MCA Awards 2024

BAE Systems Plc
Commercial Impact

Building ship-shape cost-cutting capabilities in the defence sector

With a £4.2bn contract at stake, the MoD needed BAE Systems (BAES) to reduce costs before it proceeded to contract five more Type 26 frigates for the Royal Navy. Not only did the company face the challenge of making savings on its current contract for building three frigates, which was well under way, but its supply chain function had a relatively high turnover and many new staff, so it had limited capability for making such savings in the future.

PwC had achieved previous successes for BAES, so was asked to help identify and realise cost savings of over £110m, and to deliver sustainable improvements to its supply chain capability.

An initial assessment of the BAES approach to markets and procurement confirmed that it was broadly sound, but found that more work was needed to achieve the required costs savings in the face of unexpected supply chain disruptions such as Brexit and COVID-19. Furthermore, with long lead times for many supplies, early procurement was essential to prevent cost savings causing delays.

In a two-year programme, PwC’s 25-strong team adopted a ‘no stone unturned’ approach to identify potential savings across 50 contract packages, while robust data and visualisations helped to forecast savings and prioritise actions in an agile manner. To ensure that each action would result in real savings, the firm assessed all the available levers and identified the eight most effective, including aggregation, supplier negotiation and joint process improvement.

PwC then applied a relentless and rigorous approach to realising the savings, working closely with the client. This achieved the dual goals of making cost savings and, in the process, developing the BAES Supply Chain capability, in areas such as commodity markets, analysing suppliers and value engineering.

The ‘side-by-side’ learning was supplemented with organised capability sessions and quarterly away days, to provide an engaging and fun way to build both skills and relationships. Such relationships made it possible to encourage a cross-functional mindset and new ways of working for the Supply Chain team, most notably its collaboration with Engineering and Operations functions to specify requirements in ways that delivered value as well as functionality.

A rigorous governance process, using ‘stage gates’, verified and tracked the savings being made, not least because the firm’s fees were contingent on them. Each of the savings opportunities identified could be realised only if it justified the resourcing required, achieved a supplier offer, and was signed off as satisfying the project’s strict savings criteria and procedures.

Despite massive, unforeseen disruption to the supply chain, PwC achieved cost reductions of over £140m, exceeding its primary objective by 20% and representing an ROI of 800%.

The client now has greater confidence, a strong customer relationship, new capabilities, and a culture of cross-functional working that no longer focuses on processes, but seeks instead to promote ownership and deliver real value. Moreover, the programme’s legacy is that its governance model is now being adopted as best practice for other client initiatives.

SSEN Plc
Performance Improvement in the Private Sector

Giving power to the people, to make a better, greener future

SSEN’s electricity network plays a crucial role in the UK’s transition to Net Zero. As the country moves away from fossil fuels, the surge in demand for electricity can only be met through a more resilient and flexible energy network, and rapid improvement by SSEN would be rewarded by the regulator. A significant transformation was required, to deliver increased volumes more efficiently than ever before, but previous attempts had not yielded substantial or sustainable benefits.

Against this backdrop, SSEN sought PwC’s help to make immediate and lasting improvements to its capability, sustainability and performance, including a 15% productivity increase in some areas.

Given the need for rapid improvement, the firm focused on embedding behavioural change throughout the business, by combining top-down and bottom-up initiatives. A survey of 4,000 people across the organisation was conducted to understand its cultural strengths and challenges, from which the PwC team and SSEN’s management prioritised a “critical few” key behaviours. The survey also allowed the reticence and concerns of some staff to be heard, which provided especially valuable inputs to the process.

PwC then developed and piloted an operational excellence programme which, in several 12-week waves, empowered a pilot group of front-line team leaders, using a “see one, do one, lead one” coaching approach. They were equipped with the insight, confidence and momentum to embed new behaviours in their teams and, even in the pilot of 300 people, real performance improvements were seen in just three months.

The programme’s subsequent scaling expanded its reach to a further 700 staff over six months. Half the delivery was conducted by the SSEN team leaders who had been through the pilot stage and, as a result, the client became self-sufficient in making further performance improvements itself, without external support. Meanwhile, PwC collaborated with the client’s HR function to integrate the key behaviours into its people management process.

