Once again, it’s time for Consulting magazine’s annual celebration of the year’s Top 25 Consultants. With more nominations representing more firms than ever before, this year’s list truly represents the best the profession has to offer. The 23 firms on this year’s list are the most ever, and like the industry itself, there’s no easy way to define the Top 25. They come from the biggest and the smallest firms, and represent a multitude of backgrounds, disciplines, practice areas and specialties. They are CEOs, COOs, principals, partners and, in a sure sign of the times, our first ever global coordinator for sustainability. The list also includes the recently named CEO of a brand new consulting firm with revenue topping $1 billion. His story begins here.
Shumeet Banerji made history last month when he was named the first CEO in the history of Booz & Company, the new global, commercial management consulting practice spun off from the 94-year-old Booz Allen Hamilton. “It’s a huge privilege, and I’m incredibly honored,” he says. “We’re going through a transformational experience and into a brave new world. There is huge possibility here and excitement for what the future holds. It’s an historic time at the firm, and it’s going to be one hell of a ride.”
Peter Cheese wrote the book on talent management—literally. Cheese, managing director of Accenture’s Human Performance practice is co-author of The Talent Powered Organization: Strategies for Globalization, Talent Management and High Performance. The book lays out some of his major thoughts around defining, discovering, developing and deploying top talent today. “There is simply not enough talent to go around,” Cheese says. “This is the reality.”
Kathryn Hayley is helping companies become better places. But she’s done a pretty good job of making her own firm a special place as well. As the CEO of Aon Consulting, she has boosted the firm’s pre-tax income from 9.5 percent in 2005 to 14.8 in 2007. In addition, Business Insurance magazine named Aon the “Best Employee Benefit Consulting Firm” in 2006 and 2007.
For as long as he can remember, Daniel Mahler has been environmentally aware. Growing up in Germany in the 1970s, he says there “was a real consciousness to the fact that we live in a world we can’t take for granted.” During the oil crisis that decade, he says, the U.S. moved on rather quickly, but in Europe there was much more public debate about the issues connected with the environment. “I think we realize that our planet is in a lot of trouble, and I realized that we have to take great care of the way we use it,” Mahler says.
Charles Farkas wants to transform healthcare. That may seem like a pretty lofty aspiration, but Farkas, a senior partner at Bain & Company and head of the firm’s North American Healthcare Practice, says now is the time for change. “I think it’s an extraordinary time in healthcare,” Farkas says. “I think we’re looking at global opportunities to transform healthcare—both at the company and system level. And if we get it right, I actually think we can do a lot of good along the way. I think we have to find ways to clearly articulate what high-quality healthcare is. Globally, healthcare is very expensive, and the people who need it most often aren’t getting it—not because of affordability or access to it, but because their symptoms are misdiagnosed or because other things interfere with that process.”
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