Kevin McCarty new CEO of West Monroe Partners
North American business consultancy West Monroe Partners has appointed Kevin McCarty to the role of CEO, effective October 1st. McCarty, who previously worked as President, replaces Dean Fischer, who served as CEO since co-founding the firm in 2002, and has assumed the role of Executive Chairman of the firm’s Board of Managers.
West Monroe Partners was founded in 2002 in Chicago by four former consultants of Arthur Andersen, including Dean Fischer and Kevin McCarty. Under their leadership the management and technology consultancy has grown strongly, both in size (to more than 500 employees) and reputation (e.g. listed #37 in the 2014 edition of the Vault Consulting 50 ranking).
After more than 12 years at the helm of West Monroe Partners, Dean Fischer recently decided to step down as CEO of the consulting firm. Not surprisingly, the management team has now announced that he will be succeeded by Kevin McCarty, a consulting veteran with more than 20 years of experience in the field and one of the key leaders behind West Monroe Partners’ growth. Prior to co-founding West Monroe Partners together with Fischer, McCarty spent eight years with Arthur Andersen in Chicago as a Senior Manager in the firm’s Business Consulting practice. In 2013 Consulting Magazine named him one of the ‘Top 25 Consultants’ in the Excellence in Leadership category.
In his new role, McCarty will assume the traditional responsibilities of the CEO, including establishing the firm’s strategic direction, overseeing the successful execution of that strategy, maintaining the firm’s unique culture and maximising long term financial returns to the firm’s shareholders (= employees through the firm’s Employee Stock Option Plan).
Departing CEO Fischer will however remain active in the firm, serving as Executive Chairman of the firm’s Board of Managers. He will also remain involved on a part-time basis in selective activities related to strategic growth, legal affairs, finance, and other advisory needs related to client relationships, global alliances, business development and related matters. “Building a firm of the character, stature, and reputation of today’s West Monroe Partners from the ground up, of course, has been very gratifying. But even more than that, it has been tremendously fun,” says Fischer. “It is particularly rewarding to see our people grow and develop into strong leaders—and nowhere is that more apparent than in the leadership that Kevin McCarty is bringing, not only to our firm but to our clients and our profession. I’m excited to see where Kevin and our other leaders can take West Monroe Partners in the years ahead.”
“It’s both an honor and a tremendous responsibility to take the reigns from Fischer. I look forward to working with board to continue shaping the firm that we first sketched out on a napkin a dozen years ago,” comments McCarty.
