, it only matters if it can be applied productively. What has impressed me most about Oculus is that they seek to engage at all levels within the client to ensure the application of this knowledge results in practical and truly meaningful solutions. This only happens when working elbow to elbow and that is what is so appreciated by the people on my team.”

SVP, Retirement Solutions, Global Insurance Provider

Testimonial 3

Oculus is a great firm to work with. They bring to projects deep understanding of their markets, high quality research and unique insights that have directly informed our product strategy.”

SVP, Marketing & Communications Solutions, Global Technology Firm

Testimonial 4

I have known Cynthia Hayes for more than a decade and have always known the depth and breadth of her industry knowledge. After I engaged Oculus Partners, it was clear she had also brought together a team that purposefully complemented this already deep capability.”

SVP, Retirement Solutions, Global Insurance Provider

Testimonial 5

Cynthia’s dedication and conviction has enabled Oculus to positively influence retirement security for tens of millions of workers.”

Former COO, Investment Management & Retirement Services Firm

History

We Succeed Through Our Relationships

Founded by former Merrill Lynch Managing Director Cynthia Hayes in 2008, Oculus Partners began with a simple objective: help clients grow their businesses in healthy and sustainable ways.

“As a senior executive, there were always strategic opportunities that were never realized due to the critical issues of the day. I always wished for a consulting firm that understood our business, had a strong outside perspective, and could provide a good analysis of options in a way that we could clearly see the opportunities, design a plan, assign resources, and implement the solution that was right for our business,” Hayes says. “Oculus was founded on just that basis—use creative experts with a broad and deep knowledge of the business to create real growth opportunities.”

Drawing on relationships with industry colleagues interested in working with her again, Cynthia quickly established her firm’s reputation as a strong collaborative partner with her client’s best interests in mind through a series of successful engagements. Not long after opening its doors, Oculus Partners expanded its consultant-employee base with a number of industry professionals who’d worked with Cynthia in former professional lives.

Today, the firm employs a broad network of highly-experienced consultants, and serves more than 35 different types of clients within the financial services industry.