10 management consultancies win 22 MCA Awards
Last night the 2015 edition of the MCA Awards took place, one of the annual highlights in the UK consultancy industry. Twenty two awards were handed out to in total ten different consultancies. PwC, Arup and EY came out as ‘winners’ in terms of volume, with four awards each, while Grant Thornton managed to scoop the ‘Project of the Year’, generally regarded as the most prestigious prize of the evening.
For 18 years now the Management Consultancies Association (MCA), the representative body for management consultancy firms in the UK, organises the MCA Awards, a ceremony that highlights and recognises excellence in the advisory industry. In total twenty-two awards were on the table to be distributed, 14 project categories, 6 individual categories and two overall awards – Project of the Year and Consultant of the Year.
Thirty consulting firms were shortlisted for the final, and in recent weeks the nominations have come under scrutiny by an independent expert panel of judges, consisting of senior professionals with experience in the private and public sectors, universities, consultancy and journalism. More than 200 partners, advisors and professionals active in UK’s consulting industry attended the black-tie award ceremony, witnessing a feast of accolades, with at the end of the line 11 winners.
The ‘Project of the Year Award’ award went to Grant Thornton and Kodak Alaris. The project, which worked across 33 countries, secured the future of the UK Kodak pension scheme (KPP), preserved thousands of jobs and created two profitable new businesses. According to the jury, Grant Thornton played a pivotal role in avoiding “possibly the largest pension insolvency in UK history”, and a loss of 13,500 jobs. “Without Grant Thornton, we could not have completed the deal. They worked seamlessly across service lines, combining practical deal advice with specialist knowledge”, comment Stephen Ross from KPP. The ‘Consultant of the Year’ award went to Jackie Collier, a healthcare consultant with EY and former NHS trainee.
The Big Four accounting and consulting firms collected nine awards between them (five project award wins, and four individual winners) with a further twelve highly commended honours (seven project honours and five individuals). Yet PwC – which went into the night as the runaway favourite with 18 nominations – and EY dominate the Big Four arena this year, scooping four each, with KPMG celebrating 2 awards, leaving rival Deloitte with empty hands. Arup joins PwC and EY as the overall winner, also taking home four awards, including the newly launched award for ‘Best Use of Thought Leadership’.
Other winners include Grant Thornton (3 awards), BearingPoint (1), Propaganda (1), Suiko (1), Accenture (1) and CSC (1). Alan Leaman, Chief Executive of the MCA, says the 2015 edition was a large success, stating: “Once again, we were impressed by the enthusiasm, expertise and commitment of the client organisations, many of them amongst the most successful employers in the country.” An overview of all winners of the 2015 MCA Awards:
Project categories (14 awards)
Best Use of Thought Leadership – Arup for their work on Cities Alive: rethinking green infrastructure
Change Management in the Private Sector – Grant Thornton with Kodak Alaris
Change Management in the Public Sector – KPMG with Police Service of Northern Ireland
Commercial Excellence – KPMG with Jaguar Landrover
Customer Engagement – PwC with HSBC
Digital & Technology – BearingPoint with Jaguar Landrover
Finance and Risk Management – EY with Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games
Innovation – Arup with Croydon Council
International – Arup with GVK Mumbai International Airport
People – Grant Thornton with Kodak Alaris
Performance Improvement in the Private Sector – Suiko with Vivergo Fuels
Performance Improvement in the Public Sector – PwC with South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust
Social and Environmental – Accenture with School of Hard Knocks
Strategy – CSC with Royal Bank of Scotland
Individual categories (6 awards)
Change Management Consultant of the Year – Kate Fairhall, Arup
Digital & Technology Consultant of the Year – Sean Mahdi, PwC
HR Consultant of the Year – Arun Batra, EY
Performance Improvement Consultant of the Year – Jackie Collier, EY
Strategy Consultant of the Year – Grant Saggers, PwC
Young Consultant of the Year – Cynthia Bernard, Propaganda
An overview of all highly commended entries of the 2015 MCA Awards:
Highly commended projects (20 awards)
Best Use of Thought Leadership – EY for their work with the UK Onshore Operators Group
Best Use of Thought Leadership – GE Healthcare Finnamore for their thought leadership publications
Change Management in the Private Sector – Boxwood with Arco
Change Management in the Private Sector – Curzon & Company with Imtech
Change Management in the Public Sector – iMPOWER with Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
Change Management in the Public Sector – Newton Europe with Kent County Council
Change Management in the Public Sector – PwC with NHS England Keogh Review
Commercial Excellence – Arup with National Grid and Occumen with Fitness First
Customer Engagement – Grant Thornton with Nationwide Building Society
Digital & Technology – Deloitte with Aegon
Digital & Technology – Grant Thornton with Nationwide Building Society
Innovation – North Highland with John Lewis
International – Quest Worldwide with AkzoNobel
People – Elixirr with Morrisons
People – PwC with Ministry of Defence
Performance Improvement in the Private Sector – Newton Europe with Brintons
Performance Improvement in the Public Sector – EY with Ministry of Defence
Performance Improvement in the Public Sector – Newton Europe with Kent County Council
Social and Environmental – EY with Invest in Africa
Strategy – EY with LLR Health & Care Economy
Highly commended individuals (8 awards)
Change Management Consultant of the Year – Ruth Morgan, PwC
Digital & Technology Consultant of the Year – Mark Burnett, BearingPoint
HR Consultant of the Year – Madeline Lewis, KPMG
Performance Improvement Consultant of the Year – Ally Robson, Accenture
Performance Improvement Consultant of the Year – Rory Leyne, KPMG
Young Consultant of the Year – Annabelle Woods, Arup
Young Consultant of the Year – Cassandra Hancock, KPMG
Young Consultant of the Year – Hussein Hadid, PwC
