The 2019 Global Leaders in Consulting: Troy Wray

Ask him what achievements he is most proud of in the last 12 months and he says: expanding the firm's international practice and helping win the firm's USAID Private Sector Engagement contract and being a part of the team to help kick it off.

Zoom out a bit to his career accomplishments and he says "leading a large, multidisciplinary team that finalized a $600 million investment by the Millennium Challenge Corporation in Indonesia under serious time constraints," Wray says. "I then spent the next six years leading and working with this team of talented individuals to implement a program that brought cutting edge solutions to old development challenges and delivered tangible benefits to millions of Indonesian citizens." 

Wray's previous MCC work as Country Team Leader for Philippines, Timor-Leste, and Ghana required him to build and manage large multi-disciplinary teams that designed over $1.5 billion in innovative projects in the infrastructure, human development, and public financial management sectors for these countries. 

In his early work at MCC, Troy was responsible for leading teams that designed projects in the education and training sectors in several African countries. Troy initially got his passion for international development by serving as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer teaching at a rural high school in Gabon. 

Indeed, his cross-cultural ability has been one of the keys to his success. "My ability to thrive in uncertain environments and new cultures and being a servant leader, being deeply vested in the success of the teams I have led or been a part of have been key to my success."

Those teams are also among the things he enjoys most about the day-to-day work of consulting. "I really like the ability to motivate and coach others and see them succeed," he says. "What I enjoy the most about the consulting profession is the ability to work with colleagues with different technical backgrounds, apply new ways of thinking about problems, and bring them both to bear to deliver solutions for our clients." 

Q&A:  What does being recognized as a Global Leader in Consulting mean to you? Your firm? Your clients?

"For me, it's a real honor to be seen as making a substantive contribution to the consulting industry, drawing on my experiences in government. For my firm: small firms are agile, with an ability to adapt to emerging opportunities quickly and provide best-in-class services; and, for our clients it is a demonstration of a commitment to excellence to help clients make better decisions."