The Consulting Report is pleased to announce the Top 25 Operations Consultants and Leaders of 2024. The rise of digitalization and the increasing complexities of global commerce highlight the importance of having expert supply chain and operations professionals in an organization. According to Zippia.com, supply chain disruptions can lead to a staggering 62% decrease in a company’s revenue. Operations professionals lead their business units through ever-evolving logistical and supply chain challenges, ensuring that their companies maintain efficiency, agility, and resilience in dynamic markets.
Among this year’s awardees is Radhika Subramanian, managing director at Protiviti. Her work using advanced analytics to create responsive supply chains that predict failure points and suggest the next best actions was recognized by Gartner for its success and has been implemented by several Fortune 500 companies. Ben Shrewsbury from Russell Reynolds Associates has held several roles related to integrated supply chain management and operationally oriented general management. His diverse background includes seven years of service in the United States Air Force, taking on roles such as advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. Balika Sonthalia is a partner at Kearney and serves as a C-suite advisor on the supply chain transformation agenda within consumer goods and retail. Her thought leadership has been covered in publications like the Wall Street Journal, Supply Chain Quarterly, and Inbound Logistics.
Candidates were evaluated based on proven operations expertise, knowledge of global supply chain dynamics, and mastery over logistics, procurement, and risk management strategies, among other areas. Furthermore, they are leaders with a track record of implementing innovative solutions that have significantly improved operational efficiencies and reduced costs, while guiding and supporting multinational teams. Please join us in celebrating the Top 25 Operations Consultants and Leaders of 2024.
1. Jim Kilpatrick
Firm: Deloitte
Title: Partner
Jim Kilpatrick is a Partner with Deloitte, based in Toronto, Canada. He is currently Deloitte’s Global Supply Chain & Network Operations Leader. In this role, Kilpatrick is responsible for Deloitte’s global supply chain consulting offerings, assets, alliances, and eminence.
In his over 30 years with Deloitte, Kilpatrick has led many significant global supply chain transformation programs, delivering significant impact through supply chain optimization and leveraging advanced supply chain systems and technologies. His expertise includes supply chain strategy, supply chain planning, distribution & logistics, strategic sourcing & procurement, and manufacturing operations. While focused on Consumer Products Manufacturers and Retail organizations, taking a "source to consumer" perspective of the retail value chain, Kilpatrick has worked with clients across a number of industries, in both the private and public sector, where supply chain management is critical to their success. Many of the global supply chain transformation programs that Kilpatrick has led have delivered greater than $100 Million in annual P&L benefits for his clients, in addition to significant service and working capital performance improvements.
Kilpatrick is a Professional Engineer with a degree in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo, an MBA from the University of Toronto, and is a Lean 6-Sigma Master Black Belt.
2. Fredrik de Maré
Firm: FTI Consulting
Title: Senior Managing Director
Fredrik de Maré is a senior managing director in FTI Consulting’s global supply chain practice. He has more than 20 years of management consulting experience advising clients on supply chain strategy, supply chain risk management, and operational performance improvement. His sector expertise spans the healthcare, life sciences, and technology industries. De Maré contributes his operational strategy expertise, including global supply chain network strategy and supply chain risk management. Over the course of his career, he has worked with numerous clients on a global basis to mitigate critical supply chain risks and drive transformational improvements to their supply chain operations.
Prior to joining FTI Consulting, de Maré served as a senior leader in the operations and supply chain practice of Russell Reynolds Associates where he advised industry-leading clients on supply chain leadership and management topics. He was previously a partner at Arthur D. Little, leading its San Francisco office. Earlier, de Maré spearheaded pharma supply chain risk management services as a partner at PwC's healthcare practice after serving as a partner in PRTM's supply chain practice. De Maré received a bachelor’s in engineering management from the University of Vermont and an MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.
