November brought notable momentum in the Professional Services sector, with key leadership appointments and market activity reflecting a focus on innovation, sector specialisation, and growth. Firms like PwC, Alvarez & Marsal, and Grant Thornton expanded capabilities in areas such as digital transformation, Private Equity, and restructuring. Meanwhile, strategic investments, including Cinven’s stake in Grant Thornton UK and Analysys Mason’s acquisition of Telescope Advisory Partners, highlight ongoing consolidation and specialisation trends as firms gear up for 2025.
Key People Moves
Portage Point Partners has welcomed Barclay Stanton as a Managing Director and Head of the practice area: Office of the CFO. Barclay moved over from Accordion where he led the firm’s Los Angeles office.
Andrea Gondekova has joined the Boston Consulting Group in Paris from Bain & Co. to bolster their Principal Investors and Private Equity practice. She has a deep sector focus within Consumer Goods and will work on complex due diligence efforts, exit planning, and value creation projects for Private Equity funds.
Grant Thornton has appointed Michael Kempe as its new Chief Information Officer (CIO). With more than two decades of experience driving digital transformation, global business strategy and operational excellence, Kempe will play a pivotal role in strengthening Grant Thornton’s technology operations and strategy execution. Prior to Grant Thornton, Kempe was the Chief Information Officer for Global Business Process Groups at KPMG.
PwC has appointed Matt Wood to its global leadership team. As the firm’s Global Commercial Technology and Innovation officer, he will work to strengthen the Big Four firm’s ability to deliver end-to-end technology solutions. Wood formerly spent 14 years with Amazon Web Services, where he was a Vice President for Artificial Intelligence.
Strategy& has strengthened its Pharma & Life Sciences capabilities in Germany with the hire of Fritz Heese from Oliver Wyman. He will serve Pharma & Life Sciences companies on growth strategies, organizational transformation, commercial growth, sales transformation, developing new business models, and financial improvement.
John Fiorentino joins Alvarez & Marsal as a Managing Director to co-lead their Procurement & Sourcing capabilities within the Private Equity Improvement practice in New York. He specializes in procurement and supply chain driven value creation identification and realization for PE firms and their assets. John joined from Kearney.
The actuarial branch of Oliver Wyman has strengthened its P&C capability in Europe by setting up a London-based presence. To spearhead the effort, Matthew Facey has joined the firm as a Partner based in London. Facey spent the majority of his career at Willis Towers Watson where he played a pivotal role in accelerating its growth in London and the Middle East.
Mirko René Gramatke has joined Rautenberg & Company in Germany as a Senior Partner focused on the TMT and Private Equity sectors. He joins from Altman Solon where he gained deep experience advising investors and corporate clients on a wide range of technology and digital infrastructure topics across both sell-side and buy-side processes.
Alvarez & Marsal has strengthened its Restructuring practice in Chicago with Gaurav Malhotra, who joins as a Managing Director. He has extensive expertise in executing financial distress transformations, liquidity enhancements, developing and optimizing cost reduction, and driving commercial pricing plans. Malhotra joins Alvarez & Marsal from EY, where he was a Partner and leader of its Restructuring practice in the US.
Eight Advisory appoints Andreas Gemis to lead their CFO Advisory practice in the Benelux. Prior to joining Eight Advisory, Gemis gained experience in both industry and management consulting at Melexis and KPMG.
Grant Thornton has welcomed Dana Al Yazeedi as its first Emirati Partner in the Advisory business. Appointed a Partner in the Abu Dhabi office, Dana Al Yazeedi brings over 14 years of experience in internal audit, risk management, and corporate governance. Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Al Yazeedi served as the Internal Audit Division Director at the Department of Health in Abu Dhabi.
Pascal Gounon has joined EY-Parthenon from PwC to co-lead their Turnaround & Restructuring Strategy practice in France. He will act as a financial advisor alongside managers and investors through complex financial and economic situations, business modelling ,financial and operational restructuring, and implementation of cash flow forecasts.
Alvarez & Marsal has strengthened its UK Corporate Finance practice, with the appointment of Ian Birch. Arriving as a Managing Director, he will work to expand the practice’s Technology M&A capability across Europe. Prior to joining A&M, Birch spent 20 years at PwC, where he most recently served as the firm’s Technology Services M&A leader.
AlixPartners has strengthened its Turnaround & Restructuring practice in Germany with Tom Gellrich, who joined from Roland Berger. Operating out of Munich, he will advise clients on the setup and delivery of restructuring and cost reduction programs, as well as on financial distress related work in the context of mergers & acquisitions and corporate carve-outs.
