Transformation is a hard, geological word. It suggests immense pressure, tectonic shifts, and the slow, grinding creation of something new from something old. In business, it is a term often wielded like a weapon, a top-down mandate for change that promises efficiency but frequently delivers disruption, confusion, and a dispirited workforce. The landscape is littered with the fossilized remains of grand strategies that failed to take root in the messy, human soil of an organization. This is the world that Cheryl Beqaj, the founder and CEO of Stone Transformation Inc., has set out to reshape.
To meet Cheryl is to meet a study in contrast. She is a consulting executive who speaks the language of analytics and ROI, yet her foundational business principle is empathy. She advises on complex digital and supply chain logistics for pharmaceutical giants. Still, her most resonant success story is measured in the thousands of babies born each year thanks to a project she led. In an industry dominated by monolithic firms offering what she calls “rinse-and-repeat solutions,” she has built a boutique powerhouse, a $10 million business with over 40 consultants in just two years, on the radical idea that the most critical element of any business transformation is the human element.
Her company, Stone Transformation, is named not for the coldness of change, but for the foundational act of building a solid path. She does not just chart the destination; she is there on the ground, paving the way, ensuring that the vision imagined in the boardroom can actually be walked by the people who make a company run.
The Accidental Consultant
The path to becoming a transformation guru was not a straight one. It was a pivot born of necessity and a keen sense of self-awareness. Cheryl arrived at Rutgers University with a clear goal: a career in Finance. She was driven, completing her BA in Economics in a compressed three-year timeline, ready to dive into the world of markets and capital. But the economy had other plans. The downturn at the time made finance a difficult field to break into. It was a moment of forced reflection.
A friend made a suggestion that would alter her trajectory entirely: consulting. It was not a world she had considered, but the more she learned, the more it resonated with a core part of her personality. “I love fixing problems and making processes more efficient,” Cheryl says, reflecting on that pivotal moment. It was this innate desire to untangle knots and create clarity that led her to a role at Accenture. There, she was immersed in the life sciences industry, and something clicked.
This was not an abstract world of numbers; it was a sector with a direct, tangible impact on people’s lives. Consulting was not just about optimizing a system; it was about improving a patient’s access to medication or easing a caretaker’s burden. “I fell in love with consulting in the life sciences industry because of the ability to make a real impact in patients’ and caretakers’ lives,” Cheryl recalls.
The work was a perfect marriage of Cheryl’s analytical mind and her burgeoning sense of purpose. Her career progressed, and she eventually took on a role at Slalom, a respected consulting firm, where she eventually got promoted to the level of Managing Director, responsible for leading the Life Sciences portfolio and all Account teams in New Jersey. It was there that she connected with Brian Ehlenberger, a colleague who shared her growing conviction that there was a better, more human way to guide companies through change. They saw the same gaps, felt the same frustrations with the industry’s status quo, and nurtured the same vision for a firm that would prioritize people and purpose above all else. The partnership, forged in a shared philosophy, would become the bedrock of Stone Transformation.
A Vision Forged in Experience
The inspiration for Stone Transformation was not an abstract business model conceived on a whiteboard. It was a vision forged in the trenches of real-world projects, crystallized by one experience in particular. Cheryl was advising a pharmaceutical client that manufactured fertility medication. The project was a digital transformation, a phrase that can sound sterile and technical. But for her, the work was deeply personal.
“I was able to directly tie the impact of the digital transformation that I was advising on to the thousands of additional babies that were able to be born each year due to their parents having improved access to this medication,” Cheryl says.
The line between a logistical improvement and a new life was direct and undeniable. This was the kind of impact that fueled her. “That’s how I see transformation,” she explains, “and why I wanted to create a highly people-centric company exclusively dedicated to making positive transformation in the Life Sciences, Healthcare, and Public Health industries.”
In 2023, that vision became a reality. Cheryl, alongside Brian Ehlenberger, launched Stone Transformation as a women-owned consulting firm with a clear and audacious mission. They wanted to attract the industry’s best talent not with flashy perks, but with the promise of meaningful work. They sought to partner with like-minded clients, organizations that were not just paying lip service to innovation but were genuinely ready to tackle their most challenging problems in a way that stayed true to their values. They were determined to build a firm that would never lose sight of the people at the end of the supply chain, the patients whose lives hung in the balance.
Paving the Way: The Stone Philosophy
Cheryl built Stone to solve a fundamental flaw she observed time and again in the management consulting world. “Firms typically fall into two camps,” she explains, “those focused on strategy and those focused on implementation.” One camp delivers a beautiful, ambitious vision, and the other is called in to build it. “But this often leaves a gap between vision and execution.” It is in this gap that transformations falter and fail.
Stone was designed to live in that gap, to be the bridge. Cheryl and her team developed a proprietary methodology they call the “Transformation Journey,” a model that spans from “Imagining the Future” to the crucial, often-overlooked middle phase they call “Paving the Way,” and finally to “Realizing Success” through implementation.
“Paving the Way” is the connective tissue. It is the detailed work of translating a high-level strategy into a practical, achievable roadmap, ensuring that the people, processes, and technology are all aligned before a single line of code is written or a new organizational chart is rolled out.