To ensure that the performance improvements were measurable and motivational, PwC drew on its data expertise to create a through-line from SSEN’s top line “golden metrics” down to team-level KPIs. Thanks to improved data tools and dashboards, teams are now equipped to stay focused on effective actions, while accountability has been improved across the organisation.

The programme’s results exceeded its initial objectives and expectations, and even surpassed the stretch goals within the business, by delivering a productivity improvement of 30%. SSEN’s customers now enjoy faster quotes and network connections, and the measurable performance gains have led to a regulatory reward of £3.4m. Meanwhile, operational improvements mean that field teams can work more efficiently to increase the network’s resilience, and now have greater capacity to make longer-term network improvements.
By taking a people-centred approach, PwC has empowered SSEN to adopt a “change-fit” culture that can keep delivering change and power a sustainable future.

“I feel my team has come alive, and we have people doing things now they would have never done previously”
SSEN Manager

Macy Greene
Apprentice of the Year

Macy is an exceptional apprentice who routinely goes beyond what’s asked of her. Her growth mindset and refreshing ability to engage with experienced consultants has accelerated her learning, all while delivering outstanding results.

Macy’s desire to produce tangible differences for businesses and the economy inspired her to train as a consultant, and she has been rewarded by regularly having the opportunity to improve the fortunes of the organisations she works with.

Macy’s ability to promote dialogue, ask intellectual questions and challenge others typifies what clients look for in a consultant. Her communication skills aid her in determining what’s required, and in delivering at a level that surpasses expectations. She engenders a collaborative team environment through a blend of calm yet invigorating energy, and she’s a natural leader, who uses her proactive approach, evidence-backed proposals and inspiring vision to motivate and empower others.

One of Macy’s major achievements has been identifying a ‘generational gap’ between younger and more mature consultants at PwC, which she quickly sought to correct. Her ‘Guide to Networking’ is designed to help junior staff grow in confidence, build rapport with leaders, and facilitate conversations of substance, through improved non-verbal communication, questioning techniques and knowledge of consulting topics.

And she hasn’t stopped there. Macy sees it as the start of a skills-improvement process that will enable consultants at all levels to harness shared interests and bridge differences. Elsewhere, she has taken on the role of community and volunteering representative, which has fostered excellent teamwork in her office.

PEXA Group Limited
Strategy

Solving customer detriment provides a springboard for growth

PEXA’s global ambitions, and share price, relied on it making a big splash in the UK market. Its platform offers end-to-end support for property transactions, and it hoped to replicate its Australian success overseas. Its UK business had already started in earnest, but the somewhat idiosyncratic and fragmented UK property industry was not what PEXA’s strategy had anticipated, so an intervention was needed.

PwC was initially engaged to conduct M&A due diligence on Optima, the UK’s second-largest conveyancing firm, under PEXA’s original UK strategy. The quality of the firm’s work led the client to seek its further support, to understand the nuances of the UK property industry, reset its strategy and help with executing the revised strategy.

The foundation for PwC’s work was wide-ranging research, to develop a rich understanding across the many facets of the UK property market. The firm conducted three strands of research: a survey of more than 11,000 recent home-buyers and remortgagers; interviews with more than 50 professionals, including estate agents, mortgage brokers and conveyancers; and working sessions with mortgage business heads from six of the UK’s largest banks.

From that research, the firm built a consolidated knowledge base that documented the full breadth of the fragmented UK property industry, to obtain clearer insights. More than simply a national overview, PwC’s analysis enabled the client to understand how the UK’s market differed from Australia’s, revise some of the assumptions behind its original strategy, and develop a fresh approach to entering the UK market. As a result, one key aspect of the new strategy became to target parts of the value chain where the research had identified high demand for a technology solution, and low barriers to its adoption.

A priority of the engagement was to identify opportunities around customer detriment, as a central element of PEXA’s proposition. PwC therefore used the knowledge base to identify specific areas in which customers were not being well-served, and helped the client create a roadmap for developing suitable technology and identifying investment or exit opportunities.

At the policy level, the firm’s research identified how the regulatory framework of the UK property industry presented both opportunities and obstacles. Under the FCA’s new Consumer Duty regulations, for instance, PEXA’s offering would equip banks with a platform that enabled them to demonstrate good customer outcomes. Conversely, where regulations perpetuated the UK industry’s idiosyncratic practices, PwC helped the client explore different approaches for lobbying government.