Arthur D. Little (ADL) announced the appointment of Garrett Whitmore as a Partner in its Central European Innovation practice. Garrett will be based in ADL’s Munich office, and will focus on leading the delivery of digital strategy and transformation consulting projects to clients across industries. Prior to ADL, Garrett was a Managing Director & Co-Head of Digital at goetzpartners.
BearingPoint has completed a team hire in the German market, welcoming Peter Carling and a team of compliance experts to the firm. The new team crosses from Caweco, a boutique consulting firm from Munich that specialises in the design and delivery of compliance projects. Caweco was founded by Peter who has now been appointed a Partner in the Compliance, Finance & Risk practice of BearingPoint.
Alvarez & Marsal has announced the appointment of Nigel Hinchliffe as a Managing Director within their Transaction Advisory Group . He joins the firm’s Manchester office, and will continue to expand the company’s growing Gaming and Betting Advisory capability. He specialises in financial due diligence, with extensive experience advising clients on buy- and sell-side, refinancing, carve-out and cross-border transactions.
Simon-Kucher has welcomed Roshel Jayasundera as a Partner in Dubai within their Healthcare and Life Sciences division. She specialises in commercial strategy, pricing, and healthcare transformation. Prior to Simon-Kucher, Jayasundera was Managing Partner and Board Member at Axios International.
Bryan Berumen joins the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) as their EMESA Salesforce Topic Lead. He will support topics including Sales Transformation, Sales Operations, Sales Effectiveness, Salesforce.com Enablement, and Operating Model Design. Prior to BCG, Bryan was the EMEA Salesforce Business Group Lead at Accenture.
Benoit Meulewaeter has joined the Construction practice of Accuracy as a Director in Dubai. Meulewaeter specialises in project management across the full lifecycle, as well as technological advancement in the construction sector such as Business Information Management (BIM) and 3D printing. Prior to Accuracy, Meulewaeter led the Engineering Department of Besix in the Middle East, and co-founded Besix3D, a cutting-edge 3D printing division.
CIL expands their North American Technology practice with the appointment of Jack Campbell as a Director. Jack brings extensive expertise in IT managed services including cloud, infrastructure and security, data centers and their planning, construction and usage, communication infrastructure, and the value-added reseller space. Prior to joining CIL, Jack’s consulting career has included time at Altman Solon and Accenture.
Alvarez & Marsal has welcomed Jorge Gilabert as Managing Director and co-lead of its Travel, Hospitality & Leisure practice in Europe. Based out of Spain, Jorge Gilabert co-leads the Travel, Hospitality & Leisure practice together with Ed Bignold, who is based in London. Gilabert brings more than 15 years of experience in the industry to the role, gained at Monitor Deloitte and PwC.
FTI Consulting appoints Jason Bourke as Managing Director within their Merger Integration & Carve-Outs offering. Jason has more than a decade of buy-side and sell-side transaction and portfolio company operations experience cross sector. Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Jason was a Senior Director in EY-Parthenon’s Private Equity Value Creation practice.
Richard Edwin joins HKA’s Construction Dispute Resolution team in Dubai. A Chartered Civil Engineer with over 40 years of experience, Richard Edwin brings extensive experience in resolving construction disputes and advises clients on how they can secure successful project outcomes and provides independent expert witness opinion in formal proceedings. Edwin joins HKA from Kroll, where he spent a dozen years working as a leader in its Dispute Resolution business.
Christine Maxwell has recently been appointed as Group Chief Information Security Officer at SSE plc. Maxwell joined from the UK Ministry of Defence where she was a Director within the department. Prior to this, she was a Director at KPMG.
Julia Zacharias joins Simon Kucher as their Global Head of Transformation for People & Organization. She joins from Applause where she was a SVP for Strategic Accounts & Digital Accessibility. Zacharias also had experience working at Kearney.
Key People Promotions
Tobias Aebi has been promoted to Partner at Arthur D. Little. Tobas originally joined Arthur D. Little in Central Europe in 2013, rejoining the firm in 2016 and transferring to the Dubai office in 2018, where he is part of the Energy & Utilities (ENUT) practice. Focused on the energy, aerospace and defense sectors, as well as advising on economic development, Tobias has been involved with delivering some of ADL’s landmark national strategy projects in the Middle East.
The Boston Consulting Group promote six Partners to Managing Director & Partner level across the UK, Netherlands and Belgium: Jon Williams (UK), Jacob Palmer (UK), Julien Lardet-Maurin (Amsterdam), Nigel Markey (UK), François Lemaître (Belgium), and René Willemars (Netherlands).
