The Consulting Report is pleased to announce The Top 25 Financial Services Consultants and Leaders of 2023. Financial services impacts nearly every business whether large or small. It represents the lifeblood of the economy providing capital in various forms and contexts from commercial banking to investment banking to community banking and specialty lenders, just to name a few. It also touches nearly every individual whether consumer lending, home lending, insurance or student loans. Needless to say, without proper financial services our business economy and personal lives would not experience the same growth and potential available today.
With the looming threat of recession, corporations and governments turn to financial services consultants to evaluate alternative courses of action, the probabilities of success, and the means to implement operational tactics. The best consultants are those with the most experience understanding and navigating turbulent economic times and in some cases, leverage deep expertise in very specific areas. Moreover, these industry experts are able to analyze complex financial and regulatory considerations and arrive at clear insights and recommendations for their clients.
This year’s awardees represent the best in financial services consulting. Consulting leaders like Ioannis Michos, Managing Partner at Tata Consultancy Services, Nicole Bodack, Managing Director and Growth Markets Industry Lead at Accenture, and Sankar Krishnan, Executive Vice President and Head of Digital Assets at Capgemini, are just a few of the accomplished industry experts making this year’s list.
Awardees were selected based on nominations and a thorough review of each candidate’s career track record up to and including their current position. Please join us in recognizing and celebrating the achievements of The Top 25 Financial Services Consultants and Leaders of 2023.
1. Ioannis Michos
Company: Tata Consultancy Services
Title: Managing Partner and EMEA Head of Financial Services and Insurance Consulting Practice
Ioannis Michos is a Managing Partner in Tata Consulting Services, where he heads the financial services and insurance consulting practice in EMEA. Michos is an acclaimed thought leader in the industry and throughout his career has been involved and led some of the most iconic initiatives in the financial services and insurance sector.
Michos serves clients across geographies and advises executives on complex strategic, operational, financial, risk, and technology related topics, which enable them to achieve material operational efficiencies, cost benefits, improved bottom lines, superior operating results, and increased profitability.
Under his leadership TCS’s financial services and insurance consulting practice has experienced a three-digit year on year growth over the past four years. Prior to joining TCS, Michos served in multiple senior executive positions in organizations like Willis Towers Watson, PwC, Grant Thornton and Achmea Group. He also holds a Master of Science in Management, a Bachelor of Science in Economics, an executive degree on growth and transformation from INSEAD. He is also a chartered accountant (FCCA) and a CFA Charter holder.
2. Sankar Krishnan
Company: Capgemini
Title: EVP, Banking and Capital Markets, Head of Digital Assets
Sankar Krishnan is Executive Vice President and Head of Digital Assets with Capgemini. He has responsibility for the global go-to-market for Capgemini’s digital assets capabilities. He is also responsible for strategy and corporate development. Krishnan has held a variety of roles at Capgemini including Head of Business Development for North America and the U.K.
Prior to joining Capgemini, Krishnan was a career Corporate and Transaction Services Banker with Citigroup and Standard Chartered Bank, where he spent over two decades in a variety of roles across North America, the U.K., Middle East, North Africa, and Asia.
Krishnan is the author of “The Power of Mobile Banking,” published by Wiley in 2014 and listed in Fintech’s Top 4 Books for 2014.
He has contributed to leading financial media including BBC, BBC America, American Banker, Forbes, BNN, CNBC and spoken at several industry conferences. Sankar is on several of Capgemini’s digital and innovation forums including Capgemini’s Financial New Tech Challenge 2022.
3. Nicole Bodack
Company: Accenture
Title: Managing Director, Capital Markets, Growth Markets Lead
Nicole Bodack is a Managing Director in Financial Services for Accenture, specializing in information technology services and consulting. She is a management and technology consulting executive with 21 years of experience working with leading financial services institutions across the globe.
She currently serves as Growth Markets Industry Lead for Capital Markets for Asia Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. She is also responsible for the company's wealth and asset management business in the regions.
In her 20-plus years with Accenture, she has directed numerous large-scale and complex transformation programs and provides pragmatic advisory services across corporate and investment banking, wealth management, and asset management.
She is also a leader in the firm’s diversity and inclusion initiatives and a mentor for female talent developing their careers. She holds a diploma in economics and banking from the Berlin School of Economics and Law.
