West Monroe promotes seven to managing director
West Monroe, a Chicago-headquartered management and technology consulting firm, has promoted seven team members to managing director, effective March 1.
"Each leader in this group has made impactful contributions to West Monroe's clients, communities, and people, and I congratulate them for reaching this well-deserved milestone in their careers," said Kevin McCarty, chairman & CEO.
The seven new managing directors are:
Nate Buniva (operations excellence, Washington, DC) helps clients navigate global strategic sourcing, contract negotiation, supplier and supply chain management, cost optimization, and contingent labor challenges. He joined West Monroe in 2020 through the acquisition of Pace Harmon, where he was a senior associate. Buniva previously held roles in procurement and contract management at Freddie Mac, Elevate Services, and Capital One.
Adam Drake (M&A, Dallas) works with private equity firms on growth, risk management, and improving efficiencies at portfolio companies. He joined West Monroe in 2016 from Digital Intent, where he was team lead for strategy and product. Before that, he spent four years as a consultant at Deloitte.
Kate Festle (M&A, Chicago) advises private equity and strategic buyers on pre-acquisition due diligence, post-merger integration, and value creation in the healthcare sector. She joined West Monroe in 2018 from Navigant Consulting, where she was a senior consultant. Festle was also previously a senior consultant at McKinnis Consulting Services and a senior operations lead at Accretive Health.
Carolyn Gusick (product engineering & experience, New York) focuses on supporting utility sector clients with digital solutions, from strategy through to development. She joined West Monroe in 3026 from PSEG, where she was a manager in business performance and improvement. Earlier in her career, Gusick was a project manager at Power Advocate and a consultant and engineer at The Shaw Group.
Nick Kennedy (operations excellence, Chicago) helps organizations manage change in their most important strategic transformations. He joined West Monroe in 2010.
Jeff Pehler (consumer & industrial products, Minneapolis) helps manufacturing and retail clients drive growth and performance improvement initiatives. He joined West Monroe in 2021 from KPMG, where he was a director in the strategy practice. Pehler also previously was a consultant at Galt & Company and a product development engineer at Toyota.
Jonathan Ross (M&A, Dallas) works with private equity firms and strategic buyers to plan and execute complex transactions. He joined West Monroe in 2016, and was previously an SAP consultant at Accenture and Dickinson + Associates.
West Monroe has 2,000 people providing consulting services in strategy, business operations, M&A, organization & people, customer engagement, and digital products & experiences.
The firm last March promoted 16 to managing director level.
