About Us
A Dallas advisory firm built for the way businesses actually run
AI implementation first, financial discipline throughout.
Base
Dallas, Texas
Entity
Texas limited liability company
Engagements
Advisory and implementation only
Our Firm
The Willow Wood Group was formed in Dallas around a question owners and operators keep running into: what does artificial intelligence actually change about the way a business runs, and what does it leave exactly where it was?
That question is usually answered from one side or the other. Technology consultancies understand the tooling but not the ledger. Traditional financial advisers understand the ledger and treat AI as somebody else’s department. The work that decides outcomes sits between them: rebuilding a reporting cycle, taking manual handling out of a close, putting a forecast on a footing someone can defend in front of a board or a lender.
AI implementation is the firm’s leading practice. The discipline is workflow development: identifying where automation earns its keep, designing the process around it, building the thing, and staying long enough that the team owns it rather than depends on us. The objective is a business that runs better after the engagement ends, not a pilot that impresses in a demonstration.
A financial services practice sits alongside it: transaction advisory, interim management, FP&A advisory, and liquidity management. Those engagements stand on their own, and they keep the implementation work honest: a workflow is only worth building if the numbers coming out of it hold up.
The firm is deliberately small. Engagements are scoped in writing, staffed by the principal, and closed when the work is done. There is nothing to cross-sell and no product sitting behind the advice.
How We Work
Principles
I
Independence
No platform to resell, no vendor behind the recommendation.
We operate as an independent firm, with every recommendation tailored to your exact needs. No reseller agreements, no kickbacks, no referral fees. The only question behind a recommendation is whether it's right for you.
II
Data-Driven
A workflow earns automation by the numbers, not the demo.
Every engagement opens with a conversation about the metrics that matter to you: hours, error rates, cycle times, hand-offs. From there we set a baseline of how your process runs today. Those numbers decide where we build, and they're the test every solution has to pass before it goes live. We keep a human checkpoint wherever a wrong answer is expensive, and we let the data, not the demo, set the direction.
III
Alignment
Collaborative development, scoped builds, white-glove service.
A consultative development process built around your actual workflow. Not everything should be automated, and we'll tell you which parts. We'd rather find the two or three workflows where automation changes your week, build those well, and leave the rest alone. Once a project is complete, the finished product sits in your hands permanently. Real solutions to your real problems.
Leadership
Who you work with
Zach Brinker
Founder & Principal
Engagements are led and staffed by the principal. Clients work with the person doing the analysis and building the workflow. There is no bench behind the introduction and no handoff after the first meeting.
Zachary Brinker is the founder and principal of The Willow Wood Group. His background includes transaction management, AI process improvement, corporate restructuring, and operational finance across treasury and payables functions.
Before founding the firm, Zach was a Private Equity Analyst with Valesco Industries, a Dallas-based SBIC fund, where he led pre-close diligence, orchestrated equity and debt capital raises, and worked directly with portfolio company leadership on operational initiatives and financial reporting. Earlier, as a Corporate Finance and Restructuring Consultant with FTI Consulting, he advised debtors through Chapter 11 restructurings and recapitalizations in the healthcare, technology, and energy sectors. Across the two firms, he supported transactions totaling more than one billion dollars in aggregate value.
Zach also publishes Brinker Advisor, a monthly newsletter that reads the macroeconomic and Federal Reserve cycles for retirement-focused investors. He holds a BBA in Finance from SMU’s Cox School of Business, where he graduated cum laude.
In his free time, Zach enjoys a round of golf, watching the Colorado Avalanche, or trying a new restaurant with friends.
If the situation in front of you sits between the technology and the numbers, it is worth a conversation.
Contact Us