4. Ola Engebretsen
Company: Kearney
Title: Partner, Americas Lead, Financial Services
Ola Engebretsen has worked in financial services for more than 20 years, helping clients use technology to transform and grow their business. Engebretsen currently leads Kearney’s financial services practice in the Americas. Prior to this role, he co-led Kearney’s digital transformation practice in Europe.
Engebretsen’s expertise includes driving large-scale transformation programs with large banks, insurance companies and payment providers, focusing on developing solutions that are new to the world, to drive much more disruptive change than just incremental improvements. Lately, he has pioneered Kearney’s work in experience lead transformation across front, middle, and back office.
Engebretsen holds a Master of Science in economics and business from the Stockholm School of Economics.
5. Isabelle Santenac
Company: EY
Title: Global Insurance Leader
As Global Insurance Leader at Ernst & Young, Isabelle Santenac is responsible for driving a team of more than 18,000 to transform how the world’s insurers do business. A self-described “champion for nurturing talent and diversity” across the EY organization, she heads the company’s contributions to protect the world’s most vulnerable populations as treasurer and board member of the nonprofit organization Positive Planet.
Santenac first began her celebrated tenure at EY in 2003, working as a financial services leader in French markets before rising to her current position in 2019. Her illustrious career began over more than 14 years as a partner at Arthur Andersen. She earned a Master’s degree in management from ESCP Business School.
6. Ken Joseph
Company: Kroll
Title: Managing Director, Financial Services Compliance and Regulation
Ken Joseph is a Managing Director and Head of the Financial Services Compliance and Regulation Practice for the Americas at Kroll, based in the New York office. From 2018-2020, he served as Global Leader of Kroll’s Disputes Consulting Practice. He is also a fellow of the Kroll Institute, providing thought leadership on a variety of financial services and regulatory matters, as well as head of the firm’s cryptocurrency task force.
Joseph focuses on serving clients who need informed and proven strategies to successfully navigate a broad spectrum of threats arising from investigations, compliance examinations, litigation, and crisis scenarios. He has provided expert testimony and reports on various regulatory compliance and enforcement matters, counseled on multiple high-profile investigations, advised SEC-registered entities on ESG policies and practices, conducted due diligence in the context of M&A transactions, and guided innovators on various digital currency structures and proposed offerings.
He has a unique combination of front-line expertise and experience in U.S. securities law, regulatory compliance, and corporate governance, and has served with distinction for a total of over 21 years in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
7. Michael Adler
Company: KPMG
Title: Global Insurance Operations Lead
Michael Adler works with leading global and domestic insurance companies and financial institutions to drive business transformation by leveraging digital, data, analytics, AI, technology and best operational practices. He leads KPMG’s collaboration with alliance partners in insurance globally, delivering business value and insights for clients and contributing to the growth of KPMG’s insurance practice.
Prior to KPMG, Alder led the global and U.S. insurance consulting practices at IBM and the U.S. insurance consulting practice at PwC, achieving significant growth by acquiring and integrating several innovative and scaled technology and operations companies. At IBM, Adler was one of the leaders who launched Watson, IBM’s AI Platform. He has also led and grown a number of practices focused on business analytics, ERP in financial services, client-server technology, and law firms and law departments.
Adler has served on a number of boards including being a past President of the New York City Alzheimer’s Association. He earned his undergraduate degree at Hofstra University and his MBA at the Lubin School of Business at Pace University.
8. Paul Nockels
Company: RSM
Title: National Capital Markets Industry Leader
Paul is RSM’s National Capital Markets Industry Leader focused on assurance, tax, and consulting services to broker-dealers, futures commission merchants, exchanges, clearing organizations and proprietary trading firms. He brings more than 30 years of experience serving clients, including assisting with interpretations and applications of SEC and CFTC net capital guidelines, CFTC segregation and secured rules, and SEC customer protection regulations.
Paul is a graduate of RSM’s Executive Leadership Academy and is recognized for driving client and talent experience, including most recently as RSM’s Chief Diversity Office Award recipient.
Paul is a frequent moderator and speaker at industry seminars on accounting and regulatory matters and served on several external and internal peer reviews of financial services practices.
