Accenture and Bain & Company add senior advisors to London team
Accenture and Bain & Company have added senior advisors to their UK teams. Sumner Makin joins Bain & Company from Monitor Deloitte, while Sean Mahdi has left PwC to join rival Accenture. Both experienced consultants are based in their firm’s London offices.
Sean Mahdi has joined Accenture’s UK Marketing & Distribution team in Financial Services as a Senior Managing Director. Accenture’s global operations provide clients with management consulting, technology and outsourcing services, while the firm boasts more than 293,000 employees; offices and operations in more than 200 cities in 56 countries; and net revenues of $28.6 billion for fiscal 2013. The move sees Mahdi’s extensive CV in the Financial Services and consulting sectors bolster the firm’s capacity in the UK, at a time when Accenture is bidding for major expansion globally.
Starting his career at Seer Technologies as a consultant with the software company in 1992, Mahdi spent six years at the firm’s European practice, by the end of which time he had become a Principal. In 1999 he moved on to join PwC Consulting – where he became a Director – before its purchase by IBM in 2002. After the merger, Mahdi joined IBM Business Consulting Services, where he undertook a variety of roles including Chordiant Practice Lead, FS Digital Channel Transformation Lead, and North East Europe Banking Solutions Lead.
Some seven years on, Mahdi rejoined PwC, where he sold, defined and delivered a number of large-scale, technology-enabled channel transformation projects, across contact centre, branch and digital channels, eventually leading PwC's Digital Change practice in the UK, helping clients exploit web, mobile and social media to drive improved business performance and deepen customer engagement across all channels. Leaving the firm this year, having latterly become a Director at the company, Mahdi will now bring his industry knowledge to bear for Accenture, who will hope to leverage his commercial, project and people management skills.
Sumner Makin has, meanwhile, been appointed as a new Principal at Bain & Company. The 2016 Winner of the MCA Strategy Consultant of the Year award, Makin also holds a Doctorate in Physics which he obtained from the prestigious University of Cambridge. Over his career, he has routinely worked with C-level executives through all stages of engagements, from strategy through to execution
In 2013, Makin joined Deloitte Monitor, the strategy consultancy arm of Big Four consultancy Deloitte, where he eventually became a Director. In his four years at the firm, he came to work as Head of Demand Analytics, with recent engagements including work on pricing optimisation, innovation, strategic planning and market intelligence. Earlier in his career, Makin served Opera Solutions and BMG Strategy Consulting.
Bain & Company, who work with the majority of the Global 500, thousands of major regional and local organisations, non-profits, and private equity funds representing 75% of global equity capital, will now hope to leverage Makin’s extensive experience as they continue to work toward meeting growing demand. Recently, the firm advised on Advent’s acquisition of professional services firm Williams Lea Tag, along with the Italian financial institution Banca Carige, as the bank attempts to shed over €12 billion in bad debt.
Besides his consulting role, Makin is a Non-Executive Director with research and analyst house Goodman Lantern.