3. Stephane Crosnier
Firm: Accenture
Title: Managing Director
Stephane Crosnier leads Accenture’s supply chain and operations practice in the U.K. and Ireland, where he helps clients digitally transform their logistics network for improved performance, resilience, and sustainability. He shapes supply chain and operations strategies, designing and implementing new capabilities through innovative technologies as well as performing turn-around interventions. His team has consistently been recognized as a market leader and received numerous industry accolades, more recently for its role in working with a consortium of leading aerospace and engineering businesses producing medical ventilators for the UK National Health Service during the COVID crisis - setting up and operating a new supply chain in record time.
With a career spanning over 30 years, Crosnier began in the computer industry as a supply chain planner before moving into consulting roles with Accenture in Singapore, Paris, and London, and PRTM (now PwC) in Paris. Notably, in his global leadership role for supply chain resilience at Accenture, he helped create the “supply chain stress test,” establishing industry standards for measuring supply chain resilience and helping clients identify hidden vulnerabilities in their end-to-end supply network. His expertise includes industrial products, automotive, high-tech, aerospace and defense, and consumer goods. Crosnier is an alumnus of Ecole Centrale of Nantes with an engineering degree and holds an MBA in supply chain management from ESSEC Business School, France.
4. Kay Manke
Firm: BearingPoint
Title: Global Leader Operations
Kay O. Manke, a seasoned professional with over 30 years of expertise, currently serves as senior partner and global supply chain and operations leader at BearingPoint. In his role as the global leader for service line operations and senior partner for consumer goods and retail, he guides BearingPoint's supply network practice globally.
Throughout his career, Manke has been instrumental in leading global end-to-end supply chain transformation programs, optimizing supply chains worldwide, and leveraging advanced systems and technologies to enhance performance. As a prominent figure in the consumer and retail sectors, he has provided guidance to companies navigating disruptive periods, emphasizing resilience, sustainability, and agility in supply chain management. Beyond his tenure at BearingPoint, Manke boasts a distinguished consulting background, having worked at Accenture and Arthur Andersen Management Consulting. An influential speaker and author on supply chain management, he advocates for building digital capabilities to meet the evolving imperatives of resilience, sustainability, and agility in supply networks. He is an alumnus of Leibniz Universität Hannover and NEOMA Business School.
5. Ashutosh Dekhne
Firm: EY
Title: EY Americas Supply Chain and Operations Practice Leader
Ashutosh Dekhne is a Partner and practice leader for the Americas supply chain operations and technology at Ernst & Young Global Consulting Services. He advises and serves clients primarily in consumer-packaged goods (CPG), retail, auto, industrial, pharma, and hi-tech sectors. His areas of expertise include manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, omnichannel, procurement, and strategy, with innovative approaches in digital and advanced analytics and technology. He also serves clients in commercial, go-to-market (GTM), and technology areas, global business services and global capability centers.
Before joining EY, Ashutosh was a partner at McKinsey & Company, where he held leadership positions for over a decade. He also brings approximately 15 years of industry experience, having led global logistics, global operations, and regional P&Ls at companies such as PepsiCo and Kuehne+Nagel. Ashutosh holds an MBA in finance, as well as M.S. and B.S. degrees in industrial engineering.
6. Kristin Sjoholm
Firm: FTI Consulting
Title: Managing Director
Kristin Sjoholm is a managing director in FTI’s performance improvement practice, bringing more than 20 years of experience to the role, specializing in supply chain transformations and end-to-end operational improvements. Sjoholm’s domain expertise spans the entire supply chain including supply planning, inventory management, sales and operations planning, procurement, and supply chain sustainability. In addition, Sjoholm is FTI’s expert at integrating environmental and social best practices with supply chain intricacies and realities.
Notably, as a consultant, Sjoholm led a mission-critical COVID-19 project for the State of Rhode Island. Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Sjoholm was the head of global operations for Marmot Mountain and ExOfficio at Newell. Before that, she held key supply chain leadership roles at both Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn. Sjoholm received her bachelor’s from Colorado College and an MBA from UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.
7. Sean Laffere
Firm: Alvarez & Marsal
Title: Managing Director
Sean Laffere serves as the national supply chain leader for Alvarez & Marsal's corporate performance improvement (CPI) group, where he also leads the supply chain services practice. Laffere has over 25 years of experience in multiple supply chain areas, including sales and operations planning, sourcing and procurement, logistics, and organizational design. His expertise extends to financial supply chain and operations improvement, focusing on asset and fleet management, the procure-to-pay and order-to-cash cycles, contract management, material planning, working capital optimization, and business process optimization.