9. Michael Abbott
Company: Accenture
Title: Managing Director and Global Banking Lead
Michael Abbott is responsible for Accenture’s overall vision and strategy for banking. With more than 25 years’ experience in the banking industry, Abbott is committed to helping banks develop and execute strategies that capitalize on the intersection of technology and people.
His passion for envisioning what is possible has made him a pioneer in the sector, and his deep expertise in strategic innovation, digital banking, payments, and operational technology has enabled him to help create business and operating models that deliver efficiency, competitiveness, and growth.
Abbott’s corporate career started as a research scientist at IBM. He then moved to GE Capital where, as the Chief Marketing Officer for Consumer Finance, he started and grew GE’s bankcard business to $10B in assets and built its private-label business into a 30% ROE growth engine. He received the Chairman’s Award for decisively leading the business through the financial crisis.
Prior to joining Accenture, Abbott was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Softcard, which was acquired by Google in 2015 and is now the mobile wallet platform for Google Pay. Abbott is a regular speaker at major banking events and has authored numerous banking articles and reports. He holds multiple degrees: a Bachelor of Science degree from Stony Brook University as well as an MBA and Master's degree in electrical engineering, both from Columbia University.
10. Titus Bocseri
Company: Slalom
Title: Managing Director, Global Strategy
During his extensive experience, Titus Bocseri helped companies accelerate development and introduction of products and services, lower costs, comply with changing regulations and better align business and technology investments. He partners with executive teams at leading insurance companies to transform around strategic growth initiatives, strategic cost reduction, business and operating strategy, and organizational and cultural transformation.
In his tenure as the Managing Director of the Global Slalom Strategy, Bocseri has built strong relationships with all the strategic business units across the company and worked with them on strategic initiatives. He assessed implications of key future trends and strategic issues impacting the industry and the company, led the expansion to new markets, and set-up strategic alliances.
He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School – dual emphasis on Corporate Strategy and Finance. In addition, he has an MS in Integrated Weapons Systems at Military Technical Academy.
11. Nageswar Cherukupalli
Company: Infosys
Title: Senior Vice President and Sales Head
Nageswar Cherukupalli is an accomplished leader with more than 28 years of experience across multiple leadership roles and manages relationships with marquee financial services clients. He is part of the global financial services executive leadership team at Infosys, with expertise spanning across various business competencies, including sales, strategy, consulting, marketing, and general management.
Cherukupalli has partnered with prominent financial services organizations to drive large-scale transformations and innovation at the intersection of business and technology. He is consistently focused on bringing unique cutting-edge solutions through collaborating across his network, including a wide ecosystem of analysts, advisors, experts, startups (fintech), and established industry players.
Cherukupalli is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and holds a Bachelors of Technology in electronics and communication. He has keen interest in content, culture, creativity and collaboration, in addition to being a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion. He has written many blogs and spoken at multiple financial services, product and technology events.
12. Mike Lee
Company: EY
Title: Global Wealth and Asset Management Leader
Mike Lee has been a major figure in EY’s clients operation in the wealth and asset management spheres. Boasting a 30-year track record of leadership excellence, Lee specializes in directing agile teams that help financial services clients adapt to new and changing circumstances.
His work with EY frequently takes him around the world, which enables him to build a diverse perspective leading to the development and launch of groundbreaking new strategies. Lee is widely known as a thought leader on the key issues facing the wealth and asset management industry.
13. Fergus Gordon
Company: Accenture
Title: Managing Director and Global Client Account Lead
Fergus Gordon has more than 20 years of experience advising C-level executives in the global retail and commercial banking industries. Currently, he serves as a Managing Director and Global Client Account Leader for Accenture, with capabilities in digital, cloud, and security. In his leadership role, he specializes in the areas of customer strategy, digital engagement, strategic transformation program design, planning, and delivery.
Gordon joined Accenture in 2016 as a Managing Director of Greater China Banking and later served as Banking Practice Lead in Growth Markets. He also spent more than a decade previously as a Partner in Financial Services Management Consulting with Accenture from 1999 to 2012. Between his tenures, he served as a Partner in the Financial Institutions Group with A.T. Kearney. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in economics and accounting from the University of New South Wales.
14. Aaron Byrne
Company: EY Parthenon
Title: Financial Services Leader
Aaron Byrne has served as Financial Services Leader at EY Parthenon for the last five years. He has been hailed as a major driver of growth for financial services and financial technology companies, offering unmatched experience in transaction and transformation services.
