A career consultant, Chris has always enjoyed analytical problem solving, gravitating toward analytical streams of study academically before eventually looking for professional roles in which he could capitalize on his quantitative and qualitative research and analysis techniques.
Now a Partner in Oliver Wyman’s Private Equity practice, Chris brings more than 25 years of experience in a broad range of industries including energy, chemicals, packaging, building products, industrial equipment, industrial services, and distribution, as well as M&A expertise from working on over 400 transactions. In addition to deals work, Chris has directed a variety of client engagements spanning growth strategy, acquisition support, competitive strategy, strategic planning, and organizational design.
Chris comes from a finance background and received a Master of Business Administration with distinction from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Notre Dame.
Post-Covid, there is a real challenge in understanding how people’s behaviors, decision making, incentives, and motivations have changed and how they want to live. How these changes will impact what kind of products they buy and services they value? How much of that change of behavior is temporary versus actual permanent shifts?
Clients and colleagues look to Chris to help in situations where there are critical issues in which the answers aren’t clear, the direction chosen has a significant impact on the business, and there’s a very tight time frame. By developing a strategic fact base about their market, customers, and competitors, he enables clients to drive smart decisions.
As strategy consultants, we are really behavioral economists. We have a particular emphasis on understanding incentives and motivation and believe that everyone is a rational actor. Everyone—whether a customer, channel partner, or seller—makes decisions that are in their own best interests, even when it’s counterintuitive.
While his projects have a tremendous impact for clients, Chris notes that the most important outcome of his work is developing his teams. “It’s a great way for consultants to learn about business, markets, and people’s decision making and behavior, while very rapidly growing business acumen,” he says.