Booz Allen Hamilton expands into Southeast Asia

Global consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton has opened a new office in Singapore. The new office will serve as a hub for the firm’s operations in Southeast Asia.

With more than 22,000 employees and revenues of nearly $5.5 billion, Booz Allen Hamilton is one of the globe’s largest management and technology consulting firms. In line with its recently launched ‘Vision 2020’, the consulting firm is pursuing an active global expansion strategy. After Booz Allen Hamilton’s split into Booz Allen Hamilton (focus on US public sector) and Booz & Company (focus on private sector outside the US) the firm’ scope was constrained to the US market, yet following the recent expiry of the legal agreements (and the acquisition of Booz & Company by PwC) the advisory firm has yet again set its sights on an international footprint.

Booz Allen Hamilton commenced its global growth with smaller offices in several Eastern European markets, such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia, and more recently significantly bolstered its Middle East presence. In October last year the consultancy added five new partners to its Middle East leadership team, and seven new Vice Presidents, the majority joining from Strategy&. Booz Allen Hamilton currently serves the region through offices in Beirut (Lebanon), Qatar and the UAE.

Southeast Asia
According to Mike Jones, Executive Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton, the expansion into Southeast Asia reflects “an appetite throughout the nation and across Southeast Asia to improve productivity”, on top of a promising economic outlook for the coming years. “As we look around the globe we anticipate global growth to increase most rapidly over the next 10 to 20 years across India, China and Southeast Asia due to a burgeoning middle-class. This inherent demand will require investments across the region in government reform, infrastructure, healthcare services, transportation, and advanced manufacturing, all of which are focused capability areas of Booz Allen Hamilton.” 

Booz Allen’s Singapore hub initially will be staffed by a small team, headed by Senior Vice President (Donald) Don Pressley. The experienced consultant has been with the firm for 14 years, leading assignments across the globe, including in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa as well as Europe & Eurasia. His focus is on economic development, business planning, technology enhancement and other programs designed to improve national capability. Before joining Booz Allen in 2001, Pressley was a Senior Foreign Service officer at the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Going forward the team is forecasted to grow, and to boot the headcount the consultancy has launched a recruitment drive at various levels, from juniors to executives.

Pressley believes there is a tremendous impetus in Singapore, and across the region, especially around transportation, energy, health care, and water and waste. From a functional perspective service areas that are expected to be in high demand include traditional management consultancy, but also innovation, analytics and engineering.

* Following the integration of Booz & Company, the company was rebranded Strategy&.