The Top 25 Consultants of 2000: Mary Tolan of Andersen Consulting

Forehand didn't waste any time. At the October partner meeting less than two weeks after Tolan gave birth to a second daughter, Forehand tapped her to be the firm's chief strategist — the one consultant many now hold responsible for re-energizing the growth of the industry's largest global consultancy.
"One of the things we actually compromised on is that I felt a strategist's role devoid of operations would become stale very quickly. So, I wanted to hang on to my retail operating responsibility, and I could use that as a laboratory and study the economics, allowing me to extrapolate for the firm at large," explains Tolan, who today wears the managing partner title for both retail and strategy.
Given the demands of the job, Tolan says she counts on a younger sister — one of six siblings — to help on the home front. "When a mother knows kids are not just safe, but also in a loving environment, it takes so much off your mind," confides Tolan, who credits her success to the bonds of family and mentorship.

Prior to Shaheen's hasty exit, Mary Tolan thought she would not likely be attending, given the meeting was scheduled to fall within days of the due date of her second child. It was in between these goings and comings that the name of Joe Forehand had first surfaced publicly as a possible Shaheen successor, and it was at that point Tolan had little doubt that, with a little cooperation from Mother Nature, she'd soon be breaking bread with her partners once more.

Forehand was an early mentor of Tolan, and had long ago earned a reputation as an innovator who was willing to take chances on young leaders. In the past, he had a taken a chance on Tolan, when he had asked her to head up Andersen's North American retail sector. At the time, Tolan was earning major kudos for having established an innovative gain-sharing contract with Sears Canada.
The success Tolan would enjoy as head of the retail sector magnified her stature within the firm, and now that her one-time mentor appeared to have a lock on the firm's CEO position, she knew good things would come from this familiar and "approachable" leader.

Forehand didn't waste any time. At the October partner meeting less than two weeks after Tolan gave birth to a second daughter, Forehand tapped her to be the firm's chief strategist — the one consultant many now hold responsible for re-energizing the growth of the industry's largest global consultancy.
"One of the things we actually compromised on is that I felt a strategist's role devoid of operations would become stale very quickly. So, I wanted to hang on to my retail operating responsibility, and I could use that as a laboratory and study the economics, allowing me to extrapolate for the firm at large," explains Tolan, who today wears the managing partner title for both retail and strategy.
Given the demands of the job, Tolan says she counts on a younger sister — one of six siblings — to help on the home front. "When a mother knows kids are not just safe, but also in a loving environment, it takes so much off your mind," confides Tolan, who credits her success to the bonds of family and mentorship.