As always, promotion season delivers: below, we dive into the most significant moves of the month and most senior appointments in professional services. Some firms hit milestones, others score new investment, and the majority continue to invest in people—however much inflation rises and whichever way the market goes in the next few months to a year, the consulting space will be ready to tackle it head on.
People Moves
EY promotes Mona Bitar to Vice Chair of the firm’s UK&I operations—she is succeeded in her previous role as UKI Managing Partner of the Consumer Products and Retail market by Amber Mace, a long-standing EY Partner with a background in finance and Tax.
Jukka Maksimainen takes a new role at McKinsey, as Global Lead of the firm’s Energy and Materials work; Kari Kulojärvi has been appointed to Jukka’s previous role, leading McKinsey & Company in Finland and the Baltics. Kari has a background in TMT, particularly in Technology, with a history at Nokia and Microsoft.
Miriam Martin rejoins Oliver Wyman as a UK&I Partner in their Finance and Risk practice. She has extensive experience as a regulator, most recently with the Bank of England’s UK Prudential Regulatory Authority, advising mostly on risk management.
Bain in Germany promotes Dirk Bartels to Expert Partner in their Tech Insights Group. He has extensive history in tech-driven work, both strategic and deal-focused, including on tech due diligence, product strategy and management, and data analytics projects.
David Villa, based in New York, joins Houlihan Lokey’s Financial Services group as a Managing Director to focus on specialty finance companies and depositories. He has previous experience with Credit Suisse, Citi, and RBC Capital Markets.
Matt Austen, a longstanding Oliver Wyman Partner and the firm’s European Head of the Financial Services practice, joins NatWest Group as Director of Strategy, Corporate Development, and Sustainability. Matt Austen will sit on the bank’s Executive Committee from early September.
Revolut is appointing a new US CEO: its Chief Banking Officer, Siddhartha Jajodia, who will be leading on the development and rollout of the firm’s banking capabilities globally. He has held many strategic and executive roles in banking, including with Capital One and Lending Club.
EY-Parthenon continues to grow across Europe West: Dr. Ralph Niederdrenk joins the Private Equity team in the Munich office and will focus on commercial due diligence and strategic value creation projects. He comes from PwC, specifically from the Deal Strategy team, where he was a Senior Partner.
Cornerstone Research has announced that Liam Colley is joining the firm’s London office. Colley will bolster the firm’s global antitrust and competition practice as a Senior Vice President, while he will also lead its European competition practice. He is a seasoned economist, with a background at both PwC and AlixPartners.
In the US, Kroll announces that John F. Bennett, Managing Director in the firm’s Cyber Risk practice, has joined the Kroll Institute as a fellow. John will be working on the connections between cybersecurity and public safety with larger themes such as the economy, geopolitical risk and public policy, among others. He has a longstanding background in the public sector, including with the Office of the DNI and as a Director in Charge with the FBI.
Andreas Spaene has been appointed as the new leader of Strategy& Europe. In his new role, he will leverage his in-depth experience in advising multinational corporations on strategic issues related to digitisation, IT, and supply chain. He will succeed Peter Gassmann in this role, the current Global Lead for ESG in the firm.
PwC strengthens its Energy, Utilities and Resources practice by naming Rob Turner as its new Sector Leader for Energy and Resources. Rob is a partner who has over 20 years’ experience working in the sector covering strategy, policy, and regulation, as well as M&A, financing, and restructuring.
Dr. Markus Thiesmeyer is re-elected as Managing Director at zeb consulting. The banking expert was unanimously approved by the Partners at the most recent meeting of the shareholders’ committee for a further term of office until the end of 2025.
Three years after departing KPMG for Accenture, where he spent over two years as a Director, Charbel Moussa has re-joined the Big Four firm in the Netherlands as a Partner in its Climate Risk & Decarbonisation practice.
