It’s not every day that we have the opportunity to have the new CEO of a brand new, billion-dollar management consulting firm on our cover. This issue, we have Shumeet Banerji, the first CEO in the history of Booz & Company. (Booz Allen Hamilton, meanwhile, sold a majority stake of its public and government business to the Carlyle Group for $2.5 billion and will continue to operate that business from McLean, Va.)

Up until just a few weeks ago, Banerji was the president of Booz Allen Hamilton’s Global/Commercial Business and a member of the firm’s leadership team. No more. The split of the two businesses was a long time coming, Banerji told me last month from Booz & Company’s New York headquarters. The businesses, he said, had been growing apart in terms of the way they operated, the way they were managed, the way they were staffed and the clients they served. “The time was right for this happen,” Banerji said. “Both are successful businesses, but the two had begun to constrain each other in some ways. Internally, we spent a lot of time trying to harmonize across two pretty different business models.”

Indeed, Booz Allen Hamilton had tried to make the two separate sides of its business work in one firm. Just a few years ago, the firm embarked on a major internal initiative it called “One Firm Evolution.” The goal was to more seamlessly combine the commercial and U.S. government businesses so the firm could be more streamlined in its approach to the markets it served. In the end, the two businesses just couldn’t co-exist, and firm leadership felt they needed a clean split in order for each business to reach its full potential.

So, are two Boozes better than one? That, of course, remains to be seen. What is certain is the emergence of Booz & Company means the profession has another top-notch, global consultancy to give the industry’s biggest players a run for their money. Banerji says this is about ensuring clients “have choice at the very top end of this game, and we certainly plan on providing it to them.”

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Booz & Company’s Banerji leads our list of this year’s Top 25 Consultants. Our special 29-page section, which begins on Page 19, highlights the best the profession has to offer. With a record number of nominations for just 25 spots, we’re confident this is our best collection of consultants ever. Do you agree? Let us know what you think.