The 2019 Women Leaders in Consulting: Hensley Evans

Hensley Evans is a Principal in ZS's Zurich office and is the leader of the firm's Patient and Consumer Health Practice Area. Hensley has worked with many of the world's top healthcare, biopharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods brands to offer strategic direction and insight. For more than 20 years, she has focused on planning, executing and measuring the impact of patient- and consumer-facing communications and is currently working to help clients deliver better patient experiences and outcomes and drive business results.  

She began her consulting career at Price Waterhouse and spent several years in Andersen Consulting's Strategy Practice. But it almost wasn't to be. After college, she accepted a job at an economics "think tank" to gain real-world experience before returning to school to pursue a Ph.D. in economics. While it was a great learning experience, she quickly realized she wasn't as excited about the work as she envisioned. 

"A family friend encouraged me to consider a career in consulting given my deep analytical and modeling expertise. I loved the idea of collaborating with others to develop solutions to real business problems and seeing the impact of my work," she says. "After applying and accepting my first job at a consulting firm, I instantly knew it was the right fit."

In her 30-plus years as a consultant, Evans has found that people in the industry come with fierce curiosity and hunger for new experiences, which is why she loves her work at ZS. "Every day I am continuously learning and tackling intellectual challenges and looking for new and innovative solutions—I'm never solving the same problem twice," Evans says. "In my current role leading ZS's patient and consumer health practice, I get to see the bigger picture and understand how my work is helping clients deliver better experiences, solutions and outcomes to patients around the world." 

She currently leads a patient centricity initiative that brings together seasoned experts across ZS's business—from areas including Business Technology, Research and Development, Customer Insights and more—to create interconnected solutions and capabilities that transform how clients engage with the market and their customers.  "I'm very excited to see where this work goes in 2020," she says. "Every project I work on contributes to that effort in different ways." 

As for winning the award, Evans says "it's an incredible honor to receive this award and be recognized in the industry where I've spent the majority of my career. Consulting has come a long way since I started, and while there's still more work to be done, I'm excited to see how it continues to evolve."

Q&A: What advice would you give to a female consultant just beginning her career?

"Take risks and believe you are capable of more than you know. Don't wait until you think you're ready before taking on a new challenge – take the leap and if you fall, a net will surely appear."