Philip Bacher leaves his position as Senior Director and member of the German Board at AlixPartners in favour of a role as Operating Partner of AURELIUS GROUP, assuming accountability for assets of a leading European mid-cap private equity firm. He has extensive background in consulting, including with BCG and McKinsey, in restructuring, transformation, and M&A.
PwC Middle East welcomes Rupert French as Deals Partner within the firm’s Infrastructure and Government: Capital Projects Services (CPS) team. Rupert arrives in the ME from the UK and brings over 15 years of experience driving value across the asset lifecycle on highly complex infrastructure projects, portfolios and contracts.
In the UK, Richard Baker steps down from his role as EY‘s Managing Partner for the Thames Valley & South East region and the Reading office; Gareth Anderson succeeds him, a longstanding EY Tax Partner in the region.
Bovill strengthens its Insurance and Lending team with a new practice leader to advise clients on regulation challenges. Mike Harrison brings two decades of regulatory and consulting expertise to the firm and has a varied background in boutiques and Big 4 environments (Deloitte).
FRP Advisory continues the recent growth of its London team with the appointment of a new Partner—John Potts arrives with over 25 years of experience and will work alongside the firm’s restructuring advisory team to seek out new business opportunities and to help develop existing client relationships. He will also support the firm’s corporate finance and debt advisory teams.
Neil Fletcher joins Alvarez & Marsal in the UK as a Tax Managing Director, focusing on tax advice in mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, joint ventures, and group restructurings, with a particular focus on international and cross-border transactions. He has extensive history with PwC, where he spent the better part of 25 years.
PwC announce an exciting development in its senior leadership: “Petra Justenhoven has been elected Chairwoman and Senior Partner of PwC Europe and Territory Senior Partner (TSP) of PwC Germany, effective 1 July 2022. Petra has also been appointed to the PwC network leadership team (NLT). As a member of the NLT, she will help set overall strategy for the PwC network and the standards to which member firms agree to adhere.”
Global human capital and leadership consultancy Heidrick & Struggles installs Patrik Hammar in Sweden. Hammar joins Heidrick & Struggles with more than 25 years of experience, having spent the past eight years at rival Spencer Stuart, before which he spent over 18 years in the Financial Services industry.
Brian Horn, Chris Coley and Paul Richards have all joined KPMG to work within its Special Situations and Turnaround team, based in London. Brian joins from AlixPartners, Chris from Kroll, and Paul from Alvarez & Marsal.
Reinout Goedvolk takes on the role of Managing Partner of McKinsey in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Jeremie Sneessens will be leading the Belgium and Luxembourg offices. This new leadership succeeds Frederic Vandenberghe (BeLux) and Dieuwert Inia (Netherlands).
Tunde Olanrewaju takes on the role of Managing Partner for the UK, Ireland and Israel at McKinsey, succeeding Virginia Simmons, also a Senior Partner. Tunde has spent almost his entire career with McKinsey, amounting to over 20 years.
Professional services firm Interpath Advisory has made senior appointments to its Debt Advisory and Transaction Services teams. Louise O’Sullivan and Matthew Townsend have 27 years of Financial Services experience between them; Louise joins from PwC, where she was an Assistant Director, and Matthew from a Managing Director position at FTI Consulting.
Wojciech Świercz has been appointed as a Partner in Arthur D. Little‘s Strategy & Organization practice. Based in Warsaw, he will primarily focus on delivering C-level strategy to Private Equity, Retail, and Consumer industries by leveraging his expertise in strategy, revenue management, corporate finance, performance improvement, and digital transformation.
Anthony O’Sullivan is appointed as UAE Managing Partner at EY. Tony joined EY in the Middle East in 1998 and spent many years acting as the Lead Partner for global clients, further amassing experience in the Real Estate industry in the UAE. He has supported most of the large developers in the country, in addition to working with large Government entities and Sovereign Wealth Funds.
