Careers in Gear

Mark Hauser
Americas CEO, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young
Years as a consultant: 8

"Permanent volatility."

The words seem to cross Mark Hauser's lips every ten minutes these days, as he caps his first six months as Americas CEO of Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. That challenge has involved the coining of a new mantra — one with a lively cadence capable of making CGE&Y's diverse consulting workforce march in step.

And while the phrase "permanent volatility" hardly conjures up the enterprising optimism many leaders routinely seek to inject in their people, Hauser's tempo seems to be resonating with a consulting workforce whose clients are now demanding adaptive solutions rather than next-wave thinking. That workforce now spans around the world and is uniquely positioned to respond to the changing nature of client demands, says Hauser.
"We've continued to adapt our mix of client services to match the new market realities, and our ability to grow in certain segments and retreat from others speaks to that adaptability," he explains.
In the past, Hauser's portfolio of clients has included Ford Motor Company, McDonald's, and FMC Corporation. Not unlike the consulting workforce he now leads, the 41-year-old's career track has careened between manufacturing, supply chain, and sales and marketing. Prior to the merger with Cap Gemini, Hauser led E&Y Consulting's Americas account group, where he appears to have been highly regarded by the rank-and-file of Cap's E&Y Americas contingent. In the words of one former E&Y partner: "Mark is one of us, and the fact that management tapped him shows that they are still very committed to extracting the value behind the original deal's vision."
That vision, CGE&Y consultants claim, is now being better exposed as Hauser's mantra gets CGE&Y its groove back.

Bridget VanKralingen
Partner, Deloitte Consulting
Years as a consultant: 15

As tough economic times dog the financial services industry, executives are finding that they need more professional advice, rather than business counsel, on maintaining leadership and enhancing communication with employees.

Deloitte Consulting recognized this shift and is placing new emphasis on its role as "adviser" to its clients' top executives. So when Deloitte went looking for a leader for its east region financial services practice, which represents about 70 percent of its business, they went to South Africa and tapped Bridget Van Kralingen, whose experience in leadership change has put her on the fast track.
"The pressure of structurally reducing costs, finding ways to enhance revenues, and having incredibly high integrity and transparency in providing support as a leader is unbelievable. When I think about Wall Street executives and the pressure they're under, I think that consultants have got a very strong role to play," says the native Londoner.
Van Kralingen lived in South Africa during her high school and college years, and joined Deloitte Consulting (called "Braxton" then in South Africa) in 1990. As apartheid ended, Deloitte assigned Van Kralingen to build a change leadership practice to help companies build more fair and equitable working conditions.
"There was an incredible amount of social responsibility in trying to make the workplace more fair and balanced. As an organization development and strategy consultant, it was very powerful work to be doing," Van Kralingen recalls. She made partner in 1994. By 1997, the change leadership practice had 40 consultants and represented 25 percent of Deloitte's work in South Africa.
In 1998, Van Kralingen joined Deloitte in the United States to help build its customer relationship management practice for the financial services sector. In 2000, when the CRM practice hit $100 million in revenues, she was asked to run the east region of the financial services practice. In 2002, as Deloitte changed its strategy to a more segmented structure, she moved to the wholesale banking practice, where she leads 30 partners and about 300 financial services consultants.

In her current role, Van Kralingen runs Deloitte's biggest financial services account — JP Morgan — where she led the implementation of the financial institution's cross-marketing strategy. She also has built relationships with clients Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley in South Africa, and First National Bank.
Five years from now, Van Kralingen hopes not only to be running an even bigger chunk of the financial services practice, but also, more importantly, to be influencing new consulting recruits.
"I want to be in a spot where I can shape the kids coming in, what the industry stands for and what it can contribute."

