Mars & Co veteran Michael McCormick joins Emerton as a Partner

Michael McCormick, a twenty-year veteran at boutique strategy consultancy Mars & Co, has joined Emerton as a Partner in its New York office.

Emerton first launched stateside in 2015, when it established an office in New York to serve its clients. Since launching, the US arm of Emerton – a strategy and management consultancy with offices in three regions – has gone from strength to strength, with a particular focus on industry, mobility and consumer goods sectors. 

Among the engagements the consulting firm has supported is helping a leading European private label frozen food manufacturer with its US market entry strategy for a newly-created in-house brand. After segmenting the US frozen food market and identifying a segment where the client could develop a differentiated proposition, Emerton designed a go-to-market strategy and a 3-year development plan. This plan was subsequently used by the food company to negotiate with US retailers and successfully place an initial range of 10 SKUs on shelves nationwide.

Meanwhile, for a successful US-based yogurt company, Emerton’s consultants worked on identifying markets for expansion. Working from an initial list of 80 countries with significant yogurt sales, Emerton collaborated with the client to identify relevant selection criteria and used a combination of market data, interviews with market experts and industry peers, store visits, quantitative surveys and focus groups to rank countries and eventually identify the geographies with the most potential. Building on the plan, the client entered three countries, where they managed to seize a significant share of sales.

To meet growing demand, a new Partner has been added to the firm’s US leadership. Michael McCormick brings 20 years of strategy consulting experience to the firm. At Mars & Co the US national latterly served as a Senior Vice President in Emerton’s Greater New York office. During his tenure, he worked for both large corporates (Fortune 500) and medium-sized companies, with a focus on the retail, consumer goods, automotive and industrial sectors. 

Earlier in his career, McCormick worked for automotive giant Ford as a Financial Analyst. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. Commenting on his arrival, Dan Dannenberg, Managing Partner of the New York office, said: “Mike is a great addition to the US team, bringing with him a tremendous depth of experience and expertise in Emerton’s core sectors, especially with US businesses of global clients which Emerton serves wherever they operate and plan to grow.”

For Emerton, the senior appointment comes within a month after it launched Emerton Data, a new arm dedicated to helping clients embrace emerging and disruptive technologies. While the centre of excellence is based in its Paris headquarters, Emerton Data operates globally and will also serve the firm’s North American clients.