Entering a highly-fragmented market was fraught with challenges and, to accelerate and de-risk the client’s new strategy, PwC Economics developed and tested an econometric model to forecast transaction volumes, and conducted Monte Carlo simulations to develop a robust business case.

By combining several approaches, PwC successfully helped PEXA’s UK business gain Board support and investment for its new entry strategy, and provided execution support on due diligence, deal completion and post-deal integration. As a result, PEXA gained access to more than 30% of the market, and PwC is now its sole UK consulting partner.

Frictionless Futures (Internal)
Best Use of Thought Leadership

The role of frictionless technology within the retail sector is evolving at pace. PwC recognised a key gap in the market for the latest perspectives on the opportunity at hand, within the context of broader technology trends, vendors, customer perception and the ‘so what’ for retailers.

A survey of consumers, combined with insights from PwC’s technology, market and business specialists, led to its 2022 report: The Future of Shopping. It revealed that 43% of shoppers would pay more for convenience, and that 75% of those under 45 would actively switch to a frictionless shopping technology.

The report’s successful reception with clients, and requests for more in-depth conversations, resulted in PwC taking the work a step further. It needed to create an immersive client demonstration, which brought the thought leadership to life and showcased the potential for retail of technologies such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Computer Vision Artificial Intelligence (CV AI), and the data they generate.

The result was Frictionless Futures – a physical experience centre created by PwC’s multidisciplinary team in just two months. At the centre, in PwC’s Manchester office, clients can explore frictionless technology and its many applications for themselves, through a tour that provides three different perspectives.

Frictionless Convenience shows how ‘tap in’ RFID and CV AI purchase tracking can make convenience shopping quicker and smoother. Frictionless Retail reveals how the associated ‘big data’ can be analysed to understand shopping behaviours and enhance operations. Lastly, the Frictionless Venue demonstrates how tech-powered bars and kiosks can increase throughput and revenue. The first-hand stimulus of the tour is coupled with strategic workshop-based discussions on topics ranging from enhancing customer data, to managing cyber security.

PwC initially developed the experience to showcase the retail possibilities of frictionless technology, but it was soon stimulating interest among colleagues and clients in other parts of PwC’s global network, and they were keen to identify applications of the technology for industries beyond retail. This led PwC UK to adapt the experience to showcase the potential business benefit across multiple sectors and, to date, it has hosted more than 175 visitors from over 70 clients.

As a result of Frictionless Futures, PwC has been invited to progress several opportunities further, including a visit to Poland with a major multiple grocer to explore autonomous stores, and a demonstration at the National Retail Federation’s trade exhibition in New York. So far, the experience has yielded a strong pipeline of opportunity, and PwC continues to make future bookings for the Frictionless Futures tour.

Moreover, the experience has transformed PwC’s reputation among clients, established the firm as a leading thinker in the arena of technology and data, and positioned it as a trusted advisor that can harness and apply innovation across many sectors.

The programme’s multidisciplinary nature has brought the whole firm together, and demonstrated how working across sectors, territories and advisory capabilities can broaden and deepen its relationships with alliance partners and clients.

Health and Care Professions Council
People and Leadership

Improving the flow of healthcare workers by unburdening their regulator

The Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) registers 350,000 healthcare professionals across 15 professions, and ensures they are fit to practice, keeping the public safe in receiving healthcare.

HCPC had significant backlogs for registering international practitioners ready to work in the UK, and for its Fitness to Practice service, which it was under pressure to improve. Meanwhile, COVID-19 was increasing demand for healthcare professionals, and legislative changes were imminent, but the organisation’s resources were too stretched to make effective improvements.

HCPC and PwC embarked on a three-year strategic partnership, spanning 15 programmes, to transform the organisation’s culture and operations, speed up its services and reduce its backlogs. Improved HCPC throughput would enable the NHS to deploy the right people at the right time, and meet the ever-changing demand for care.

The consulting team brought together a wide range of specialisms, ranging from solutions architects to operational excellence coaches. As well as creating the right skills mix for the engagement and client, the firm was also careful to blend personality types, based on Myers-Briggs tests taken by both PwC and HCPC members.