Charlie Alexander is appointed EY MENA Financial Services leader. Charlie brings nearly 30 years of knowledge and experience, having previously led the Banking and Asset Management sectors at an EMEIA and Global level for EY for Strategy and Transactions. Most recently, he was the firm’s EMEIA FS Sector PE leader, where he led the FS sector coverage of EY’s largest global PE accounts.
PA Consulting welcomes sustainable supply and value chain expert Jason Smith to their Energy and Utilities team in London. Jason brings over two decades of experience across a variety of sectors, and will lead the firm’s work in Sustainable Supply and Value Chain.
Manuel Cortés joins as a Managing Director at Alvarez & Marsal Valuation Group in Spain as a sector generalist, and will be responsible for launching the business in the Spanish market. He joins from PwC, where he acted as a Director, with expertise in the Financial Services market.
Robert DeWitte joins Kroll’s Settlement Administration practice as Senior Director and Head of Business Development. Rob, who has over a decade of experience in the administration of domestic and international class action matters, will bolster the firm’s capabilities in complex settlement administration for class actions, mass torts, regulatory, and government matters.
PA Consulting has appointed a new Global Head of Public Sector. Shaun Delaney has spent the last two decades with the firm, and steps up from his previous role leading its economic development work.
A&M welcomes Dhaval Buch as Senior Advisor to the firm in Singapore. Dhaval brings over 30 years of deep supply chain experience, covering procurement, planning, manufacturing, logistics and distribution, across Asia, Africa, US and Latin America.
PA Consulting’s Head of Public Services Consulting, Mark Brett, is retiring and handing over the role to Shaun Delaney, also a Partner, who is currently leading PA’s work in economic development.
HSBC appoints Gabriel Castello as Global Private Banking Regional Head of EMEA, and CEO of the Swiss Private Bank and Country Head in Switzerland. Gabriel will lead private banking growth and further drive international connectivity across the firm’s key wealth hubs in Europe and the Middle East.
Marna Ricker has been appointed EY Global Vice Chair within Tax, with effect from 1st October. Marna is currently EY Americas Vice Chair for Tax Services, and will succeed Kate Barton, who takes on a new role guiding the practice.
EY welcomes Andreas Warner to the EY-Parthenon Global Turnaround and Restructuring Strategy Leadership Team. He has two decades of experience in strategic operations and business restructuring and is based in Munich.
A&M expands its digital offering in EMEA with the hire of Managing Director Arpita Singhal in its Life Sciences sector, based in London. Arpita specializes in value driven, tech-enabled, end-to-end transformation programmes.
Nicolas de Bellefonds takes on leadership of BCG Gamma and succeeds Sylvain Duranton, who founded the function and has been leading it from inception. Sylvain takes on the role of leader for BCG X, a New Tech-Build and Design Business Unit, home now to BCG Digital Ventures, BCG GAMMA, and BCG Platinion (Product, Design, and Engineering).
Olivier Bouffault also takes leadership of BCG X for EMESA. Previously, Olivier led the firm’s GAMMA capability across EMESA.
BDO has announced that Matthew White is to continue as the firm’s Senior Partner for a second four-year team. White was first elected to the role in 2018, and has since overseen the firm’s ESG drive within its leadership. Prior to becoming BDO’s Senior Partner in 2018, White was an Audit Partner, having worked with the firm since 2008.
Grant Thornton has appointed Norman Armstrong its Practice Leader in the Thames Valley and Southampton region. Norman is a long-standing Audit Partner, having led the development and growth of Audit services to PE firms and private investment-backed businesses.
Alter Domus announces that “Gus Harris has been appointed to its Group Executive Board. The appointment comes as Alter Domus accelerates the growth of its Data & Analytics business under Gus’ leadership.”
KPMG has named Diane Swonk Chief Economist. Swonk, based in Chicago, will lead the firm’s Office of the Chief Economist, which provides deep insights to clients on the economy and how it impacts strategy, growth, and operations.
