Grow." The Memorial Drive Trust, a tax-exempt retirement trust for the benefit of its employees, was set up. From 1972 to 2001 ADL owned Cambridge Consultants Ltd in Cambridge UK and both companies forged close links. Seminal projects As the pioneer firm in professional services, Arthur D. Little played a key role in numerous 20th-century business initiatives: In 1911 ADL organized General Motors' first R&D lab, leading to the formation of the firm's dedicated management consulting division, and the birth of the management consulting industry. In 1916 ADL was commissioned by the Canadian Pacific Railway to do a survey of Canada's natural resources. In 1921 the firm succeeded in using a bucket of sows' ears to make a silk purse. This revolutionary achievement later became part of the Smithsonian Institute's collection. In 1968 ADL designed the NASDAQ stock exchange systems for London and Tokyo. In 1969 ADL developed the Apollo 11 Laser Ranging Retro-Reflector experiment which were installed on the Moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission and which remains active and functioning to this day. In 1980, ADL produced the European Commission's first white paper on telecommunications deregulation, having completed the first worldwide telecommunications database on phones installed, markets, technical trends, services and regulatory information. It also helped privatize British Rail, generally regarded as one of the most complex privatization exercises in the world. The Altran era By 2001, Arthur D. Little reached its peak as a global consulting firm with very significant growth in the technology sector. However, a new management team mismanaged the company's core business and engaged in manipulation of the Memorial Drive Trust. The ADL Board of Trustees replaced this management team. But the damage had been done, and combined with the impact of the dot.com bubble on technology sector activity this led Arthur D. Little to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2002. At an auction in 2002, TIAX LLC, formed by Kenan Sahin, acquired the assets, contracts, and staff of Arthur D. Little's U.S. Technology & Innovation business. Paris-based Altran Technologies bought the non-U.S. assets and brand name of Arthur D. Little. Under Altran's ownership, Arthur D. Little operated primarily as a European-centric company initially, rebuilding and strengthening its core practices in oil and gas, telecommunications, automotive, manufacturing, and chemicals. It did however maintain offices in Boston and Houston in the USA. Later ADL grew and expanded throughout Europe, the Middle East,