Battery maker prepares for big move to Methuen

the revolution. We do have the line of sight for the end of the tunnel already.”

Elevating the Fenway Sports consulting arm

Red Sox parent Fenway

Sports Group just inked a big deal, but this one doesn’t involve a sports team roster.

FSG’s Fenway Sports Management division sold off its consulting practice for an undisclosed amount to Elevate, giving the global sports marketing consultancy a foothold in Boston. All nine consulting employees were offered a job at Elevate to launch its first Boston office; they’ll work alongside Elevate’s chief people officer, Liz Moulton, who was Elevate’s only Bostonarea employee before the deal. The consulting business offers advice to companies looking to promote themselves through sports teams, events, or venues. Going forward, Red Sox president Sam Kennedy said, FSM will focus on two areas: driving sponsorship opportunities to FSG properties such as the Red Sox, and exploring new growth opportunities.

Kennedy said that as FSG grew, its executives realized the consulting practice would not be a big priority. “If you’re not fully committed and all in on something, it’s best to find an alternative solution,” Kennedy said.

Enter fast-growing Elevate, founded by San Francisco 49ers president Al Guido six years ago. The Boston team will report to Elevate chief client officer Cameron Wagner, who is based in Charlotte, N.C. FSM’s consulting practice adds clients to Elevate’s existing roster such as Moderna,

Santander Bank, and Wasabi

Technologies. Wagner said Elevate has found a Back Bay office for the local team. “It was really important that we kept them in the heart of things, with easy access to the [city’s] employers,” Wagner said. “They’re already up and running.”

Davis steps up at Aureus

The torch has been passed at Aureus Asset Management ,as president Thad Davis has moved up to take over for cofounder Karen Firestone as chief executive of the boutique Boston investment firm. Davis joined Aureus in 2005, the same year that Firestone and David Scudder started the firm. Before launching Aureus, Firestone had been a fund manager at Fidelity Investments, while

Scudder was with Harvard Management Co. Firestone had recruited Davis to return to the Boston area from New York, where he was working for investment bank Bear Stearns.

Firestone and Scudder started Aureus in part as a way to offer investment options to wealthy families that were typically only available to larger institutions at the time. They had to start their client list from scratch but both had extensive networks from which to draw. Today, the firm’s 15-person team directly manages roughly $2 billion in assets.

Scudder has long since retired, though he still has an office at Aureus and comes in from time to time.

Now, it’s Firestone’s turn to take a step back and focus on other priorities as Davis takes charge, and she stays involved as executive chairman.

“I think the clients are very happy about this, that we are keeping the company within the existing ownership, and that we’re not bringing in an executive from the outside,” Firestone said. “Thad and I have worked together from the beginning, and over time, he has taken on more and more responsibility.”

Rebuilding the Csuite at IDG

International Data Group’s new chief executive is building up her leadership team.

Genevieve Juillard became chief executive of the Needham company in September, taking over for Mohamad Ali, who is now back with IBM. On March 28, she announced the hiring of former Ziff Davis executive Mike

Finnerty to lead Foundry , the media arm formerly known as IDG Communications, and AnnChristel Graham, to be Foundry’s chief revenue officer. They’re both charged with better integrating Foundry’s operations with the market research side of the business, in part to provide more customized offerings to the tech companies that are hoping to use Foundry’s digital outlets, such Computerworld, to reach IT buyers. Juillard said Finnerty and Graham “are going to take the business to the next level.”

They probably won’t be doing the bulk of their work from the Needham office. Finnerty will remain in New York and Graham will stay in Silicon Valley. Unlike Ali, a fixture of Boston’s business scene, Juillard is based in Chicago. The move to more dispersed leadership teams that happened throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has helped IDG attract more talented executives in Greater Boston and elsewhere, Juillard said.

However, Juillard said IDG remains committed to the Boston area, home to more than 500 employees out of a 3,600-person workforce. “Needham’s our global headquarters,” Juillard said, “[and] it’s our largest center of gravity.”

Banks tells the GE story

Elizabeth Banks grew up in Pittsfield when it was still considered a General Electric “company town.” Her dad, Mark

Mitchell, worked at the local plant, which has since closed; other family members worked for GE as well. For her dad, GE’s Pittsfield plant was a second home where he made a number of good friends.

Now, the actor and director is paying back GE by pitching in for its newest ad campaign. She narrated a one minute spot that aired on ESPN , CNBC, and

Bloomberg TV, on April 1 — the day before GE split into two. On April 2, GE became GE Aerospace, based in Ohio, and GE

Vernova (GE’s energy businesses), headquartered in Cambridge. GE HealthCare, based in Chicago, had already spun out last year.

The ad portrays the breakup as not an end, but a new beginning. Banks tells the story of how GE equipment lit up the first major league baseball game held at night, in 1935. April 2, Banks promises in her voiceover, will be “our opening day.”

‘I think the clients are very happy about this, that we are keeping the company within the existing ownership, and that we’re not bringing in an executive from the outside.’ KAREN FIRESTONE, cofounder, Aureus Asset Management