AlixPartners, Capco and Oliver Wyman add senior advisors in Germany

International consulting firms AlixPartners, Capco and Oliver Wyman have added senior advisors to their teams in Germany. Armin Scharlach joins Oliver Wyman as a partner from Accenture, Peter Heckmann and Stefan Duderstadt bring backgrounds at Roland Berger and Strategy& to AlixPartners, while former Accenture partner Gerhard Längst bolsters Capco’s banking wing. 

Armin Scharlach

The 48 year old Armin Scharlach has over two decades of experience in the consulting industry, having previously served Accenture, A.T. Kearney, IBM and PwC, among others, as well as heading a procurement consultancy he founded himself. Over the past 15 years Scharlach has specialised in procurement, helping clients with services including procurement transformation, logistics and packaging sourcing, outsourcing, digital purchasing, and advanced collaborative sourcing. He gained most of his experience in the chemical, pharmaceutical, food, beverage, consumer and engineering sectors, working for clients in Germany, Switzerland, Central Europe, Scandinavia and the UK. 

In his most recent role, Scharlach was a Managing Director at Accenture in Berlin, and was previously a Vice President at A.T. Kearney, a role in which he served for over eight years. 

At Oliver Wyman, Scharlach has been appointed a partner in the firm’s Procurement arm for the DACH region (Germany, Switzerland and Austria). In Germany, Oliver Wyman has five offices (Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich), while its Swiss office is based in Zurich. 

In addition, he takes on the role of Commercial Director. In the prior role, he will mainly focus on ‘advanced collaboration, a service which helps customers achieve win-win scenarios in a wider purchasing ecosystem through clever commercial cooperation models with partners and suppliers.

Commenting on the partner appointment, Finja Carolin Kütz, Oliver Wyman’s boss in Germany, said, “With Scharlach in the role of Commercial Director, we are convinced that we are well positioned to achieve further growth in DACH and Europe.”

Peter Heckmann and Stefan Duderstadt

Private-equity backed AlixPartners has meanwhile added two experienced consultants to its German ranks. Peter Heckmann (52), who previously worked for 25 years at Strategy& and its predecessors, has been named a Managing Director in the Dusseldorf office, and will be responsible for expanding the firm’s retail activities in Germany.

He started his career with Booz Allen Hamilton, where he became a partner in 2000. After Booz Allen split into two firms in 2008, he transitioned to Booz & Company, and remained with the consultancy after it was acquired by Big Four giants PwC in 2013. Among the leadership roles he held at Strategy& are Head of European Operations Practice and Head of the German Retail wing. Most recently, Heckmann, who specialises in procurement and supply chain management services, concentrated on expanding Strategy&’s business in EME’s consumer goods and retail sectors. 

46 year-old Stefan Duderstadt is an expert in insurance and, as a senior director based in Munich, he will support the financial services activities of AlixPartners. He brings with him over 20 years of experience in the financial services and insurance industry, gained both as a consultant (Duderstadt worked more than five years for Roland Berger) and in industry. Latterly, he was the Head of Corporate Strategy for Munich Re, a company which he served for over a decade. Earlier in his career, Duderstadt also worked for Dresdner Bank, where he completed his traineeship.

AlixPartners has eleven offices in the EMEA region, including three in DACH: Dusseldorf, Munich and Zurich.

Gerhard Längst

Financial services specialist Capco, which just like AlixPartners is private-equity backed (the firm returned to independence in August last year), has appointed Gerhard Längst a senior partner in the firm’s Dusseldorf office. “With his thirty years of experience in consulting, Gerhard is an ideal addition to our partner team,” said Bodo Schaefer, Managing Director for Capco Germany, Austria and Poland. 

Prior to joining Capco, Längst had worked as a freelance consultant for large banking clients in Germany and Austria since 2005. Previously, he worked for Accenture, and in his last position he was a managing director with a focus on outsourcing services. Before that, he headed the Finance & Performance Management division for Accenture in the DACH region. 

Längst, who started his career in consulting in 1988, has extensive experience in areas such as finance, risk management, controlling, accounting and regulatory. At Capco, he will advise on innovative solutions and large transformations in banking and develop digital blueprints on technology transitions.

“I am very pleased to join the team at Capco. The banking sector is faced with major disruption, ranging from new competitors and regulatory requirements to strong pressure on margins and changing client behaviour. This background requires new ideas and solutions that can shape the financial ecosystem of the coming years. I look forward to working with the team to help our clients navigate their (digital) challenges,” remarked Längst. 

Capco has two offices in Germany (Dusseldorf, Frankfurt), two in Switzerland (Geneva, Zurich) and one in Austria (Vienna).