McKinsey partner Andrei Caramitru joins The Boston Consulting Group
Andrei Caramitru, a Senior Partner and 16 year veteran of McKinsey & Company, has joined rival The Boston Consulting Group. In his new capacity, Vienna-based Caramitru has been tasked with growing the firm’s footprint in the technology, media and telecommunication space.
After graduating from the University of Geneva, in 1998, Andrei Caramitru (40) started his career in the banking industry, at the investment banking arm of UBS, working both in Zurich and London. Two years later, in 2000, Caramitru moved into the consulting industry, joining McKinsey & Company – with more than 10,000 consultants one of the globe’s largest and most prestigious consulting firms. Caramitru held several leadership roles at McKinsey, including a Partner in Switzerland, and Managing Partner of the firm’s Romanian office – which he founded in 2007. In his most recent role at the firm, Caramitru led McKinsey’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications practice in Eastern Europe.
Last month, after sixteen years with McKinsey, Caramitru decided to embark on a new adventure, and joined The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), one of McKinsey’s main competitors. From BCG’s base in Vienna, Caramitru will in the role of Partner lead the delivery of the firm’s services to clients in the technology, media and telecommunication industries, spanning Germany and Austria, as well as Eastern Europe and the Middle East. BCG has a strong track record in the TMT landscape – over the past ten years, BCG has completed over 1,500 engagements in the sector, and going forward, the consultancy has earmarked TMT as a growth area.
“Andrei strengthens our TMT expertise. In addition to years of consulting experience in the international arena, he has excellent knowledge of both the telecommunication industry in emerging markets and the special requirements of local economic systems”, says Carsten Kratz, CEO of BCG in Germany and Austria.
Besides his consulting activities for BCG, Caramitru is a coach at several high-tech and start-up incubators in the Eastern European region.
Transfers in consulting
The transfer from McKinsey to another direct strategy consulting rival, such as BCG or Bain & Company, is not common in the consulting industry, in particular at a Partner level, as senior consultants active in the top segments tend to be relatively loyal to their employer. There are however also exceptions, for a variety of reasons, from career progression and better projects opportunities to making promotion, or from being a victim of the ‘Up or Out’ approach applied at top tier consultancies.
In a similar move to Caramitru, Mihai Birsescu, another Romanian national, per the 1st of September left his Associate Principal role at McKinsey & Company to join BCG as a Principal in the United Arab Emirates.