Wesley Hayes is promoted to Senior Partner at McKinsey in the UK; he heads the firm’s Private Equity and Principal Investor practice in the UK, advising investors and funds across the deal cycle with a specific focus on exit preparation. He also co-leads McKinsey’s work with Growth Equity investors globally.
Promotion Season
The summer means an uptick in promotions across most of the main consulting players, and this year is no exception. Let’s look at some examples:
EY has promoted a record number of staff in the UK to partner level this year, including a greater number of women and those from ethnic minority backgrounds. The Big Four accountant has added 120 equity partners, 75 of whom promoted internally and 45 hired from outside the business.
In Belgium, 13 people join the EY partnership across various practices, with the majority in Consulting and others in Strategy and Transactions, as well as Audit.
BCG also promotes heavily in its EMESA region, strengthening its Partner and Managing Director level in the region, all effective July 1st. Michael Engels (TMT), for instance, joins the partnership in Germany, and Elke Kraak (Energy Transition) does so in the Netherlands.
PwC’s Deals practice has 17 new Equity Partners in the UK, not long after bolstering its capabilities with two significant external hires: Raj Agrawal and Wendy Britten. The firm, through Strategy&, also reaches a new milestone in the Netherlands—10 Partners and 100 people, achieved through the promotions of Guillaume Laffitte-Rigaud and Marcel Otten. In total, PwC has promoted 77 Partners in the UK.
In its largest mid-year partner intake in six years, BearingPoint has appointed 14 new internal Partners in six European countries. Externally, 5 joined the management and technology consultancy. Kiumars Hamidian, Managing Partner of BearingPoint, said that the sizable intake is the logical result of the firm’s most successful year in history, and is in line with its Strategy 2025.
Bain & Company strengthens its management team in the DACH region. Marie-Therese Marek, Alexander Mitscherlich, Dr. Martin Rous, and Heinrich Zinn have been added to the partnership. In addition, Daniel Möllerhenn was appointed Expert Partner. In a similar vein, Bain promotes Pablo Rojo González and Tomás Moreno García del Barrio in Iberia, in line with the accelerated growth of the business in EMEA.
The firm has also promoted two of its Italian partners to top leadership roles. Roberto Prioreschi has been promoted to Managing Partner of Southern Europe, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Pierluigi Serlenga is becoming leader of Bain & Company’s Global Aerospace, Defense and Government Services Sector, as well as leading the firm’s Advanced Manufacturing & Services and Performance Improvement practices in Italy.
Eight Advisory announces four new Partners in France, Benelux, Germany and Switzerland, bringing the firm’s total number of partners to 76, including Edouard Decamp-Bonjean, in the Transaction Services team, Thomas Gummert, within Infrastructure & Project Finance, Hubert Christophe within Avocats, and Michael Horwat within Transaction Services.
Market Intelligence
Deloitte has entered into a partnership with BioWin, the Health Cluster of Wallonia and regional reference for all stakeholders in health Biotech and Medtech research and innovation projects.
KPMG has struck a deal with Cambridge University to let researchers come into the Big Four firm to study the impacts of its mental wellbeing initiatives. This will see Cambridge University researchers allowed into the company to study workplace wellbeing – with a view to developing strategies to boost productivity, minimise staff turnover, and cut wellbeing related absences.
Mazars has been appointed to the administration of Toogood International Transport and Agricultural Services. The family-owned express transport companies succumbed to a difficult period of trading, amid the UK’s current state of record inflation.
Cognizant has donated more than £1 million in grants to five charities working to connect individuals from historically excluded and underserved backgrounds to gain access to careers in science. The organisations receiving grants are: Code First Girls, The Forces Employment Charity, The Prince’s Trust, Raspberry Pi Foundation and the Social Mobility Foundation.
Greek bank Attica Bank has revealed early details of its new strategy for the coming years. Developed in conjunction with Boston Consulting Group, the plan aims to boost the bank’s positioning and guide a return to profitability.