Laffere’s industry experience spans energy, industrials, consumer-packaged goods, media, and construction. Before his tenure at Alvarez & Marsal, Laffere worked at Deloitte for over six years, specializing in supply chain management and enterprise software applications. His career also includes time at O’Neal Steel, Inc., where he was involved in operations. Laffere's academic background includes a bachelor’s in industrial distribution from Texas A&M University and an MBA from Rice University.
8. Glen Tanner
Firm: Pontoon Solutions
Title: Global Head, Procurement and Supply Chain
Glen Tanner is the global head of procurement and supply chain at Pontoon Solutions, a role he has held since February 2020. Pontoon Solutions, backed by the Adecco Group, is a provider of workforce solutions, including managed service provider (MSP), recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), services procurement, direct sourcing, talent consulting, and total talent solutions.
Notably, under Tanner’s leadership, the global procurement and supplier success organization has expanded significantly, growing from 18 to over 50 team members. Additionally, Tanner helped integrate the compliance team into the wider organization in May 2021 and led the company's top strategic priority between July 2021 and December 2022. He also developed the procurement and supply chain practice of Pontoon Instinct, the company’s talent advisory service. Tanner has extensive experience in procurement and supply chain management. His past positions include global indirect procurement leader at Diversey and global category lead of corporate services at 4c Associates. His early career includes a position with PwC as a senior manager and a role as a customer service executive at RBS.
9. Ben Shrewsbury
Firm: Russell Reynolds Associates
Title: Managing Director
Ben Shrewsbury is Managing Director at Russell Reynolds Associates, where he leads the company’s global operations and supply chain officers practice. His primary focus is on roles related to integrated supply chain management, operationally oriented general management, CEO positions, and board memberships within both public and private entities.
Before his tenure at Russell Reynolds Associates, Shrewsbury was a management consultant at Kearney, mainly within the transportation and infrastructure sector. His diverse background also includes over seven years of service with the United States Air Force, taking on roles such as advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, member of the defense contracting management agency (DCMA) in Afghanistan, and part of the commander’s action group (CAG) at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts. Shrewsbury holds a bachelor’s in management from the United States Air Force Academy, an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School, and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.
10. Bernardo Miranda
Firm: Falconi
Title: Senior Partner
Bernardo Miranda holds the position of senior partner and managing director at Falconi's U.S. office in Chicago, where his role includes key involvement in the company's strategic planning and execution. Since joining Falconi, a leading Latin American management consulting firm, Miranda has dedicated over 16 years to supporting CEOs and SVPs across North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Miranda's contributions and leadership led to his rapid advancement within Falconi. In 2018, he was promoted to partner, in 2020 to head of US operations, and by 2022, to senior partner and managing director of the Chicago office. Under his guidance, the U.S. branch has seen significant growth in revenue, customer base, and the number of consultants.
Miranda started his career at the American Chamber of Commerce in Brazil, where he managed committees related to business development, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions for two years before joining Falconi. He holds a degree in business from Ibmec Business School, certifications in finance from Chicago Booth and mergers and acquisitions from NYU Stern, and an MBA from IESE Business School.
11. Per Kristian Hong
Firm: Kearney
Title: Partner
Per Kristian Hong is a senior partner and global leader in Kearney’s strategic operations practice. He brings over 27 years of experience to his role, with expertise in operations transformation topics related to post-merger integration, efficiency and performance improvement, network optimization, make vs. buy strategies, and supply chain organization transformation.
Throughout Hong’s career, he has focused on healthcare, consumer products, and specialty chemicals in both developed and developing markets. He began his Kearney Operations career in Kearney’s London office for eight years, and his other past positions include managing partner of Kearney’s unit in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States from 2010 to 2016. Hong also co-leads Kearney’s global collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the advanced manufacturing and global value chain reconfiguration platform. Notably, he helped launch the forum’s COVID action platform and has led multiple value chain resilience initiatives. Hong received an undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College and an MBA from the University of Michigan.
