Strategy consultancy boutique GNG Partners doubles partnership in less than one year
Boutique strategy consultancy GNG Partners has doubled its number of partners to eight in the space of eight months, including through its latest recruits in Ben Thompson and Nathan Jackson.
Thompson crosses to GNG Partners in Melbourne from Partners in Performance, where he was a managing director, while Jackson joins the strategy consultancy in Brisbane from his most recent role as an associate partner at McKinsey & Company.
Their recruitment follows the recent addition of Thompson’s former PiP colleague and Boston Consulting Group project leader Patrick Mueller-Hermann, as well as ex-EY and Deloitte partner Simon Gattorna toward the end of last year.
GNG Partners was established in 2020 by Nigel Dews alongside fellow Port Jackson Partners alumnus Graham Bougen with a focus on growth strategy and performance improvement, including as to pricing, product development, market entry, digital performance, and value chain analysis among other areas, along with an obvious intent to bring in advisors with top-tier advisory experience.
Ben Thompson
Thompson joins the firm after spending the past seven and a half years at Partners in Performance, before which he served for four and a half as head of corporate strategy at Tabcorp after cutting his teeth at BCG following an MBA with Melbourne Business School – having originally graduated the University of Melbourne with a BSc in mathematics and computer science.
“Ben brings over 25 years of experience in strategy, growth, and high-performance operating models,” GNG stated. “His industry experience spans IT, financial services, private equity, healthcare, manufacturing, mining, engineering, logistics and education, and his blend of analytical rigor, operational experience, and strategic clarity will add real value for our clients.”
Nathan Jackson
Also a mathematics graduate (UQ, plus commerce), Jackson joins GNG with a focus on supporting clients in the mining, energy, and infrastructure sectors, in particular as to commercial strategy and sustainability, after previously spending over three years at McKinsey and eight at Port Jackson Partners (now EY-Parthenon) across two stints, with senior roles at Rio Tinto and QIC in between.
“Nathan advises senior executives across the private and public sectors on their most critical strategic, commercial and investment decisions, and also works with superannuation funds and infrastructure investors on portfolio strategy, capital deployment, and transactions,” GNG said. “He brings a partner-led approach, combining rigorous problem solving with hands-on delivery.”
Patrick Mueller-Hermann
The pair follow Patrick Mueller-Hermann’s recent arrival to GNG as a partner in Sydney after four years as the head of PiP’s digital & technology practice, which followed his return downunder from the private equity and high-end retail scene in London. Earlier, he spent eight years at BCG across Germany, the UK, and Australia after gaining an economics degree at the University of Amsterdam.
“Patrick brings close to 20 years of experience in growth strategy, transformation, high-performance operating models and technology, gained in roles across consulting, private equity, and as an executive,” GNG stated. “His combination of a consulting toolkit, technology expertise, turnaround and deal-making skills, and operations experience is a powerful addition to our team.”
Simon Gattorna
Finally, Gattorna joined GNG in Sydney toward the end of last year after a period as an independent advisor and over four years as a financial services sector-focused partner between Deloitte and EY, the latter where he’d earlier spent five years split by a decade at the Commonwealth Bank as an institutional banking & markets general manager and time as a senior principal at BCG.
“A transformation leader with 25-plus years of experience, Simon has worked across Australia, the UK, US, and Middle East, and strengthens our ability to deliver for clients across banking & capital markets, helping them lift performance through strategy and operational excellence,” GNG said of Gattorna, who holds an MBA from London Business School and commerce degree for UNSW.
GNG Partners
In addition to Dews and Bougen, who prior to PJP respectively spent time at McKinsey and Bain & Company, GNG’s two other partners include another former Port Jackson alumnus in Matt Roope, who joined in late 2024 via senior strategy roles at Aware Super and Endeavour Group, and former banking industry executive Ashley Gray, a one-time advisor at L.E.K. Consulting who joined in 2022.