Susan Bopp
Director, Robbins-Gioia LLC
Years as a consultant: 3

Piloting a new software application at a client site is always risky. But when the client is the Department of Defense, the application is one of Microsoft's newest offerings, and the outcome could affect a new business unit — the stakes rise considerably.
Still, Susan Bopp maintains a remarkable calmness. As director of DOD northeast operations for Robbins-Gioia LLC, Bopp is assisting the Army's Program Executive Office, Command Control, and Communications-Tactical office in piloting Microsoft Project 2002, its newest tool (introduced in June). Having just completed the software installation, Bopp will oversee its rollout to Army executives, who will be able to instantly monitor projects and manpower within the organization.
"Right now they have three to five people working in 22 different shops responsible for scheduling and project management. They're spending so much time responding to data calls from executives that it's almost a full-time job for them," Bopp explains. The new software "will save them probably 50% of the time that they're working on data requests." The DOD will also see cost savings through the leasing of 500 software seats.
There's a lot riding on Bopp's success. "The goal is that this will become one of our core solutions we can provide to our customers. It is very significant to have a successful implementation at a major client," says Tricia Davis, vice president of marketing. "Susan was proactive in making this opportunity happen."

Bopp was a private operations manager for a large company that did software development for the DOD before joining Robbins-Gioia in 1999. Until that time, she had not been a consultant, but had experience in "several pieces of what Robbins-Gioia does — this was my initiation into consulting." Her department, which now handles 15 different DOD projects, grew from eight employees in 1999 to 15  this year, representing $2.5 million in contracts.
Through her relationships at the DOD, Bopp was able to show a demo of the software to its CIO, who then asked for a pilot project proposal, which was accepted.
Although the project is in its early stages, "we've already had opportunities arise for new implementations within government circles, and we're struggling to keep up with them," Bopp says. Davis says that Bopp's experience in the pilot will position her well for success.
"We have an informal system of subject-matter experts" who work horizontally across business units, Davis explains. "Susan is definitely entering that category of being a major subject-matter expert in this solution. So as our business model evolves … that may mean a more prominent position in the company."

Bopp is optimistic. With government work representing 70 percent of Robbins-Gioia's business, and revenue in her group growing 25 percent to 35 percent annually, "there are always opportunities around every corner."

Jonathan Hoyt
Director, Katzenbach Partners LLC
Years as a consultant: 2

Less than a decade ago, Jonathan Hoyt thought that he would become a school principal because of his deep commitment to education. Today, he's educating a more sophisticated group of business executives on the benefits of new software that can assess the various organizational approaches that make different working groups more productive.

As director of business development, Hoyt is charting a new course for Katzenbach Partners LLC, a 4-year-old workforce and organizational performance consulting firm — that of a software developer. The firm's new assessment software, called Performance Leaders, is designed to help managers improve the performance of working groups through customized analysis and targeted feedback.
With the software, Katzenbach hopes to bring its expertise to markets beyond its traditional Fortune 100 clients. "There's a niche of companies that probably wouldn't be able to afford our consulting services, but they're savvy enough to know that this is valuable. It gives the analysis we do without the expensive client interviews," Hoyt explains.

The software was quietly introduced to select companies in July and actively marketed beginning in November. With a handful of sales and a pipeline of prospects, managing partner Niko Canner expects the software to become profitable by 2003, with Hoyt leading the charge.
"Jonathan's extremely high-level ability to form relationships and follow up with people, and fact that he's been involved in various parts of the industry of technology supporting training and other HR processes — that's a fairly unique package," Canner says.
Hoyt started his career as an education policymaker at the U.S. Department of Education in 1993. There, he helped develop a political strategy to guarantee discounted Internet access for U.S. schools and  libraries during the Clinton Administration's move toward technology in the classroom.
After leaving the Department of Education, in the summer of 1998 he did strategy consulting work for McKinsey & Company in San Francisco and designed an operations management tool for a regional social services agency. The McKinsey connection would later serve Hoyt well when he met Canner and Jon Katzenbach, both McKinsey alumni.

Before joining Katzenbach, Hoyt was director of learning services at Worknowledge LLC in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, an e-learning start-up offering a human capital solution that combined management software and consulting. Hoyt helped develop its management functionality, consulting intervention, and course selection. He also sold the beta solution to two of the company's first clients.
Down the road, Katzenbach's software venture could go in one of several directions — as a separate application that customers can implement alone, as a tool incorporated into consulting services, or as a basis for custom applications by larger clients. In any case, Hoyt is poised to take a managing role, or if a venture is spun off, he'll play a leadership role in the new company, according to Canner. "It really depends on what Jonathan wants to do."