The Consulting Report is pleased to announce The Top 25 Life Sciences Consultants and Leaders of 2024. The life sciences industry has undergone significant transformation in recent years, fueled by scientific breakthroughs, technological innovation, and the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. While these shifts have ushered in new opportunities for patient care, drug development, and medical innovation, they have also presented complex challenges. Life sciences organizations now face increased pressure to optimize pricing, navigate unpredictable market access, adapt to changing consumer behavior, and enhance operational efficiency.
In response to these challenges, the role of life sciences consultants has become indispensable. Skilled in guiding organizations through strategic transformations, these leaders offer critical insights in areas such as regulatory compliance, risk management, and financial strategy, while also driving process improvement and integrating advanced technologies. Their guidance enables life sciences companies to streamline operations, accelerate drug development, develop innovative therapies, and personalize patient care. As the global life science consulting services market continues to grow, these consultants are at the forefront of driving both business success and industry-wide innovation.
Among this year’s awardees, Petra Jantzer, Senior Managing Director at Accenture, stands out for her leadership in driving digital transformation across the life sciences sector, leveraging AI, automation, and robotics to accelerate drug development and enhance patient care. Johanna DeYoung, Managing Director at Slalom, is recognized for her customer-focused approach, leading innovative strategies that optimize data, technology, and patient experiences across life sciences organizations. Mark Freitas, Managing Director at Alvarez and Marsal, brings two decades of expertise in corporate strategy and risk management, helping life sciences companies overcome operational challenges and drive growth.
This year’s awardees were selected through a methodical nomination process and careful consideration of each candidate’s career track record and industry contributions. Please join us in celebrating The Top 25 Life Sciences Consultants and Leaders of 2024.
1. Petra Jantzer
Firm: Accenture
Title: Senior Managing Director
Petra Jantzer is a Senior Managing Director and Global Life Sciences Lead at Accenture. She is also the account CEO for a large global pharma client. Previously, she led Accenture Life Sciences Europe, R&D Europe, and Life Sciences DACH. With two decades of C-level advisory experience, Jantzer brings deep industry and R&D knowledge, deep business process understanding to help clients digitally transform their businesses.
Jantzer is committed to transforming the industry through intelligent technologies such as generative AI, automation and robotics. Her focus is on driving innovation in drug discovery, accelerating drug development, personalizing patient care, and improving operational efficiency. Before joining Accenture, Jantzer was a tenured Partner at McKinsey and Company, where she led the R&D practice globally and the Pharmaceuticals and Health practice in Switzerland. Jantzer holds a PhD in immuno-oncology and a master’s degree in molecular biology.
2. Robert Linden
Firm: McKinsey and Company
Title: Senior Partner
Robert Linden is a Senior Partner with McKinsey and Company and co-leads the firm’s Global Life Sciences practice. Linden has over 20 years of experience with McKinsey, serving a wide range of biotech, pharmaceutical, and medical products clients—from pre-IPO, venture-backed companies to large multinational healthcare organizations. His expertise includes corporate strategy, M&A and divestitures, commercial performance, R&D, and operations.
3. Amanda Bowles
Firm: Deloitte
Title: Managing Director
Amanda Bowles is the Managing Director of Deloitte, a firm providing audit, consulting, tax and advisory services. Bowles has more than 18 years of life sciences experience, including more than 15 years specializing and consulting in pharmacovigilance and patient safety. She helps life sciences organizations transform their business by applying and delivering innovations in technology and processes to protect patient safety, manage risk, and drive value.
4. Anna Cocheme
Firm: Bain & Company
Title: Partner
Anna Cochemé is a Partner in Bain and Company’s People and Organization practice, with a focus on financial services as well as healthcare and life Sciences. Cochemé has more than a decade of consulting experience and is passionate about driving practical and enduring results for her clients. Bain and Company is a global consultancy that helps clients across 65 cities in 40 countries.
5. John Lanza
Firm: RSM US
Title: Partner
John Lanza is the National Life Sciences practice Leader at RSM US LLP. He is also the Office Leader of RSM’s New Jersey office and Client Relationship Lead, responsible for ensuring the highest level of service and client experience for RSM’s clients. RSM provides professional services to the middle market, focusing on addressing clients' evolving needs in today’s business environment.
6. Mark Freitas
Firm: Alvarez and Marsal
Title: Managing Director
Mark Freitas is a Managing Director and Life Sciences Market Lead with Alvarez and Marsal Healthcare’s industry group in Boston. With over two decades of expertise, Freitas specializes in helping businesses reach their full potential by developing successful strategies that maximize growth while avoiding operational challenges. His expertise spans corporate finance and operations, strategic planning, board governance, mergers and acquisitions activity, risk management, and compliance.
Prior to joining A&M, Freitas served as the Global Lead of Growth and Corporate Strategy in Life Sciences for Accenture. He was also the Co-Founder of a boutique strategy consulting firm, Axia Ltd., which Accenture acquired in 2015. After the acquisition, Freitas joined Accenture Strategy and helped build the world’s fourth largest strategy consulting practice. Before that, Earlier in his career, Freitas worked as a microbiologist, a food and drug lawyer, and Head of Corporate Strategy for ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, now part of Takeda. Freitas holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut and a JD from Tulane University.
