- Innovative Connections and MSB Coach announced a merger on Nov. 18, 2025 to expand executive coaching, leadership development, and culture transformation services.
- The deal adds MSB Coach’s evidence-based methods, including Dr. Michelle Braden’s Conversational Oxygen® framework, into Innovative Connections’ consulting platform.
- Dr. Braden and the MSB Coach team will support the transition to maintain client continuity as services and experts are integrated.
- The transaction reflects ongoing consolidation among boutique leadership firms, with integration and financial details not disclosed.
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The merger of Innovative Connections with MSB Coach creates an expanded leadership consulting platform that broadens depth and scale in executive coaching and leadership development. Innovative Connections strengthens its capability set by absorbing MSB Coach’s proven frameworks such as the Conversational Oxygen® model, which emphasizes meaningful leadership dialogue and sustained growth.
For MSB Coach, integration into a larger organization should broaden reach—placing aligned values and processes under an umbrella that enhances resource allocation, infrastructure, and client service continuity. The fact that Dr. Braden remains engaged in the transition mitigates client churn risk often seen in M&A within leadership development firms.
This transaction reflects a broader trend in the leadership consulting sector: consolidation of smaller, boutique firms with strong methodologies into platforms capable of serving larger clients across multiple industries. Through this, Innovative Connections can compete more robustly for engagements in healthcare, education, public service, and beyond.
Strategic implications include potential operational challenges: integrating methodologies, aligning brand messaging, preserving MSB Coach’s identity and expertise, and maintaining culture across disparate teams. Open questions involve financial terms (valuation, revenue impact, profit margin), precise integration plans, and how compensation, ownership, and leadership roles will change beyond the transition period.
Supporting Notes
- Innovative Connections is a consulting firm focused on organizational development, strategic planning, team development, executive coaching, and customized leadership programs. Located in Fort Collins, Colorado. Founded in 2008.
- MSB Coach, LLC is led by Dr. Michelle Braden, offering evidence-based coaching, prominently the Conversational Oxygen® framework, since its founding in 2008.
- The merger was officially announced on November 18, 2025, via press release from AB Newswire and other syndications.
- Dr. Braden will remain involved in client and services integration to preserve quality and continuity of relationships.
- MSB Coach’s client base spans Fortune 500 firms, nonprofits, small businesses, and public sector clients; Innovative Connections similarly works across healthcare, construction, education, human resources, etc.
- Dr. Laurie Cure, CEO of Innovative Connections, emphasized shared values—rigor, humanity, authenticity—in announcing the merger.