The firm worked closely with the client to transform its culture, including daily one-to-one coaching for all levels and functions, to promote a shared mindset of collaboration and continuous improvement. The high level of trust created by this hands-on approach led to the firm actively facilitating some particularly challenging regular meetings, which could previously become confrontational.

By encouraging all HCPC staff to take ownership of the organisation’s transformation, PwC embedded a human-centred approach to adopting suitable technologies and exploiting their potential to deliver improvements. An example is the Champions Network, an HCPC team that drives ongoing in-house improvements, which was created and upskilled during the engagement and continues to be supported through PwC’s annual innovation days.

In the firm’s broad role as a strategic partner, it supported HCPC across a wide variety of activities, such as designing its services and target operating model, reimaging how it used external expertise, and designing its future technology. The firm kickstarted a collaboration with the People Directorate of NHS England (another PwC client), enabling both organisations to develop a market-leading application of digital credentials technology. As a result, the NHS can respond to rapidly-changing demand by deploying its workforce quickly and flexibly, and reduce its spending on agency staff.

PwC applied its Run & Transform approach to achieve rapid improvements to the client’s Registration service. The firm’s Execution Managed Service took care of immediate processing issues and backlogs, while a parallel programme team worked with the client to explore and co-design improved services for the future.

The firm’s work achieved an impressive list of results that includes reducing a 2½-year backlog to same-day processing, and clearing 6,500 professionals to augment the NHS workforce. Most importantly, the client’s culture is totally different, and HCPC’s impressive new capabilities are now enabling it to deliver in-house improvements that surpass even those of the original engagement.

GreenHouse Toolkit
Sustainability (SDGs 11 & 13)

Rebuilding emissions modelling from the ground up

Housing generates a large portion of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, from both its construction and operation. In fact, 23% of the country’s total emissions arise from the energy used just to heat and power its current buildings. Meanwhile, 340,000 new homes must be built each year to house the country’s growing population, but even the most energy-efficient houses will increase emissions from their construction and operation. If were are to solve the climate crisis, those emissions must therefore be balanced by reducing the energy consumption of existing homes on an unprecedented scale.

However, a major obstacle is the difficulty of evaluating energy-saving measures accurately. Policies and initiatives that promote energy-efficient homes fail to reflect the diverse nature of the country’s housing stock, so homogenised approximations over- or under-estimate the true costs and benefits of carbon-reduction measures, such as retrofitting insulation, double glazing or heat pumps.

PwC’s government and real estate clients often seek the firm’s help on such matters, and the firm realised that the existing tools weren’t up to the job. Its experts reasoned that the true implications of retrofitting measures could only be assessed from the ground up, by evaluating their impact on every single house in the UK.

It was an audacious proposition, but PwC had the expertise, technology and data skills to make it happen. The firm developed a GreenHouse Toolkit that uses machine learning and building physics to model the country’s 29 million houses according to more than 120 physical characteristics, and evaluate the impact of more than 40 retrofit measures.

By combining the model with a database of the costs and benefits for each retrofit option, the GreenHouse Toolkit can quantify and optimise the investment required, savings on energy bills and carbon reduction from different retrofit combinations. Furthermore, and uniquely in the market, it can monetise the value of broader socio-economic benefits such as warmer homes, clear air, reduced climate risk and job creation.

The GreenHouse Toolkit is already helping the UK take more effective action to achieve many of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and contributes directly to SDG 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities, and SDG 13, Climate Action.

The tool has supported many PwC government and broader public sector engagements, and is helping several local authorities to scope their retrofit programmes. The UK’s Climate Change Committee is using the GreenHouse Toolkit, to base its Seventh Carbon Budget on a more precise analysis of low-carbon interventions. The tool is also helping the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to understand how its investments can make the greatest impact.

In the private sector, the tool is helping Grainger to gauge the effectiveness of its decarbonisation measures, and fine-tune the balance between its climate and commercial responsibilities. The UK Green Building Council is also using the tool to assess how retrofit policies can boost the UK economy by increasing employment and gross value added.

The GreenHouse Toolkit represents a great example of how innovation can help to make a better world.

