One on One with Ankura's Kevin Cowherd

The pandemic has created a host of new business challenges, some of them never faced by the modern working world. In the early days, companies scrambled to move their workforces out of harm's way, putting many non-essential, but still important, strategic priorities on hold in deference to worker and client safety. At this late stage of things, companies are slowly but surely coming back to execute on those strategies, but in a very different environment than seven months ago. Ankura recently appointed Kevin Cowherd to lead the firm's Strategy & Performance practice. We recently caught up with Cowherd to talk about his new role, and how clients are making opportunities out of challenges.

Consulting: What will be your key priorities stemming from your recent appointment as the head of the strategy and performance practice?

Cowherd: Given the complexity of issues today, our worldwide clientele expects innovation in our approach to create and protect value in their ventures.  Accordingly, my key priority is to adapt and integrate the expertise of my colleagues throughout Ankura into purpose-built solutions.  Through diversity of thought and collaboration, we deliver a superior outcome that can be practically implemented to our clients' advantage.  Making this creative process into actionable strategies for our clients comes from recruiting and retaining the best talent.  Consequently, another key priority is to attract and mentor emerging leaders with the requisite skills to meet the client challenges of the day.