In addition to his accomplishments with EY Parthenon, Byrne was known for delivering next-level results in strategy and transformation while with BearingPoint, Trammell Crow, and Illinois Business Consulting. For his remarkable achievements with EY that resulted in the execution of more than $35 billion in transactions since joining the firm, Byrne was honored as an emerging leader and 40 under 40 by multiple industry organizations.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in environmental design and architecture from Texas A&M University as well as an MBA in finance from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
15. Carmela Inneo
Company: Willis Towers Watson
Title: North American Financial Institutions Industry Leader
Carmela Inneo has served as Senior Director at London-based financial services provider Willis Towers Watson since 2018 and is the company’s North American Financial Institutions Industry Leader. Inneo helps drive the firm's outcomes in the industry practice and leads key client relationships. She has contributed her agile, people-first leadership to promote growth and innovation across WTW’s client base.
Inneo has been a frequent spokesperson for the firm on industry panels dedicated to sharing knowledge on detecting and preventing global financial crises. Previous to her time with WTW, Inneo worked as Managing Director and Senior Global Client Executive at Marsh & McLennan Companies, delivering best-in-class financial services resources to Fortune 1000 companies across the Northeast. Inneo earned a Bachelor’s degree from Fairfield University.
16. Simon Bartletta
Company: Boston Consulting Group
Title: Managing Director and Senior Partner, Financial Services
Simon Bartletta is a core member of Boston Consulting Group’s financial institutions practice. In addition to leading the firm’s Boston offices, Bartletta advises financial services firms on a variety of strategic, operational, and organizational issues in the areas of asset and wealth management, capital markets, and retail banking.
Bartlett’s experience is wide and deep; he has led major performance-improvement programs for large financial services players and companies in a variety of other industries. Before joining BCG, he was a senior consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton in Virginia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Lehigh University and an MBA from the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business.
17. Heidi Deringer
Company: Bain & Company
Title: Partner, Head of Americas Financial Services Practice
For more than 30 years, Heidi Deringer has been a valued member of Bain & Company, currently serving as Partner and Head of the Americas Financial Services Practice. Part of her invaluable contributions to the firm includes serving in the performance improvement and mergers & acquisitions practices. Deringer boasts experience across financial sectors including property and casualty insurance, life insurance and annuities, asset management, payments and credit bureaus, among other areas.
She joined Bain & Company in 1992, helping to establish the firm’s private equity practice within the Atlanta office. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
18. Marie-Claude Nadeau
Company: McKinsey & Company
Title: Senior Partner, Financial Services
Marie-Claude Nadeau oversees McKinsey’s global payments work. With her close connections to digital channels, Nadeau is well-accustomed to the rapid pace of change championed by both financial and technology-sector executives. She is a respected author and speaker on emerging trends in digital payments and customer loyalty, with features in Forbes, the Harvard Business Review online, InnoTribe New York, and Money 2020.
As an experienced advisor, she also co-leads the firm’s research on women in the workplace in partnership with LeanIn.Org. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from McGill University and a Master of Science degree in technology and policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
19. Samuel Golden
Company: Alvarez & Marsal
Title: Managing Director, Senior Advisor of Financial Industry Advisory Services
Samuel Golden is a veteran of the professional services industry and founded the firm’s financial industry advisory services division where he continues to serve as its Senior Advisor. Golden provides unparalleled experience in navigating complex economic circumstances to the firm’s major banking and enterprise clients.
Prior to beginning his storied career with Alvarez & Marsal in 2008, Golden worked as ombudsman for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for 16 years. A passionate volunteer in the fields of leadership and healthcare, he has served for many years on the boards of the Gulf Coast Medical Foundation, the Fort Bend Children’s Discovery Center, and the Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital. Golden holds a Bachelor’s degree in business administration, banking, and finance from the University of North Texas.
20. John Peirson
Company: Deloitte Consulting
Title: CEO, Financial Services Strategic Business Unit
John Peirson manages more than 18,000 professionals who help organizations navigate a variety of risks, embrace complexity, and accelerate performance. With more than 30 years of experience, Peirson has dedicated his career to advising clients on strategy and transformation across a broad spectrum of financial and regulatory matters. Prior to his current role, he served as Chief Operating Officer of Deloitte Consulting, Deputy Chief Financial Officer for Deloitte U.S., and COO of Risk and Financial Advisory.