Freya Adams
Chartered Management Consultant of the Year

Freya has demonstrated continued excellence, determination and fantastic client outcomes over multiple years. She has developed her skills to be a rounded, mature and hugely valued consultant.

She is a recognised, trusted and experienced consultant who goes over and above to deliver quality work to PwC’s clients. A career consultant, Freya joined her firm’s graduate programme in 2013, and has since taken every opportunity to grow and develop. Central to this has been achieving Chartered Management Consultant status – an area she actively supports others in, as their sponsor.

As a specialist in target operating model design and change management, Freya works hard to build strong, credible relationships. She does this by listening to her clients and working collaboratively to develop solutions that are aspirational, but achievable. She looks at the client situation from all angles, and asks the right – sometimes difficult – questions, to test and shape responses specific to the challenge.

One of the things Freya loves most about her job is being part of high-performing teams; working with talented, intelligent individuals who strive for excellence. She’s an inclusive leader who always makes sure those within her team are clear on the objectives and intentions of the project, and their role in delivery, which has contributed to her extraordinary success.

Looking ahead, with her approach anchored in the principles of her chartership, Freya is excited to continue to work on her people and programme leadership, expanding her experience within Financial Services to be the best consultant she can.

Grace Baker
Team Leader Consultant of the Year

With recent world events creating a volatile geopolitical landscape, there’s a renewed focus on the UK’s defence capabilities. Grace has made a remarkable contribution to the development of the UK’s defence capability through her leadership of a strategic, multidisciplinary R&D programme with the Ministry of Defence, PwC and Industry.

Grace’s outstanding leadership capabilities have been integral to the programme’s success. She has taken the programme from an embryonic state to one that has secured future funding through the governmental business-case process, delivered an innovative procurement framework in vastly accelerated timelines, and secured national and international buy-in to the programme’s strategy and approach. She has also instilled a strong culture that challenges the status quo not only within the programme, but also across wider MOD, government and industry.

Grace has formed a trusted partnership with her MOD team members and fellow consultants. Above all, she shows care and compassion to all around her; her inspirational leadership style has instilled a culture of collaboration within a team that constantly strives to bring their best.

Grace also takes responsibility for promoting authenticity, ensuring everyone feels they can be themselves and contribute to team success. She’s a natural people-person, and so a lot of this is instinctive, but she’s also quite deliberate. At the start of a project, she speaks to team members individually, to understand their objectives and how she can support them. Throughout a project, she offers ongoing support, to manage workloads, deliverables and wellbeing.

Exceptional outcomes are the result, always.

Aiden Keszei
Apprentice of the Year

Aiden was attracted to consulting because it’s generally forward-looking, which appeals to him both personally and professionally. Providing transformational change support to clients allows him to be forward-looking day in, day out. Aiden was especially motivated to become part of the PwC family, thanks to the variety and importance of the projects the firm’s involved in.

Aiden demonstrates a mature approach to his work, providing sustained solutions for his team and clients, and adapting to changing circumstances and requirements. This sets him apart as an apprentice with a difference.

Aiden’s versatility to adapt to complex and changing conditions is exemplified by his ability to reprioritise his tasks and activities at short notice, when demands change. He demonstrates initiative and a highly positive attitude when working by himself, and his energy, thoughtful suggestions, and support are also invaluable to the teams he works in. Aiden’s disposition helps him to build strong and meaningful relationships with people at all levels, and his easy-going manner makes him approachable and a pleasure to work with.

His immediate goal for the future is to delve deeper into projects focused on people-centred change, whether this be front-end with customer journeys, or culture changes at a client that needs help aligning to successful, modern-day ways of working. His aim to specialise in either the financial services or private sector, championing change that makes a positive and tangible impact to peoples’ livelihood in one way or another. To achieve this, he says, would be immeasurably fulfilling.

Sam Bastable
Chartered Management Consultant of the Year

Sam has been delivering complex finance transformation programmes for PwC since 2014. He was invited to apply for Chartership in 2021, and found the experience of great value, giving him time and space to reflect on his consulting journey to date, and how he wanted to grow as a leader in the future.

Sam leads engagements across the financial services industry – specifically PwC’s Profitability and Cost Management (PCM) franchise. He has grown the PCM capability organically, addressing gaps in the team through PwC’s Egyptian and South African Technology Centres, as well as the firm’s apprentices. This required cultural dexterity and sensitivity; hiring the right people and ensuring they work well together across territories.

