While there are thousands of consultants who today preach the virtues of value-based pricing for clients, Angela Selden is credited with being one of a handful of consultants who have become major influencers in the adoption of such pricing schemes. Her latest success story has been Best Buy, where in the last year earnings went from less than a cent to 54 cents a share. It's just such returns that have allowed Selden to emerge as one of Accenture's most valuable players.
Her colleagues describe her as a high-energy and open-minded partner who possesses the ability to inspire her colleagues and push at the same time. "Angie has a sixth sense about being able to cut through the bubbles, see through the situation, and come up with innovative and creative ideas," says Jeff Luker, co–managing partner of the practice.
Selden joined the firm 14 years ago upon graduating from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, and was promoted to partner in 1999. At 35, Selden is the youngest professional serving in a managing partner position at Accenture, where she has global responsibility for the retail practice's alliances with software and technology companies.
Selden is known for her ability to tailor strategies to client-specific needs. She has been credited with leading the practice in its work in local market optimization — helping retailers optimize their assortment based on the local mix of customers coming into their stores.
She helped pioneer a new strategic direction for Sears Canada, a $5 billion retailer that was fending off a Wal-Mart encroachment into Canada six years ago. The work for Sears Canada was the practice's first value-based arrangement. Her piece of the puzzle was to revamp Sears's merchandising strategy in housewares without expending a lot of capital. In a short period of time, Selden and her team helped the retailer improve space allocation and assortments, yielding a sustained sales increase of 25 percent.
"When you looked at the benefit to the client, it was just phenomenal, " says Luker. "What normally would be a very significant investment to do this amount of work, she did correctly on her own, very quickly."
From that initial project, merchandising work has grown into a substantial portion of the practice globally.
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