This bespoke approach is a direct response to the “formulaic, one-size-fits-all solutions” that frustrated her at larger firms. Specializing in the Life Sciences, Healthcare, and Public Health sectors, Stone offers deep expertise in a number of critical Transformation Journeys, including:
- Drug & New Product Launch
- Manufacturing/Supply Chain for Advanced Therapeutics
- Enabling Commercial Marketing & Sales
- Building a Data-Driven Culture
- Patient Services & Engagement
- Agile & Digital Transformation
- AI Ideation & Adoption
- Team Effectiveness & Leadership Coaching
This specialized focus ensures clients “Feel the Impact,” achieving measurable outcomes and a real return on their investment.
The Human Algorithm
At the heart of Stone’s methodology is a concept Cheryl champions with the zeal of a convert: Design Thinking. She recognized early on that for any transformation to be successful and sustainable, it had to be designed with and for the people who would be most affected by it. “So much of the human element gets lost when you are a firm that makes the same recommendations over and over for clients,” she says. “I realized that for a transformation to actually stick, you have to involve the people who will be impacted.”
This was not just an intuitive feeling; it was a principle she sought to master. She enrolled in the mini-MBA program at Rutgers Business School, focusing specifically on User and Customer Experience, and later returned as a speaker. This human-centered approach is now embedded in every phase of Stone’s work, from their “StAc Labs” (Stone Activation Labs) strategy offering to “Realizing Success” in implementation.
This focus is also Stone’s primary defense against the common pitfalls of large-scale projects. Cheryl has seen countless transformations fail for a predictable set of reasons. She has identified several key mistakes that plague almost all unsuccessful transformations:
- Lack of Leadership Alignment: Senior leadership gets “sold” on the idea but hasn’t dedicated the right level of investment or, more critically, isn’t aligned on the desired outcome.
- Passive Project Management: Project managers just “check the box” rather than taking an active role in the transformation’s success.
- Technology Leading the Strategy: The organization succumbs to “shiny object syndrome,” adopting new tech with no plan for how it will impact employees or be adopted.
- Discontinuity between Teams: A gap exists between the strategists, the solution designers, and the development teams.
- A Static Roadmap: The plan has no room for iteration or data-driven decision-making to achieve the desired outcomes.
- Unclear Success Metrics: There is a lack of clarity on what success looks like or when it has been achieved.
To counteract these forces, Stone introduced a unique role into their engagements: the “Transformation Owner.” This individual acts as the central nervous system for the project, a dedicated leader responsible for ensuring alignment, maintaining momentum, and, most importantly, keeping the human experience at the center of every decision.
Building a Culture of Impact
The success of this model has been staggering. To grow into a $10 million business with a team of over 40 consultants in just two years is a remarkable feat in any industry. For Cheryl, the numbers are a byproduct of something more fundamental. “My role is not only to set the vision and strategy but also to support and care for our team,” she asserts. “Creating an environment where people can do meaningful work, collaborate deeply, and have fun along the way.”
Cheryl has seen firsthand how a strong company culture can be sacrificed at the first sign of a business slowdown. “In past organizations, I’ve seen incredible cultures built, only to be abandoned when business slowed—and those organizations quickly unraveled as a result,” she recalls. “At Stone, that is not an option.”
Diversity is enshrined as a core value, seen not as a box to be checked but as a key driver of innovation and success. The result is a team that is not just effective, but deeply loyal and collaborative. “The deep friendships we build with our clients are another hallmark of what makes Stone particularly special,” Cheryl adds.
The Next Transformation: AI and Motherhood
Now, Cheryl is guiding Stone through its next evolution, helping clients navigate the complex world of Artificial Intelligence. Here too, her human-centric philosophy is the guiding principle. While many companies are focused on the technological capabilities of AI, Stone is focused on the human component. “It is critical to consider business value in AI solutions, understand who will use them… and consider how processes might be adjusted to keep humans in the loop,” she explains. She is poised to announce major partnerships with leading AI providers, ensuring Stone remains at the forefront of this technological wave, but on its own terms.
This period of intense professional growth has coincided with a profound personal transformation. Cheryl recently gave birth to her first child, a son named Desmond. At eight months old, he has already become an integral part of the Stone culture. “Desmond loves crashing our Partner and other Leadership team meetings and has become our little mascot,” she says with a laugh.
Motherhood, Cheryl shares, has brought the concept of work-life balance into sharp, beautiful focus. She and her husband, Mark, are savoring every moment. It is the ultimate human-centered project, and it has only deepened her conviction that work should support a full life, not consume it.
The Bespoke Revolution
As she looks at the future of her industry, Cheryl sees an irreversible shift. The era of the mega-consultancy is waning. “Clients no longer want to work with large organizations that offer rinse-and-repeat solutions,” she states with conviction. “They want to partner with smaller companies, with consultants who they really know and trust, and solutions that are customized to their needs.”
This is the bespoke revolution, and Stone is on its leading edge. But Cheryl knows that providing this level of customized, high-touch service requires a special kind of team. Her final insight is a lesson for any leader. “The only way to provide these services in a genuine way,” she concludes, “is to develop a culture that motivates the elite team of consultants needed to deliver such challenging and meaningful work.” In the end, the secret to transforming a business is no different from the secret to building a great one. It all comes down to the people.
Quotes
“Missing the human element is the most common mistake I see organizations make during transformation.”
“Strategies and investments only deliver impact when people are engaged, aligned, and empowered to bring them to life.”
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