Sam also invests in his own development. The process of becoming a Chartered Management Consultant allowed him to examine his approach and improve it. Where he once faced challenges by operating too independently, he now realises that he’s not here to do the jobs of those around him, but rather to create an environment in which others can excel.

Sam is quick to recognise that having the letters ‘ChMC’ after his name serves as an excellent mark of quality. His clients and colleagues know that his skills as a consultant are of the highest quality, and that everything he does is ethical and inclusive. It’s also satisfying, he says, to know that he sits among an elite group of professionals delivering great work for clients, and portraying the consulting industry in a very positive light.

Jessica Lewis
Inclusion Award

As someone who has worked across different regions, specialises within a male-dominated field, and came out as part of the LGBTQ+ community mid-way through her career, Jess has seen the benefits of bringing her authentic self to work. She feels she has space to explore and succeed with her colleagues and clients, and since transferring to the UK in 2022, has made good use of her learnings from prior roles.

At PwC Canada, Jess founded and led the Women in Financial Services (WiFi) network – a space for women+ to meet and learn about leadership, inclusion and progressing within the industry. In the UK, Jess leads the inclusion and diversity initiatives for PwC’s Insurance and Asset Wealth Management Consulting partner group. In this role, she has embedded best practices to close the gender disparity gap within Consulting, and has introduced a greater focus on LGBTQ+ matters and the experiences of neurodivergent and non-visible minorities.

Jess is also driving PwC’s proposition for “Serving the Underserved”, focusing on financial inclusion, to provide clients with the tools to better serve vulnerable and underserved customer segments. This is a particular passion, as Jess believes financial inclusion is a necessary step to help all individuals thrive in society. Jess enjoys leading this offering, as it allows her to play a role in promoting diversity and inclusion with her clients, bringing lessons learned from her internal roles to her project work.

Outside of her internal and client work on inclusion, Jess represents PwC at the OutLeadership London events and Nexus LGBTQ events.

Hamed Amiri
Inclusion Award

Hamed’s journey from Afghan refugee to becoming Chief of Staff at PwC’s Enterprise Managed Services division is a tale of both resilience and commitment to inclusivity.

Hamed is both consultant and best-selling novelist. His book, The Boy With Two Hearts, is a true story, of fear and hope, that celebrates diversity, and that has become the inspiration for everything Hamed now does in life. At PwC, Hamed makes every effort not only to excel in his technical role, but also to be a driving force for positive cultural change, leaving an indelible mark on his firm and the communities it serves.

Hamed’s book has given him an incredible platform to influence those around him. He has spent the past few years sharing his family’s story, to change perceptions on refugees and diversity. Now, he’s dedicated to infusing PwC’s internal and external interactions with profound inclusivity, enhancing its engagements with clients worldwide. Embracing cultural diversity both strengthens client relationships and also contributes to a more inclusive business environment, he says.

Hamed is regular speaker at DEI events. Audiences are quick to assimilate his life experiences, and draw parallels with how they want to shape their own experiences – and behaviours – in life. Hamed was also the people & culture lead for his 600+ colleagues and has driven PwC’s relationships with underprivileged and underrepresented parts of South Wales.

Next, Hamed hopes to accelerate the impact of a leadership connectivity initiative he’s working on, such as mentoring a tech ambassador programme, so that all technologists’ voices can be represented in PwC’s approach.

Ahmed Aminu
Rising Star

Ahmed consistently demonstrates exceptional leadership, teamwork and strong technical knowledge. This spans both projects and client pitches, and has been instrumental in elevating his team’s performance, and in the overall success of PwC’s business.

One of Ahmed’s strengths is his ability to build trust effortlessly with senior and junior team members. He displays a remarkable aptitude for communication and collaboration, bringing everyone along on the journey with him. His interpersonal skills extend to clients, who commend his professionalism and dedication, and the technical expertise he brings to every interaction – particularly his work advising clients on consumer duty.

Ahmed is driven to make a difference to his clients, colleagues and society. This drive guided him to leave medical school to join the Financial Conduct Authority, where he delivered a community project helping the lives of over 250,000 women and girls suffering from domestic abuse. He was awarded the community impact award as a result.