Experian aims to drive increased use of digital payslips with acquisition of PayDashboard, a digital payslip portal that integrates with existing payroll software to deliver online payslips, PAYE forms, and payroll data.
Sia Partners has opened a new office in Antwerp, the firm’s second in the Belgian market. The firm has been active in Belgium since 2005, serving its client base through an office in capital city Brussels, a team that’s grown to over 50.
Grant Thornton has been appointed to AIM Aviation’s administration. AIM is a historic firm which designs and manufactures cabin interiors for helicopters and planes, including lounges, bars, seats and galleys, also making interiors for military aircraft.
EY announces that it has completed the acquisition of Fabernovel, a leading provider of consulting services for digital transformation and innovation, with the goal to become the leader in the convergence of digital and ecological transitions in Europe.
Deloitte has announced it will shift its Manchester hub to Salford. The new office will help the firm accommodate a planned headcount boost of some 70%.
Arthur D. Little has launched a new office in Belgrade, with the Serbian capital city serving as its launching pad for the Balkans region. This comes with an expected boom in economic activity over the coming years as Serbia prepares to become a member of the European Union.
NMS Consulting has expanded its European footprint with the opening of a new office in Austria. NMS Consulting’s seventeenth office worldwide is located in Vienna, and will serve as the firm’s hub for the Austrian and Central Eastern Europe market, much like its Istanbul hub.
PA Consulting has announced that it has signed a strategic agreement with Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS). The new deal will help joint and PA-exclusive clients accelerate their digital transformation.
Deutsche Telekom has agreed to sell 51% of its towers business to a consortium of Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management and U.S. private equity firm DigitalBridge after they placed a surprise $17.5bn bid in the auction’s final stages.
Barclays is looking for a Chinese banking partner to set up an asset management joint venture in the country. Barclays’ majority-owned China asset management venture will be set up via its unit Barclays Investment Managers, which currently has operations in Europe and Japan.
BDO has re-opened its Edinburgh office, following a major refurbishment project. The firm has fitted the office with state-of-the-art technology to foster hybrid working. BDO has two Scottish offices, one in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh.
Elliott Management, an activism-driven investor, is in talks with the management of social media platform Pinterest, after becoming the largest investor with more than a 9% stake.
Saudi Arabia’s new business centre, the King Abdullah Financial District, has added a global strategy consultancy to its roster of tenants. A multi-billion-dollar project announced some fifteen years ago, King Abdullah Financial District is on the verge of opening up for business, with construction now at the very final stages.
A&M announces a new office “in Malaysia, with the appointment of Corporate Performance Improvement (CPI) Managing Director, Tze Yann (Z) Tan as country leader. A&M’s Malaysia office extends the firm’s geographic footprint by leveraging its newly launched Southeast Asia and Australia (SEAA) business unit and fusing the firm’s strategic growth plans with its regional commitment.”
Paris-headquartered global consultancy EFESO Consulting has significantly expanded its presence in the world’s largest consulting market through the merger with Argo Consulting.
Infosys strengthens its European operations with the acquisition of Base Life Science, a Danish firm with around 200 consultants. The deal is the second for Infosys this year in Europe, shortly after the integration of Germany-based digital marketing agency Oddity.
European consulting firm Eight Advisory has landed an investment from Sienna Investment Managers, aiming to maintain its growth trajectory as an independent business.
Interpath Advisory has completed the acquisition of Kalo. The insolvency and advisory firm operations in BVI, the Cayman Islands, and Anguilla – key areas of expansion for restructuring firms in recent months. Kalo boasts two decades of experience in restructuring, insolvency, stakeholder disputes, asset recovery and fraud investigations.
Oliver Wyman launches a risk decisioning-as-a-service solution for financial services with EXL and Corridor Platforms. This offering leverages advanced analytics, AI and the cloud to deliver credit decisions necessary to support digital lending initiatives such as point-of-sale financing, digital loans, mortgage approvals and real-time credit limit changes.