He began his consulting career with Arthur Andersen before joining his current firm in 2002. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
21. Mariya Rosberg
Company: Oliver Wyman
Title: Partner, Head of Americas Corporate and Institutional Banking
Mariya Rosberg has served as head of Oliver Wyman’s corporate and institutional banking Americas team since 2019. In addition to her duties related to wholesale banking strategy, Rosberg sits on Oliver Wyman’s Global Leadership Team Council, working to contribute her considerable experience to the company’s large-scale operations and vision.
Following four years of celebrated service at Oliver Wyman in the early 2000s, Rosberg went on to serve in strategy leadership positions at both Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in history from Dartmouth College as well as a Master’s degree in law and diplomacy from Tufts University.
22. Emma Pitt
Company: FTI Consulting
Title: Managing Director in Financial, Banking and Insurance
Emma Pitt leads FTI’s efforts to deliver large-scale business transformation solutions to global clients. Since beginning work in her current post in 2015, FTI has experienced substantial expansion, growing to the largest corporate restructuring business in the U.S. in 2020.
Before joining FTI in 2013, Pitt worked for more than five years at Dublin-based business consulting firm Distinct Consulting. She began her career as a leader in stakeholder management and corporate strategy as a business analyst at Citco Fund Services. Pitt earned a Bachelor’s degree in management science and information systems studies from Trinity College Dublin.
23. Scott Walthers
Company: Booz Allen Hamilton
Title: Senior Vice President, Commercial Financial Services, International Businesses
Scott Walthers is responsible for driving Booz Allen Hamilton’s business in strategic growth accounts across the financial services industry. With particular expertise in capital markets, digital security, and development and transformation, Walthers is a recognized thought leader in the financial services world, serving as an advisory affiliate at the Wall Street Technology Association among other key industry organizations.
His achievements at Booz Allen stretch back more than a decade, having worked his way up from a senior associate position to eventually become a leader in the firm’s global financial services practice. Prior to joining Booz Allen, he served as Global Client Director of Financial Services at Gartner. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in resource economics and international trade from the University of Rhode Island.
24. Emma Cox
Company: Deloitte U.K.
Title: Managing Partner, Global Private Equity Leader
Emma Cox is a Managing Partner and Global Private Equity Leader for Deloitte U.K. In this role, Cox oversees the firm’s growth strategy and global coordination efforts to ensure the best results for its clients and their portfolios. In addition to her global private equity leadership role, she heads the cross-firm Chief Financial Officer Advisory Platform in the U.K., where she works closely with financial executives and their teams.
Cox boasts 30 years of experience of working with CFOs and their private equity owners throughout the investment cycle. Before joining Deloitte, she began her career with Arthur Andersen. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Oxford University and an MBA from Manchester Business School.
25. Albertha Charles
Company: PwC UK
Title: Partner, UK Asset & Wealth Management leader
Albertha Charles is the Asset & Wealth Management leader for PwC UK. She is an award winning consultant with more than 20 years’ experience in Financial Services, specialising in Asset and Wealth Management, Private Equity and Insurance. She advises a broad range of UK and global AWM clients on the value of their businesses and the implications of potential strategic options as well as the opportunities for value creation and growth.
Charles has worked on some of the largest financial services M&A transactions and restructurings in Europe and supported many Alternative Asset Managers on M&A fairness opinions, pre-IPO and fund raising valuation support. She is a regular speaker at Asset & Wealth Management conferences and PE forums in the UK and in Europe. Charles is also passionate about creating more equitable and inclusive workplaces and nurturing talent. She was a member of PwC’s Partner Diversity Council for eight years, is a member of The Prince’s Responsible Business Network, Business in the Community (BITC) Race Equality Leadership Board and a member of the Advisory Board of 10,000 Black Interns. Charles holds an MBA, is a Chartered Certified Accountant and a CFA Charter holder.
____________________
Copyright: The Top 25 Financial Services Consultants and Leaders of 2023 publication is copyrighted material, produced and published by The Consulting Report. For information pertaining to content permissions, please refer to The Consulting Report’s award usage regulations.
