As February comes to a close, the new year is underway, bringing about more growth and people moves for key players in the industry. Strategic acquisitions show a desire to bolster priority sectors, while the top tier Strategy houses consolidate their functionally-driven practices in key markets.
Alongside significant people moves, we are now also showcasing prominent M&A activity, the establishment of new offices across major cities in Europe, and announcements of new partnerships and initiatives that promise to define the consulting landscape for years to come.
Stay up to date with Patrick Morgan as we continue to chronicle major activity in consulting.
People Moves
Frank T. Schaefer joins the EY team as the Tax, Technology and Transformation Leader for Europe West after 17 years as Managing Director at Accenture in Germany. Frank will lead the teams across a multitude of sectors, such as Industrials and Life Sciences.
Lionel Van Reet has been introduced to the Belgium practice of Baker McKenzie as their Tax Partner and Customs lead in their office in Brussels. Lionel’s experience includes assisting national and international companies from both private and public sectors.
Dr. Kallia Gavela has joined the team at Alvarez & Marsal as a Senior Director expanding their Disputes and Investigations practice to Greece.
David Hutchinson will be returning to AlixPartners, United Kingdom, as Managing Director after time as a Managing Director at BCG. This move is to further enhance the firm’s strong private equity offering, while reinforcing the position of its corporate turnaround and transformation practice.
EY- Parthenon UK appointed Infrastructure specialist Francois-Xavier Delenclos as a Partner with a focus on serving Infrastructure investors in the Private Equity team.
Henri Pierre Vacher joins Oliver Wyman as a Partner within their Private Equity practice in Paris. With over 25 years of experience Henri will be fundamental to the development of this capability.
Oliver Wyman has promoted both Pilar De Arriba and Jaime Lizarraga Rodriguez to Partners in their CMT and FS practices in Iberia.
Christina Barakett and Jennifer Fountain have been promoted to Managing Director at Alvarez & Marsal, United Kingdom. Jennifer works in the Private Equity Performance Improvement practice and Christina is an expert in leading operational restructures and finance functions to drive EBITDA and cash improvements.
Bain & Company names François Faelli Global Managing Partner of ESG. François has been with the company for over 23 years, now leading their global Consumer Products practice.
Roland Berger has made significant moves to strengthen their team globally. Across its over 50 offices, Roland Berger promoted a total of 20 individuals to the position of Partner. We see numerous hires across Germany, with the promotion of Florian Daniel, Janes Grotelüschen, Hasmeet Kaur, Carsten Küst, Stefan Riederle and Jan-Oliver Sestak. In Belgium, both Michael Baur for Pharma and Healthcare, and Matthias Van Steendam for Energy and Utilities, have received a promotion. Furthermore, Spain has promoted Bieito Ledo and Juan Luis Vilchez both to Partner.
After 38 years at Accenture, Chief Operating Officer Jo Deblaere retires, passing over the baton to Manish Sharma who has worked at Accenture for 26 years and will continue to develop the company, including the ongoing digital transformation.
Rothschild India has appointed Naina Lal Kidwai as Senior Adviser and member of the Board. Naina will assist in advising Rothschild & Co on its strategic ambitions, with a focus on helping to drive growth in the region.
Eric Desomer has retired from Deloitte after 27 years. Eric finishes his career as the Automotive and SAP Leader in Belgium.
Julien Hereng has moved to Oliver Wyman Paris as a Partner in the European Retail and Consumer Goods team. Prior to this, Julien was a Partner at EY-Parthenon for their Consumer and Retail function.
Gardar Björnsson Rova has been promoted to Partner and Leader at McKinsey Stockholm. Gardar leads QuantumBlack in the Nordics, which helps large organizations transform with data and AI technologies.
Co-Founder and Chief Risk Officer of BlackRock, Ben Golub, will move into a Senior Advisory role. As one of the eight founders, Ben is the sixth to retire. Edward Fishwick will succeed Ben as the Chief Risk Officer.
Société Générale CIB hired Damien Anzel in France as a TMT Managing Director. Prior to this, Damien has held senior positions at both EY and BNP Paribas.
The Parisian practice of Roland Berger has also followed suit. Promotions include Julien Gautier as a Senior Partner for their Pharma and Healthcare Practice. Emmanuel Fages has been promoted to Senior Partner for its Energy, Utilities, Sustainability and Climate Change capability. Sebastien Manceau is now a Senior Partner within the specialized Retail and Tourism sector. And finally, Gabriel Schillaci has been promoted to Partner for their Transportation & Mobility practice.
Maureen Kerr has joined Arthur D. Little as a Partner in the United Kingdom, within their Telecommunications, Information, Media & Electronics practice. Maureen will actively be leading the Media & Entertainment team in the UK.
Nanne Louw has been promoted to Managing Director and Partner in BCG‘s Montreal office. After 11 years at BCG’s practice, Nanne will continue to be a core member of the Industrial Goods practice and a topic expert for Digital Ecosystems and Digital Supply Chain.
Dr. Hans Volkert Volckens, Head of Asset Management and EMEA Head of Real Estate Advisory, will be leaving KPMG Germany to move back into the other side of the industry. Hans will be handing over the Real Estate sector to Marco Mueth and Asset Management to Maren Schmitz.
Inverto, which specializes in Procurement and Supply Chain Management, welcomes Sushank Agarwal as Managing Director and part of the UK executive team.
