2023 Global Leaders in Consulting: Paul Edwards

Paul Edwards is a Senior Managing Director at Stax where he leads the firm's private equity practice and directs client engagements on behalf of major corporations, upper and upper-middle market funds, and their portfolio companies.

During his 17+ years with Stax, Paul brought together a network of resources from various areas of expertise throughout the firm and currently supports nearly 200+ transactions and growth strategy engagements annually for the world's largest private equity firms and their portfolio companies globally.

Prior to joining Stax, Edwards was a consultant for STS, providing strategic research and industry analysis of the transportation, aviation, homeland security and defense markets across Europe and the U.S.

Edwards is the founder of BtG UK, a global education/cultural consulting company serving more than 1 million young people, where he designed and implemented product development and marketing strategies to engage more than 1,000 high schools and universities across the UK.

A published thought leader in the Journal of Private Equity, Edwards holds an MBA from the European School of Business Management (UK), and a B.S. in Material Science and Industrial Management from the University of Wales (Swansea).

What do you consider your greatest personal or professional achievement?

I'm certainly proud of how we built a practice around some of the most preeminent, prestigious, well-established logos in the private equity sector; and how we established and navigated a strategy that has allowed us to achieve a 25%/year growth rate over the last 10 years has been the most rewarding, not only from a growth standpoint, but as a result we have been able to expand our people, backgrounds, and essentially allowing the business to be as impactful to our clients but also to so many people's careers.

What advice would you give a professional just beginning a career in consulting?

Firstly, it is an excellent choice! Understanding the industry, the role and career path, you have opted to do something which you will never perfect, and you need to feel comfortable with that. You need to continually learn, develop, evolve through as many experiences in the early years. Secondly, do not be afraid of breaking a few eggs, or falling a few times, it is how we get better. Thirdly, remember the career is the ultimate apprenticeship. Never stop learning. People starting a career in consulting really need to learn as much from colleagues, peers, and other industry professionals as possible as their careers progress.

What have you loved most about your consulting career?

The opportunity to challenge yourself against some of the brightest and smartest minds on the client side. In terms of private equity, the thing I've enjoyed the most from a career standpoint has been the people, it's such a diverse industry. But the thing that connects everyone is this intellectual curiosity, this desire to continue asking why.

What does being honored as a Global Leader mean to you?

It's the opportunity to connect with other business service professionals who are similarly committed to their clients, and hopefully share some good ideas and build new relationships. I think it is also good for Stax, it is recognition of what we have tried to do as a business, not just me, but we. As a business, what we have tried to provide to our clients has a bit more of an insurgency approach regarding how we go-to-market, how we strategize about our products, and also our people.