Joachim Stephan succeeds Daniel Kessler as BCG’s Switzerland boss

Global strategy consulting firm Boston Consulting Group has announced a leadership change in Switzerland, with Joachim Stephan taking over the reins from fellow senior partner Daniel Kessler. 

Daniel Kessler has been with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for over eighteen years, and in 2015 he was handed the top role for the firm’s Swiss practice. Following two terms in the office, which is the maximum a country managing partner can serve at BCG, Kessler now passes on the baton to a familiar face: Joachim Stephan. 

“I have known Joachim for many years and deeply appreciate him as a visionary and bold leader, but also as a humble, modest, and empathetic team player. I have no doubts that under his leadership we will take our impact and footprint in Swiss market even to further heights,” said Kessler.

Stephan joined BCG in 2005 from Oliver Wyman (back then: Mercer Management Consulting), and has since grown to become a global leader in the firm’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) practice. He leads the unit in Central Europe and is member of BCG’s worldwide TMT leadership team.

His track record includes working with TMT companies in more than 15 countries, advising telcos, cable MSOs, media conglomerates, pay TV operators, TV broadcasters, magazine and newspaper publishers, private equity investors, and public-sector organisations on topics including growth strategies, mergers and acquisitions and post merger integration, large-scale transformations, digital transformation and diversification, and go-to-market optimisation. 

In the top role, Stephan leads a team of over 350 partners and consultants across BCG’s offices in Zurich and Geneva. The global consulting group firm first entered the Swiss consulting market in 1989, and today is one of the dominant players in the strategic consulting segment, as well as in other fields of expertise. 

Meanwhile, Kessler remains with the firm, and will focus on client work. He currently leads BCG’s Financial Institutions practice in Switzerland, and previously served as BCG’s global leader for wealth management and private banking.

Globally, Boston Consulting Group is led by the German Christoph Schweizer, who succeeded the American Rich Lesser at the start of this month.