Jack Dunn
President & CEO
FTI Consulting
Excellence in Leadership
Jack Dunn has been president and CEO of FTI Consulting since 1995 and on the firm's board of directors since 1992. Over that time, he has helped guide FTI Consulting from a small forensic consulting firm into one of the largest global business advisory firms with a range of services in corporate restructuring, turnaround, economics, forensic and litigation consulting, strategic communications, reputation management and other areas.
Dunn has been the lead architect of the firm's growth, maintaining a compound annual growth rate in excess of 30 percent. "The journey of a little company from $6 million in revenue in Annapolis, Maryland in 1992 to a $1.6 billion worldwide firm has been an unbelievable one for me to witness," Dunn says.
The firm began back in 1982, he says, as perhaps an alternative to the Big Four, or then the Big Six, but over time, with the turmoil in world markets, the advent of Sarbanes Oxley and the emphasis on transparency and objectivity, FTI Consulting has had great success.
What stands out the most to Dunn, he says, is the impact that a little company started 30 years ago has had on world affairs and continues to have today. When he joined the company, it had just 75 employees and two locations. Today it has 3,800 professionals in more than 50 offices in 24 countries.
But even with those humble beginnings, FTI always seemed to punch above its weight, Dunn says. The firm's fingerprints are all over some of the biggest news stories over the last two decades—the O.J. Simpson trial, the Milosevic war crimes trials, the Major League Baseball steroid investigation, the 2000 presidential election recount, Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, the Bernie Madoff and Stanford investigations.
And the firm has worked with an incredibly diverse range of clients, everyone from the Three Stooges to the United Nations. "It has been a fantastic privilege to occupy my particular window on world events through the lens of FTI Consulting over the last several years," Dunn says.
Last year, FTI completed its 29th year of uninterrupted revenue growth. Despite the troubled economy, the firm has managed to increase its revenue by 56 percent and headcount by 50 percent the last few years. Outside the United States, the growth—225 percent—is even more impressive.
"For years I have believed that the good news and the bad news was that FTI Consulting was the world's best-kept secret" Dunn says. "When you consider the matters in which we have been involved, and the impact that our work has had on business, financial, and world events, it means a tremendous amount to me to accept this award on behalf of the professionals at FTI Consulting."
Q&A: What's the biggest factor to your success?
"The best piece of advice I ever received on business, or anything else for that matter, was from my father. He told me that the secret to life, whether in your business, your marriage or your golf game, was a good partner. Over the last 20 years at FTI Consulting, I have been privileged to have over 3000 of the brightest individuals, most loyal and respected client-serving professionals and best partners a person could have. It is a pleasure to wake up each morning and see where these great professionals are leading our firm."
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