Nextcontinent President François Pouzeratte sets course for global growth in second term

François Pouzeratte has been re-elected for a new three-year mandate as President and Chairman of Nextcontinent. In his second term, the French executive aims to accelerate the network’s expansion – with a particular focus on the North American market – and to further deepen global collaboration among its member consultancies.

Nextcontinent is a global network of independent consulting firms, bringing together around 3,000 management consultants across 80 offices worldwide. Each member firm, referred to internally as “Citizens”, holds a leading position in its own market and benefits from international cooperation for serving multinational clients.

François Pouzeratte, a senior partner at Eurogroup Consulting in France, has sat on the Board of Nextcontinent since its founding. In 2022 he was elevated to President, and his renewed mandate follows a period of steady geographic expansion, especially into North America and the United Kingdom.

Last month, Nextcontinent welcomed two new US-based members: SolomonEdwards, headquartered in Philadelphia, a professional services firm focused on financial, operational and technology consulting; and Proudfoot, an operations strategy consultancy with a presence in US and Canada, with additional offices in the UK and Europe.

Building on the vision

“I was re-elected for a new three-year mandate with the objective of continuing the same vision,” Pouzeratte explains in discussion with Consultancy.org.

“We will focus on strengthening Nextcontinent’s three main pillars: becoming bigger by welcoming more citizens; becoming broader by expanding the network’s capabilities and competencies; and becoming stronger by securing access to major global clients, in particular through master service agreements.”

Beyond expanding its geographical footprint, Nextcontinent aims to grow its collective expertise. Proudfoot, for instance, brings more than 80 years of experience in strategically significant sectors such as mining, building materials and oil & gas.

Other citizens include the different offices of Eurogroup Consulting in Europe; Curzon Consulting, a UK-based specialist in management and digital transformation; and Nexe, active mainly in Spain and Latin America. In the DACH region, Ingenics Consulting and Brockmann & Büchner serve as the member firms, while Argentina-headquartered Paradigma operates across Latin America.

Independent by design

A key feature of Nextcontinent’s identity is that all member firms operate independent, meaning not publicly listed and not majority-owned by private equity. This ensures that partners can lead their firms according to their heritage and core values. “It allows them to operate as true entrepreneurs with a long-term vision. That is very much aligned with our values at Nextcontinent,” Pouzeratte notes.

“Time is one of the greatest assets of an independent company,” he continues. “You are not in a rush and have a greater degree of freedom to chase long-term goals. You can think independently, because when you are a managing partner with a financial sponsor holding the ropes, you wake up every day with private equity objectives in mind. Independence also gives leaders more room to take thoughtful risks.”

The next chapter

Guided by this philosophy, Nextcontinent is preparing for its next chapter of development. The network is actively identifying potential new members that could strengthen its footprint or bring distinctive expertise. “We are investing heavily in thought leadership, cross-border opportunities, knowledge sharing and in streamlining processes in areas such as business development, project delivery and talent management,” Pouzeratte says.

With the United States “by far the largest advisory market in the world”, North America will remain one of the network’s strategic priorities. At the same time, “Asia is at the forefront of the next era,” prompting Nextcontinent to sharpen its focus on the region as well.

“Our ambition is to build a truly global network – one that can stand alongside the world’s largest professional services organisations. While we compete with them in scale and depth, we differentiate ourselves through the way we support clients. We operate globally, but always with a local mindset, anchored in strong values and respect for local cultures and markets.”

Leveraging his more than three decades of industry experience (Pouzeratte joined Eurogroup Consulting in 1995), he now looks forward to guiding the network and its clients through its next phase in a rapidly changing landscape, especially impacted by the rapidly unfolding developments in artificial intelligence.

“At Nextcontinent, our tagline is ‘The consulting network for the future’. That perfectly captures our ambition, and I am excited to lead the network into its next phase as we work to fulfil that vision.”