BearingPoint adds Elisabeth Denner and Kay Manke to their Global Management Committee. Denner joined BearingPoint in 1998 and became a Partner in 2011. She is an expert in topics such as strategy, business transformation, finance, and digital transformation. Manke has been appointed as Global Leader of Consulting Portfolio & Innovation and Leader of the North American region. He is responsible for the consulting service lines and for the generation and management of innovations (new offerings).
Elena Belov and Michael Duane have been appointed by Oliver Wyman to Co-Head their Finance & Risk Practice for the Americas, based in New York. Elena and Michael are respected advisors with deep expertise in risk management, regulatory remediation, operational efficiency, and complex transformations.
Whitley Penn Chief Executive Officer, Larry Autrey has announced executive leadership transitions for the firm effective January 1, 2025. Nathen McEown, current Partner-in-Charge of Consulting and Chief Growth Officer, has been named Chief Executive Officer. Toby Cotton, current Partner-in-Charge of Tax will move into a Chief Operating Officer role. And Larry Autrey will continue to serve the firm as Executive Chairman.
KPMG appoints Fabiano Gobbo as new Advisory leader for the EMEA region. The 30-year KPMG veteran will lead the firm’s EMEA business out of Milan, where he is based. With the exception of an early three-year spell at Accenture, Fabiano Gobbo has been with KPMG his entire career, growing the ranks to Partner, Head of Advisory for the Italian business, and Global Leader of the Risk and Regulatory offering.
BearingPoint names Matthias Loebich as new Global Managing Partner. The firm’s new global leader assumes his new role with immediate effect and succeeds Kiumars Hamidian, who led the business through a period of strong growth and completed his maximum of two terms in the office. Loebich was elected through a company-wide voting process, with every Partner at the firm given an equal vote. With Loebich at the helm, BearingPoint has placed its trust in one of its longest standing leaders. He has been with the firm for 26 years, and was one of the founding Partners that orchestrated its 2009 management buyout from the then ailing US business.
Forvis Mazars has appointed James Gilbey as its new UK CEO. He steps into the shoes of Phil Verity, who will step down in the new year, following 12 years in the role. Gilbey was elected unanimously by a Partner vote in November, and will now serve as CEO for a four-year term. He has spent 16 years with Mazars and Forvis Mazars. Initially having trained with the firm between 2000 and 2003, he spent a number of years with the Financial Conduct Authority and AlixPartners, before rejoining as a Director in Forensic and Litigation Services in 2011. Two years later, Gilbey was promoted to Partner, and for the last four years also led the firm’s Financial Advisory business, whilst also serving on the UK executive board.
Market Intelligence
Cinven announced that it has reached an agreement to make a majority investment in Grant Thornton UK. The private equity investment follows a similar move by the professional services network’s US member earlier in 2024. The Cinven deal, which is subject to Partner approval, will see the Private Equity firm draw on its deep knowhow in the financial and business services, to help build Grant Thornton’s platform and prospects for sustained growth. Following the completion of the deal, Grant Thornton’s Partner base will remain invested in the business as a significant shareholder alongside Cinven funds.
Analysys Mason acquires Germany-based PE consulting firm Telescope Advisory Partners. Telescope Advisory Partners, a Munich and Frankfurt-based transaction support, value creation and innovation strategy consulting boutique specialising in commercial due diligence and strategy support, will join forces with Analysys Mason, the global technology, media and telecoms consultancy. The transaction is supported by Analysys Mason’s existing investment partner Bridgepoint, which partnered with the company in 2022 via Bridgepoint Development Capital, a lower middle-market fund focused on supporting fast-growing businesses across Europe.
The H&Z Group has entered into an exclusive partnership with Haselhorst Associates, a results-oriented restructuring company. The merger will see the two firms continue to trade as distinct brands, but bundle their services for clients when appropriate. Acquiring Haselhorst will see the addition of six Partners and 35 experienced consultants to H&Z’s group. All existing Partners will remain with Haselhorst, which will gradually be integrated into the H&Z Group.
Evelyn Partners Group has struck a deal to sell its Professional Services business to a global Private Equity firm. The transaction will create a standalone entity with approximately 1,600 employees and offices across the UK and Ireland. The company has reached a binding agreement to sell its Professional Services business to funds advised by Apax Partners LLP. Upon completion, the Professional Services business will be rebranded S&W, building on the heritage of Smith & Williamson which was founded in 1881. The separation will mean both firms will have their own dedicated management teams and capital bases, with the strategy and funding for each fully focused on their respective growth plans.