McKinsey's Marc Walker joins boutique consultancy Sterling Black
Premier leadership & organisation consultancy Sterling Black has recruited former McKinsey expert associate Marc Walker to its high-calibre partnership, with the boutique in an ‘exciting’ growth phase.
Marc Walker, McKinsey’s former leadership development practice lead for Australia and New Zealand, has joined boutique Sydney-based leadership & organisation consultancy Sterling Black, which is overseen by one-time McKinsey A/NZ managing partner Michael Rennie and ex-Deloitte Leadership Consulting boss James McLaren.
As might be expected, Walker joins a partnership already brimming with big-league talent.
A software engineering and business management graduate of the University of Queensland (with a masters in commercial law from Deakin), Walker joins Sterling Black after spending more than a decade at McKinsey & Company, where he served as an expert associate partner and Dean of the management consulting giant’s executive leadership program.
Prior to joining McKinsey, Walker also spent half a decade on international projects with AECOM.
“Marc brings 20 years of experience in leading and developing individuals and teams in diverse and challenging environments in both the corporate and consulting fields across the globe,” Walker’s bio reads. “Through this work, Marc has become renowned for his expertise in cultivating leadership maturity through delivery of major programs and has dedicated his career to leadership transformation as a seasoned designer, facilitator, intervenor, and coach.”
Walker joins a firm with serious leadership pedigree. Rennie spent more than three decades at McKinsey, leaving his post as A/NZ managing partner in 2013 to take on the global lead role for the firm’s renowned organisation performance & people practice out of Dubai. McLaren meanwhile, prior to heading Deloitte’s local Leadership practice, was managing director of PDI Ninth House in New York, which was acquired by Korn Ferry for $80 million in 2013.
Naturally then, Sterling Black has attracted a high calibre of consulting talent since its establishment with a ‘no kids’ creed. Among its listed partners is Paul Collings, whose advisory experience dates back to the mid-80s with Pappas Carter Evans and Koop, the local precursor to Boston Consulting Group. Collings then spent the best part of a decade as a founding partner of strategy firm Australian Consulting Partners before a later stint at McKinsey.
As a collective of independent leadership consultants, Sterling Black’s other listed partners include Sue O’Dea, who has spent close to three decades working at or with McKinsey, including previously as head of human resources; two-decade global industry veteran Lara Osborne; former Davidson NSW general manager Amanda Sheard; Black Isle managing partner Simon Mariner, and Matt Hardy, another McKinsey alumuns who also works with Right Lane Consulting.
