AlixPartners hires Robert Urtheil from rival Oliver Wyman

One of Oliver Wyman’s top partners in Germany, Robert Urtheil, has left the firm to join rival AlixPartners.

Across two spells at the management consulting firm, Urtheil spent some ten years with Oliver Wyman, latterly as Head of Financial Services for Germany, Austria, Luxemburg Poland and the Czech Republic. In the role, he led Oliver Wyman’s largest industry practice (in terms of revenue) in the countries under his mandate.

At AlixPartners, which has approximately 2,000 employees in 20+ cities around the world, Urtheil has been appointed a Managing Director. He becomes the firm’s 32nd Managing Director dedicated to the financial services industry, and will work closely with European leaders Rob Hornby (UK) and Claudio Scardovi (UK), as well as Germany-based partners Bernd Burke, Guenter Degitz, Andreas Rueter, Rainer Bizenberger and Drazen Nikolic.Urtheil career in the financial services industry spans twenty five years, with nine years in consulting and seventeen years in senior roles within leading financial institutions. Prior to his consulting career, he was CEO of fixed-income trading platform MarketAxcess in Europe & Asia and held senior roles at Deutsche Börse. Urtheil specialises in strategy, business development, mergers & acquisitions, carve-outs and divestitures, and regulatory change. 

Simon Freakley, the chief executive officer of AlixPartners said; “Robert’s financial consulting and industry expertise, combined with his broad network of leaders across the financial community, positions us to further expand our offering to banks, asset managers, and financial infrastructure providers.” 

Meanwhile, at Oliver Wyman, which was recently recognised as Germany’s top financial services consulting firm alongside BCG and McKinsey, Urtheil’s role has been taken over by Frankfurt-based partner Thomas Schnarr. Commenting on his promotion, the 19-year veteran of the firm said; “I am very excited to take over the role of Head of Financial Services in Germany and Austria. We have quite a journey ahead of us.”