12. Radhika Subramanian
Firm: Protiviti
Title: Managing Director
Radhika Subramanian is the Managing Director of Protiviti, bringing to the role over two decades of expertise in integrating technology and digital innovations across various sectors, including industry, academia, startups, and consulting.
13. Joe Martin
Firm: Kearney
Title: Partner
Joe Martin is a partner at Kearney and the president of the firm's public sector and defense services. As an operations strategist and supply chain practitioner serving the aerospace and defense industry, he helps clients build high-leverage programs that improve performance. His experience includes organizational transformation, supply and demand analytics, industrial economics, and facilities/overhead optimization for a wide range of industry-leading clients, as well as the U.S. and foreign governments.
Martin has over 30 years of consulting experience, with a consistent focus on performance improvement through both a strategic and operational lens. Martin began his career at Fairchild Republic with a focus on aerospace engineering. After earning his MBA from New York University, he joined McKinsey & Co., where he eventually worked his way to partner at the firm in the supply chain and technology operations practices. He then went on to work for various consulting firms in a partner capacity, including Kearney, Oliver Wyman, and Strategy&. In 2019, Martin took on a role at the Pentagon as the executive director of supply chain management for the US Navy. In October of 2021, he returned to Kearney as a partner in the aerospace and defense practice.
14. Mike Hales
Firm: Kearney
Title: Partner
Mike Hales is a senior partner at Kearney, bringing decades of industry and consulting experience across the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific to this role. His global financial experience spans multiple industries, including hi-tech, retail, chemicals, utilities, and finance, with over 50 large-scale operations improvement efforts covering all aspects of operations. These include innovation, supply management, manufacturing, logistics, as well as merger integration for two of the largest chemical industry mergers.
Hales lived four years in London and another four in Sydney where he co-led the launch of Kearney’s Australia offices. Notably, Hales has authored over 50 articles on recent semiconductor issues, as well as procurement, innovation, customer experience, and channel strategy. He co-leads Kearney’s annual “Assessment of Excellence in Procurement,” co-authored the book Supplier Relationship Management: How to Manage Supplier Value and Opportunity, and co-founded the Global City Index & Outlook which annually ranks over 125 cities. Hales has worked closely with the Institute of Supply Management and was on the board of trustees for its Center for Strategic Supply Leadership. He holds a bachelor’s in business from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a master’s in management from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He passed the exams for Illinois Public Accounting and the American Production and Inventory Control Society.
15. Balika Sonthalia
Firm: Kearney
Title: Partner
Balika Sonthalia is a senior partner and Americas leader of Kearney’s Strategic Operations Practice. She is a C-suite advisor on the end-to-end supply chain transformation agenda within the consumer goods and retail industry and has expertise in logistics and distribution for all major sectors that make and distribute products.
As the strategic operations practice leader, Sonthalia is responsible for the performance of the firm’s largest practice in the Americas which includes overseeing the practice growth and profitability, product innovation, and managing a team of approximately 150 consultants and 25 partners. Prior to her current practice leader role, Sonthalia has held other leadership positions in the firm including serving on the Americas leadership team and leading the Americas Deliver Tower in the strategic operations practice. Balika holds an engineering degree from SNDT Women’s University in Mumbai and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business.
16. Yatish Desai
Firm: KPMG
Title: Partner
Yatish Desai is a principal at KPMG, where he leads the supply chain execution for the firm's supply chain and operations practice. With extensive experience across numerous industries and sectors, Desai excels in crafting and executing strategic initiatives in operations and supply chain management. He collaborates closely with C-suite executives, senior leaders, and private equity figures to create strategies, innovative solutions, and operational plans.
Desai’s background spans both consulting and senior executive positions, including roles at a Fortune 400 conglomerate and various manufacturing companies. His specialization areas include supply chain and operations strategy, operational diligence, operating model transformation, and cost optimization for profit improvement. Desai holds an MBA in business and operations management from the Weatherhead School of Management and a master's in materials engineering, both from Case Western Reserve University. He earned his B.Tech in materials engineering and science from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-Bombay).
