What started as a single-person practice has grown into a trusted HR partner for businesses across Chicagoland. We've helped clients survive audits, navigate terminations, hire the right people, retain the ones they had, and build the kind of HR foundation that lets owners sleep at night.

We're proud of the businesses we've supported — and even prouder of the relationships we've built along the way. If you're ready to put real HR in place at your company, we'd love to hear what you're working on.

Forward & Strategic Services was founded in 2021 on a simple observation: small businesses are the ones that need HR support the most — and the ones most likely to go without it.

Hiring a full-time HR leader is out of reach for most small businesses. So compliance gets pushed off. Handbooks get copied from the internet or generative AI. Hiring gets done in a rush. And one day, a complaint, a lawsuit, or a key employee walking out the door reveals just how much was being held together with good intentions.

We started Forward & Strategic five years ago to give small businesses a different option: senior-level HR expertise, on demand, at a price that makes sense for where you are right now.

In the years since, we've built and audited HR foundations for clients across healthcare, non-profit, and financial services. We've helped first-time founders hire their first employees, guided growing teams through their first compliance audit, and stepped in as fractional HR for organizations that needed someone in the chair without the cost of a full hire.We've grown because our clients have grown — and they've stayed because we've kept showing up.