Oliver Wyman raids Strategy& for government business growth
Global management consulting firm Oliver Wyman has been raiding Strategy&’s senior stocks to build up its own government consulting business, including via a soft launch in Canberra.
With global revenues now exceeding $3 billion, Oliver Wyman is one of the world’s largest management consultancies, yet the firm is still busy expanding its footprint in Australia.
The latest move to the nation’s capital follows Oliver Wyman’s purchase of Perth-based boutique Azure Consulting in early 2022, with a Melbourne branch established alongside its existing Sydney outlet two years earlier.
The new Canberra office will be headed by federal government lead partner Michael Thompson, a Strategy& (and Booz & Company) veteran, alongside a team of Strategy& recruits. Meanwhile, Oliver Wyman has also brought in former Strategy& senior leaders James Twaddle and Rony Azzi to its burgeoning government & public institutions practice based out of Sydney.
Thompson crosses to Oliver Wyman after spending the best part of two decades at Strategy& and its predecessors Booz & Company and Booz Allen Hamilton, the latter which he joined in 2005. Prior to its fire-sale, he served as PwC’s federal government consulting lead partner for its foreign affairs & trade, industry & science, and climate change, energy, & environment businesses.
“Next up is Oliver Wyman, where I couldn’t look past the warm, passionate, and super talented team for my new home,” Thompson said on his departure earlier this year. “I will continue to do all I can to help interesting people, in interesting places, solve interesting problems, to better Australia and the world a little bit at a time.”
Meanwhile, the firm has scored a coup in Sydney in its efforts to capitalise on PwC’s public sector demise, with former Strategy& leader James Twaddle appointed as government & public institutions lead partner, brought in alongside fellow senior leader Rony Azzi. Both also joined Strategy& back in the Booz & Company days.
A number of former Strategy& consultants have also followed Thompson across to establish the Canberra office, including Lachlan McShane and Alasdair Cameron as principals, and Alex Hewat as engagement manager.
Allen Wang, Chris Murphy and Guy Richardson also cross as engagement managers via a brief detour to Scyne Advisory, while Genevieve Beart joins as a government & public institutions principal in Melbourne.
Strategy& is popular hunting ground for Oliver Wyman, the firm even poached Strategy&’s then global leader a while back in Europe. And in 2022, Oliver Wyman bought the MENA consulting business of Booz Allen Hamilton, the previous parent of Strategy& prior to the Booz & Company era.
