L.E.K. Consulting elects Clay Heskett as global managing partner
After joining the consulting firm fifteen years ago, Clay Heskett has been named L.E.K. Consulting’s new global managing partner.
Clay Heskett – a Harvard MBA graduate who joined the strategy and management firm in 2005 after a period with Boston Consulting Group – will take the reins from Stuart Jackson, who has spent three terms in the top role since 2013. Heskett most recently served as head of L.E.K. Consulting’s European practice out of London.
“I am delighted to congratulate Clay on being elected to lead and help guide L.E.K. Consulting’s growth to $1 billion in revenue and beyond, as more businesses seek our insights,” said Jackson, who has been with the consultancy for the best part of four decades, initially joining the firm in London shortly after its establishment in 1983. Since Jackson took the helm from co-founder Iain Evans (ex-Bain & Company) eight years ago, L.E.K. Consulting has grown its headcount by nearly two-thirds.
A fair part of that growth includes the firm’s organic growth in its largest markets of the US and Europe, and concerted expansion across Asia Pacific, including in Australia, as well as a strong focus on a number of specialty lines such as healthcare, education, private equity, and life sciences.
L.E.K. Consulting’s incoming global boss brings significant specialized sector expertise, having previously headed the firm’s European life sciences practice and advised across medtech, biopharmaceuticals, and diagnostics, among other segments.
“While Clay’s expertise in the life sciences business – from cell and gene therapy to digital therapeutics and game-changing M&A transactions – is clear from his prodigious experience with our clients, I also know that he is keenly attuned to where and how leaders, in a spectrum of industries, have come to rely on us as complexity continues to define the business environment and decision making,” said Jackson, who will remain with the firm as a partner.
During Jackson’s tenure as global managing partner, L.E.K. Consulting’s headcount has ballooned from under 1,000 to more than 1,600 today, spread across 20 offices in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific.
“I am beyond honored to have been elected to the Global Managing Partner role,” Heskett said. “I am excited about the growth and challenges ahead for L.E.K. Consulting. Armed with our superb and always-evolving strategy and analytic capabilities, and with our commitment to constant improvement in terms of tools and talent, we will be able to serve even more business leaders, in more places, and show them how valuable our guidance can be.”
