The 2019 Top 25 Consultants: Dr. Marin Gjaja

Marin is also the Chair of BCG's Center for Illinois' Future, which focuses on local social impact and public sector work supporting education, violence reduction, economic development and struggling neighborhoods. 

While his accomplishments at BCG are off-the-charts impressive, Dr. Marin Gjaja is one of those rare individuals whose pre-consulting accomplishments are as impressive as his work with clients. Prior to joining BCG, Gjaja was a scientific researcher in computational neuroscience at Boston University and a member of the U.S. Men's National Volleyball Team where he was an alternate for the 1992 bronze-medal winning U.S. Olympic Team.

"I feel like my background as a competitive athlete has had an influence on me by causing me to always seek to get better as a consultant, to deliver better work for my clients, and to deliver better experience for my teams," Gjaja says. 

He holds a PhD in computational neuroscience from Boston University, where he was a Presidential University Fellow. "I was in the first crop of consultants that BCG hired with PhDs, and I ended up looking at consulting because one of my college roommates worked as a summer intern at BCG the summer before I finished graduate school," he says. 

But his BCG accomplishments are extraordinary, as well. Since joining the firm in 1996, Gjaja has worked with companies across most major industrial sectors. He has spent the last 15 years primarily supporting CEOs and senior leadership teams of large and successful organizations to make sustained, step-function changes in their performance trajectory from strategy to implementation, including: Defining a new strategic direction with organizations' senior leadership teams; supporting organic growth through R&D, innovation, product launch, segmentation, and pricing; supporting inorganic growth through end-to-end M&A and post-merger integration for tuck-in and major acquisitions, including three of the 10 largest CPG mergers ever; and, improving productivity and margins.

"I've had the good fortune of having the opportunity to apply my coaching skills to benefit a broad range of civic and social impact clients," Gjaja says. "There has been nothing more rewarding than seeing those clients succeed and the impact that they have on peoples' lives." 

And none of it would be possible, he says, without the incredible colleagues and teammates that he's had at BCG for over 20 years. "Every opportunity I had at BCG came from them, I have learned so much from their coaching and mentorship, and I have benefitted from their incredible support and generosity."

In fact, he counts having had the chance to help support the success of both so many different clients and BCGers over the years as one of his proudest accomplishments.   

Another may be this recognition as a Top 25 Consultant. "It's a high honor to earn the respect of and be recognized by my colleagues and peers."

What's the best advice—professional or otherwise—you've ever received? 

Gjaja: "If you try to do reference-quality work on every project, you will sometimes succeed, and great consulting work will beget more work at your clients."