Asked to discuss career milestones, it’s not uncommon for a top consultant to slice his career history into two distinct chapters: one before making partner, the other after.

Dennis Doughty, president of Booz Allen Hamilton’s worldwide technology organization, divides his career with the Berlin Wall or, rather, the year it fell. Prior to the fall, one of his primary clients was the National Communication Systems, a federal organization created to deal with the communication challenges posed by everything from hurricanes to nuclear war.

After the fall, Doughty found himself in Eastern Europe helping governments and companies put in place the processes required to procure technologies critical to their fragile economies. From there it was on to Latin America, where he focused largely on helping companies develop strategic plans for building telecommunications infrastructure.

It’s just such client knowledge and experience that has helped empower Doughty to climb Booz Allen’s leadership ladder. As head of the firm’s worldwide technology organization, the career consultant now stands front-and-center at one of the profession’s most complex crossroads, the space where government and private sector best practices meet.

“We’ve put a lot of emphasis on making sure that we really do tap into what we’ve learned in serving commercial clients, and bringing that to bear for the public sector. And on the flip side, we have insight into regulatory moves and frameworks, and where the government is now going,” says Doughty, showing a familiar rapport with a subject he can’t resist bringing up. Given that Booz Allen’s WTO grew by more than 20 percent last year in both revenue and head count, the consulting profession has more reason than ever to listen to Doughty, no matter how he slices it.