At PwC, Ahmed has delivered innovative solutions for the underserved (people inadequately provided with a product/service) – for example, using AI to support initiatives aimed at ending credit poverty and promoting financial inclusion for the most vulnerable people in the UK.

He also owns a non-profit business that partners young BAME students with mentors in consulting. Harnessing his relationships with consulting leaders across the big 4, he has so far partnered 78 students with professionals. 62 students secured internships or graduate roles in 2023.

In summary, Ahmed’s passion, versatility and eagerness make him an irreplaceable asset for PwC, its clients, and the wider consulting industry.

Poonam Wadhwa
Rising Star

Poonam is fast becoming one of PwC’s most sought-after consultants. She stands out from her peers in both aptitude and client delivery, and her abilities don’t stop there – she is also fully rounded on the business importance of coaching and developing PwC’s pipeline of talent. This is demonstrated through her passion and commitment to PwC’s South Asian female network, and support to PwC’s graduate and junior grades.

Poonam’s mantra is “Don’t try to be something you’re not”, and she prioritises authenticity in all facets of her life – especially when working with clients and her teams. Her goal is to establish environments in which everyone is appreciated, heard, and valued for their uniqueness.

For Poonam, this year has been like no other. She has stayed true to her values to drive positive change, whether through leading major client programmes, fostering team collaboration, or championing best practices. These actions have not only contributed to her growth and development, but have also had a significant impact on her team, clients, and community. She recognises she has immense potential within the consulting industry, and is committed to feeding not only her own growth but also that of those around her.

Poonam sits within PwC’s Financial Services Enterprise Transformation team. She’s proud to be working in this sector, supporting clients that underpin the growth of the UK economy. She is on track to become central to and a specialist in delivering transformation excellence, and is fundamental to PwC’s long-term vision as a team.

Adi Hegde
Team Leader Consultant of the Year

Adi is a senior manager within PwC’s Cloud & Data Transformation team. Originally from Bangalore, he moved to the UK 10 years ago, and it has become his second home. Over the past few years at PwC, Adi has transformed from being a technologist with a technical focus, to a mentor of others and an outstanding team leader.

He has over 14 years’ experience in data and analytics, working predominantly in Financial Services. He advises clients on their data strategy, operations and implementations, managing global teams delivering cutting-edge data and technology solutions.

Adi manages specialists from a wide range of backgrounds, including Data, Technology, Accounting, Actuarial, Finance and Operations – often from more than one firm. He has achieved success as a leader by living the principles of Servant Leadership, which focuses on prioritising the growth and wellbeing of individuals in the team.

Adi is always keen to instil a ‘one team’ culture. He leads by example, demonstrating that it’s important to ‘keep the badges at the door’ and focus on delivering the best possible outcomes for the client. He embraces delegated decision-making, creating mini-teams and appointing informal leaders, to promote autonomy, and to enable teams to move at pace and develop professionally.

Adi is also a mentor within Cloud & Data, focused on coaching junior data engineers on their journey to becoming better consultants. This includes understanding their aspirations and goals, providing regular feedback, and connecting them to the right people within PwC so that they are able to continue on their developmental journey.

Sarah Kidd
Thought Leader Consultant of the Year

Sarah is an outstanding senior manager in PwC’s Risk & Compliance Transformation team. She has worked on some of PwC’s most complex and high-profile projects, leading teams, developing strong client relationships and applying her experience in a practical setting. In particular, she has a keen interest in how technology can transform the way financial services institutions manage compliance, and has been leading the development of PwC’s proposition in this area.

In 2023, Sarah authored a thought-provoking paper entitled Artificial Intelligence: Challenges and Opportunities for Compliance, commissioned by the Association for Markets in Europe (AFME). The paper examines the impact that advances in AI may have on the role and capabilities of the Compliance function, and has enjoyed significant interest from firms and regulatory bodies across the industry. Indeed, the publication became one of AFME’s most-read publications last year, with an exceptional engagement rate of 26%. Between 1% and 3.5% is generally considered good.

In writing the paper, Sarah brought unique perspectives in scoping key themes that covered a variety of areas aligned to pertinent client issues. Given the breadth, complexity and fast-evolving nature of topic, Sarah drew on the extensive PwC network to garner insight from teams across the firm, as well as gather input throughout the content generation, analysis and insight phases.

