Ellen Derrick named Head of Deloitte Consulting in Australia

Deloitte Consulting has a new leader in Australia: Ellen Derrick, currently the firm’s National Leader for Public Sector & Public Policy.

Ellen Derrick replaces Kaylene O’Brien, who held the role for two years before vacating it and retiring from Deloitte in October this year to “enjoy some time off.” With nearly two decades of consulting and management experience under her belt, Derrick has been deemed the right fit by the partnership to take on the consulting mantle.

Formerly at Accenture in Canberra at the outset of her career, Derrick took on senior roles at IISM Group and the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research before joining Deloitte as a Director in 2011. She was appointed a partner within two years, and was put in charge of the Public Sector & Public Policy practice in 2018.

In the role, she led one of Deloitte’s larger industry verticals, and gained extensive experience designing and implementing public policy across industries including federal government, social services, healthcare and human services, with many of her projects involving digital transformation efforts.

CEO at Deloitte Australia Richard Deutsch – who himself took the top spot in 2018 – describes Derrick as a “dynamic leader in the market and in our business,” adding that he could “think of no better leader for our consulting business than Ellen as we work with our clients through this period of fundamental digital and organisational transformation.”

Derrick takes the reins at a time when Deloitte Consulting is recalibrating and growing its business again. Between 2015 and this year, Deloitte Consulting was on a roll in Australia, boosting its revenues for five consecutive years (in most years with double digits), in parts thanks to a buy-and-build strategy with more than ten deals closed in the period.

But in the summer, Deloitte Consulting was forced to shed over 500 consultants in practices that suffered a fallout of demand due to Covid-19. However, in the intervening months, the firm has demonstrated its resilience, posting better than expected financial results – prompting the Big Four accounting and advisory giant to fully repay previously announced salary cuts, among others.

Derrick leads all of Deloitte Consulting's business units: namesake Deloitte Consulting, Monitor Deloitte (the strategy consulting arm led by Jeremy Drumm) and Deloitte Digital (led by Steven Hallam).