Publicis Sapient London welcomes Peter Alex Wardell, formerly an Assistant Director at EY-Parthenon London, as a Senior Director. Within this role, Peter will be the International Business Lead with a focus on health.
Kevin Coates is appointed to the position of the Head of London Restructuring for Grant Thornton UK. Kevin will build the team’s market position, as it works to advise UK mid-market companies and stakeholders.
Alvarez and Marsal have appointed John Lawson as their Managing Director for their Technology Practice in London. John joins the Business Technology team to support technology-driven Business Transformations for A&M’s corporate clients.
George Netherton takes over from Anthony Bice as Leader of the European Insurance and Asset Management business at Oliver Wyman United Kingdom. Anthony will remain at the company but is going to focus on furthering the world class Climate and Sustainability capabilities for insurers and asset managers.
AlixPartners welcomes a new Managing Director, Bridget McVerry, to further strengthen their Energy and Process Industries practice. Bridget joins with 25 years of experience within consultancy, including time at Oliver Wyman as a Partner.
Claudio Torcellan has been named Market Leader for South East Europe at Oliver Wyman Italy, succeeding Giovanni Viani. Claudio will bolster the leadership within Financial Services strategic consulting as well as growing Oliver Wyman’s presence in the Industrial sectors and Private Equity.
Auston Hong rejoins Oliver Wyman at their Washington DC office as a Partner for their Anti-Financial and Crime and Compliance Practices. Prior to this, Auston served as AML Managing Vice President and Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit at Capital One.
At EY, Julie Boland is now the US Chair and Managing Partner and was appointed Americas Area Managing Partner for a four-year term. Julie is following in the footsteps of Kelly Grier, who, after an eminent 30-year career with the organization, has elected not to stand for another term.
In Spain, Alvarez and Marsal have hired eight new Managing Directors and a total of 50 consultants across their digital transformation capabilities. The Managing Directors include Jordi Flores, Pablo Palma, Julio San Jose, José Luis García Ortega, Pablo Sainz, Ventura Palmerola and Manuel Pingarrón. These hires show the commitment to help clients, regionally, nationally and internationally, leverage digital technologies to transform their financial performance and maximize their growth opportunities.
McKinsey Poland, have hired Rafał Kozłowski as a CFO and Executive Board Member. Rafał is an expert in the field of strategy, finance, but also acquisitions, corporate development, risk, digitization and operations. At McKinsey, as an Expert, he advises clients from the financial sector.
Adam Ikdal moves away from his role as a Managing Partner at BCG Oslo to join Standard Bank Group (SBG) as a Chief Strategy Officer. SBG is Africa’s largest bank, with 50,000 employees and operating in more than 20 countries on the African continent
James Wiener is welcomed back to Oliver Wyman as Partner and Vice Chairman for Financial Services in the Americas. From 1994 to 2014, James was a Senior Partner at Oliver Wyman Financial Services, where he occupied several leadership roles including leading the North American Finance and Risk Management Practice and the Global Public Policy Practice.
Industry Activity
McKinsey Budapest has acquired IncepTech, a digital transformation specialist, establishing the city as the 4th biggest European location for the McKinsey Digital Studio. With this acquisition, McKinsey welcomed back Gyorgy L Buslig, Daniel Schay and Aron J Antal, who founded IncepTech after their time at McKinsey.
Following the developing Ukraine situation, powerful statements have been released by most key players in consulting, and the MBB have barred advisory work for the Russian government. In related news, large corporates have reacted in similar ways: for instance, Shell will exit all its Joint Ventures with Gazprom after BP offloaded its 20% stake in Russian oil company Rosneft.
EY London launched EY Carbon, which advises and supports listed businesses as they prepare their net zero plans ahead of the 2023 deadline, led by Rob Doepel, the EY UK&I Managing Partner for Sustainability.
PwC acquired Olivehorse Consulting in London, a consulting firm focused entirely on Supply Chain and Management which will enable PwC to expand their supply chain management practice to bring greater value to their clients going forward.
HSBC Insurance Asia Pacific acquires AXA Insurance (AXA Singapore) with 100% of the issued share capital. This accelerates HSBC’s ambition to be Asia’s leading insurance and wealth provider.
BCG reopens their office in Auckland, New Zealand, led by Phillip Benedett, Partner and Associate Director, as well as Head of Innovation and Corporate Strategy.
Eight Advisory has now opened an office in Marseille, headed by Cedric Bodard, Axel Raubert and accompanied by Georges Richelme. This is an addition to their offices in Paris, Lyon, Nantes and Rennes, further consolidating their network.
In France, Kroll announces an official Partnership with the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team.
Bain announces the acquisition of ArcBlue, a leader in procurement consulting across the Asia-Pacific region. Founded in Australia in 2013, ArcBlue specializes in all aspects of the procurement life cycle, with experience across a wide range of industries and supply categories.
Oliver Wyman opens a new office in Belgium. Previously, Oliver Wyman had operated with fly-in teams from the Netherlands; this new office strengthens their place within the Belgium market. This office will be led by Steven Vermeylen assisted by both Kevin Smeets and Muriel Schtickzelle.
Greenwoods & Herbert Smith Freehills’ Australian Tax practice will join PwC, a strategic purchase in which 15 Tax partners and 50 staff will join the consulting and financial advisory business.
Bain & Company acquires Chile-based advanced analytics company Spike SpA, a leading provider of advanced analytics and machine learning solutions, which operates across various industries in the South American region.