Publication of the paper has led to follow-on conversations with clients and regulators, and has significantly strengthened PwC’s reputation in the market. Sarah continues to develop her leadership in this space, including building a team to take the proposition forward.

Mohit Sharma, PwC
Technology Consultant of the Year

Mohit is a future leader in the Digital Banking technology consulting practice at PwC. He epitomises attention to detail, critical thinking, data-driven design, and a relentless pursuit for enhanced human experience that generates positive outcomes for both his clients and his firm. He brings a wealth of knowledge and insights to drive innovation and transformation in financial services, and has played an instrumental role in positioning PwC at the forefront of excellence in digital banking.

Mohit’s process-oriented approach, strength in building relationships, and coaching leadership style position him as an ideal role model for technology consultants. The inherent bibliophile and storyteller in him lends him a knack for crafting tailored narratives, balancing details based on stakeholder groups—an ability that organically positions him as an ongoing trusted advisor for his most recent client’s digital transformation journey. Mohit attributes the success of his role with this bank to the collaborative spirit of co-creation and ‘one-team’ approach.

Mohit’s work reshaped the client’s business model and rationalised its IT architecture, which in turn enhanced employee productivity. Through a combination of data and industry best practices, Mohit also created a technology innovation strategy and architectural governance framework that resulted in 30% improvement in decision-making processes.

Aside from his client focus, Mohit is also known for his passion for mentoring and coaching. As one of PwC’s L&D champions, he demonstrates his commitment to cultivating the right techno-functional skills in the next generation of tech consultants, instilling a culture of holistic client excellence.

Shu Lee
Technology Consultant of the Year

Shu is a data and technology consultant, chartered statistician and data scientist. Her wide industry experience and her technical capability mean she can empathise with her clients’ difficulties, and do something about it – most frequently by changing and implementing new data infrastructure.

Her most recent project is a multi-year data-transformation programme for a specialty insurer looking to achieve 20% year-on-year growth. It’s a programme she’s been involved with since 2022, and is aimed at designing and implementing the transition of legacy technology to a cloud-native solution. For the client, this is not only a leap in the use of technology, but also a significant change to its underlying ways of working.

Shu’s role in the programme has been to help design the new data structures that will satisfy the client’s regulatory obligations, whilst simultaneously reducing – drastically – the inefficiencies arising through to data inaccuracies at all stages of the data-processing lifecycle. These improvements will also enable the client to establish its data as an asset that can be used for income generation.

Described by PwC partners as “the Swiss Army knife of our consulting team”, Shu is known for her commitment to delivering the best value for her clients, making sure her teams feel empowered and supported, and ensuring disruption is minimised while business processes are enhanced. She’s also passionate about promoting diversity within the firm, through her role as a coach and mentor, also participation in the firm’s Women in Technology groups.

Anna-Sofia Nissila
Young Consultant of the Year

Anna-Sofia currently works as part of PwC’s post-deal transformation practice, standing up businesses that have been sold to new buyers – typically private equity businesses. They are highly complex projects, as Anna-Sofia’s team is essentially setting up new businesses from scratch, very quickly, whilst protecting the client and their customers’ interests.

Anna-Sofia has a rare blend of skills that bridge the business needs between Supply Chain, Finance and Customer Service with a technical understanding of SAP, EDI and third-party technology solutions. By age 24, she had lived in nine countries across four continents, giving her a great appreciation of how cultural differences and diversity can foster creativity and collaboration. She knew she could put this to great use in the consulting industry, but first made the smart move to gain practical experience of how organisations work, by holding a number positions in industry before becoming a consultant.

Anna-Sofia has recently helped Tropicana, the fruit-based beverage company, separate from its parent, PepsiCo, as part of a $3.3 billion deal. Acting as a business integrator, she led the Order-to-Cash and Inventory-to-Deliver workstreams across a number of European markets, working with customers and third-party logistics providers to successfully protect Tropicana’s revenue. Indeed, her work was so successful that it led to one of the largest retail customers in Europe saying that it had never seen such a smooth transition.

In addition to her client work, Anna-Sofia is focused on her self-development, and is an active and supportive member of her team.