17. Rehana Khanam
Firm: McKinsey & Company
Title: Partner
Rehana Khanam, a partner at McKinsey’s Operations Practice, specializes in driving performance improvements within the consumer packaged goods sector. Khanam brings impressive experience to her role, focusing on achieving business objectives and creating meaningful impact.
18. Ashish Punjabi
Firm: PwC
Title: Partner
Ashish Punjabi is a Partner at PwC's supply chain practice, where he focuses on process standardization and stakeholder alignment, leveraging global best practices. He has expertise in enterprise applications, including SAP ECC and new dimension tools.
19. Allison Kahler
Firm: Bain & Company
Title: Partner
Allison Kahler is a member of the performance improvement and consumer products practices at Bain & Company. As an operations expert, Kahler has recently led engagements covering supply chain, manufacturing, and procurement, with an emphasis on leveraging the latest digital tools and capabilities. Her current sector work focuses on food and beverages.
20. Engin Beken
Firm: Arthur D. Little
Title: Partner
Engin Beken is a Partner based both in Arthur D. Little´s Frankfurt and Vienna offices. Engin is part of the global leadership team of the Performance Practice and leads the Industry 4.0 / Digital operations competency center. His main areas of expertise cover operations strategies, operating model design, operational / performance excellence, operations digitalization and transformation programs. Engin is especially focused in manufacturing industries, the energy sector (e.g. PowerGen and transmission system operators) and the railway business (Rolling stock as well as infrastructure operators).
In his role as the lead of the digital operations competency center, he is leading a broad set of operations experts globally on the research on key topics such as the future impact of AI in operations or the value generated through the end-to-end use of data and analytics on operations problems. He recently published one of Arthur D. Littles flagship reports on potential ways of generating value through the use of the industrial metaverse in an operations context.
Engin has helped over the years a broad set of large scale companies to setup the strategic COO and CTO agenda and to implement fundamental excellence transformations. He is often requested a key leader in integrating future operations trends with bottom-line questions of as-is operating models. Prior joining Arthur D. Little, Engin worked for five years in the energy industry and gained significant experience in a broad set of renewable power generation questions. He holds both a PhD and a MSc in Engineering from the Vienna University of Technology.
21. Cornelius Herzog
Firm: Oliver Wyman
Title: Partner
Cornelius Herzog, a Munich-based partner in Oliver Wyman's operations practice, specializes in transport, logistics, e-commerce, and distribution. His expertise spans aerospace, parcel logistics, and manufacturing, and his work combines digital technologies and advanced analytics.
22. Shanton Wilcox
Firm: PA Consulting
Title: Partner
As a partner at PA Consulting, Shanton Wilcox specializes in applying advanced supply chain capabilities to manufacturing and service organizations, integrating and streamlining value chain operations. His industry expertise includes aerospace and defense, high-tech, and consumer goods.
23. Tue Herlevsen
Firm: Implement Consulting Group
Title: Partner
Tue Herlevsen is a partner at Implement Consulting Group, a globally expanding management consulting firm that works in various industries including renewable energy, healthcare, financial services, and life science. Herlevsen specializes in operations and supply chain management. With a decade of experience, he leads projects and programs, oversees large-scale transformations, and executes strategies in operations, supply chain, and IT domains.
24. Jennifer Bullman
Firm: HCLTech
Title: Global Director, Americas Technology Procurement and Supply Chain
Jennifer Bullman is the global director for the Americas technology procurement and supply chain at HCLTech. With over two decades of experience, her expertise includes IT sourcing leadership, specializing in transitioning and optimizing supply chains.
25. Bernhard Jaro Lietzmann
Firm: Ingenics AG
Title: Partner
Bernhard Jaro Lietzmann serves as a partner at inGenics, a management consulting firm specializing in logistics planning and E-mobility transformation services for the aerospace and medical sectors. He joined inGenics in 2013 as a senior project manager and later advanced to the role of director of the global key account before assuming his current position.