7. Richard Williams
Firm: Protiviti
Title: Managing Director
Richard Williams is a founding member and Protiviti's Global Healthcare practice leader and Global Lead for Pharma and Life Sciences. Protiviti is a global consulting firm that provides expertise and insights to help organizations address future challenges with confidence. Williams has extensive experience providing operational, financial, and regulatory consulting and internal audit services to the healthcare industry.
8. Stephen Aherne
Firm: PwC UK
Title: Partner
Stephen Aherne is a Partner within the Strategy& Deals practice at PwC UK, where he specializes in pharmaceutical and life sciences strategy and valuation projects. PwC is a global network of firms operating in 151 countries, providing assurance, advisory, and tax services. Aherne has over 20 years of experience at PwC, specializing in the pharmaceutical and life sciences sectors.
9. Johanna DeYoung
Firm: Slalom
Title: Managing Director
Johanna DeYoung is a Managing Director at Slalom Life Sciences. With 20 years of experience, she has consistently demonstrated a customer-focused approach and partners with some of the world’s leading life sciences companies to enhance patient experiences, drive top-line growth, and maximize the value of data, technology, and innovation.
Johanna plays a key role in supporting the needs of life sciences customers across the value chain. Her expertise spans commercial strategy, M&A, customer experience, transformation, launch strategies, data strategies, market access, and field force enablement.
At Slalom, where more than 1,700 life sciences practitioners partner with 335 customers, Johanna leads teams to deliver high quality care and results for customers and the global community. She also led Slalom’s largest life sciences customer globally and pioneered industry verticalization for Slalom’s evolving go-to-market approach, growing the active customer base 9%.
10. Paula Bellostas Muguerza
Firm: Kearney
Title: Partner
Paula Bellostas Muguerza is a Partner and global lead for Kearney’s Healthcare and Life Sciences practice. She works with leading global biopharmaceutical companies on commercial strategy and transformation and has a passion for exploring the opportunity to improve patient outcomes at the intersection of medicine and technology.
Before transitioning to consulting, Paula worked as an industrial engineer, where she developed a strong foundation in problem solving. Her consulting approach is people-centered, emphasizing empathy, compassion, and humanity to foster successful outcomes for both teams and clients. Recently, she co-founded and leads [w]Health, a global platform of over 200 companies dedicated to advancing women’s health worldwide.
11. Betty Pio
Firm: Kearney
Title: Partner
Betty Pio is a Partner in Kearney’s Healthcare and Life Sciences practice. She has nearly 20 years of experience as a management consultant, working in portfolio strategy, growth strategy, corporate strategy, commercial development, and pricing and market access. Her work focuses on the intersection of scientific innovation, healthcare policy, and patient access.
Prior to consulting, Betty spent seven years in nuclear medicine clinical research at the UCLA Medical Center. She holds a bachelor’s degree in molecular, cell, and development biology from UCLA and a master’s degree in regulatory science from the USC School of Pharmacy.
12. Katherine Norris
Firm: Ankura
Title: Senior Managing Director
Katherine Norris is a Senior Managing Director at Ankura, specializing in compliance investigations, enforcement actions, and advisory matters. Ankura Consulting Group, LLC is an independent global expert services and advisory firm that delivers services and end-to-end solutions to help clients at critical inflection points related to change, risk, disputes, finance, performance, distress, and transformation.
13. Mindy Herman
Firm: Crowe
Title: Managing Partner
Mindy Herman is the Life Sciences Managing Partner at Crowe, where she works with clients to align teams and solve complex challenges. Herman consults on growth strategies, risk and performance management, organizational change, and strategic initiatives across people, processes, and technology. Herman’s expertise includes privacy and data protection, third-party risk management, and program development.
14. Anthony Gotzis
Firm: FTI Consulting
Title: Senior Managing Director
Anthony Gotzis is a Senior Managing Director at FTI Consulting, a global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations manage change, mitigate risk and resolve disputes. Gotzis brings more than 25 years of strategic partnering in the life sciences industry as a trusted advisor, working with nearly all sectors of the industry over the course of his career. Within healthcare business transformation, Gotzis has direct oversight of the clinical, regulatory and quality consulting practitioners and the clients they support.
15. Ben Paik
Firm: Oliver Wyman
Title: Partner
Ben Paik is a Partner at Oliver Wyman and leads the Life Sciences practice in the Americas. Oliver Wyman is a management consulting firm with offices in more than 70 cities across 30 countries, offering expertise in strategy, operations, risk management, and organization transformation.
16. David Nadell
Firm: Kroll
Title: Managing Director
David Nadell is a Managing Director in Kroll’s Strategic Value Advisory practice and part of the Healthcare and Life Sciences industry group, based in the Silicon Valley office. With over 15 years of consulting experience, Nadell specializes in mathematical modeling and financial analysis. Kroll is a leading independent provider of risk and financial advisory solutions, utilizing unique insights, data, and technology to help clients navigate complex demands.
17. Camilla de Villiers
Firm: Lionbridge
Title: Managing Director
Camilla de Villiers is a Managing Director of Life Sciences at Lionbridge Life Sciences, where she oversees strategy, customer propositions, sales, and operations. Her team is responsible for delivering high-quality, compliant global communications to leading pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, medical device manufacturers, and clinical research organizations. Lionbridge helps companies connect with their global customers and employees by delivering translation and localization solutions in over 350 languages.
18. Angela Spatharou
Firm: IBM Consulting
Title: Senior Partner
Angela Spatharou is a Senior Partner and the EMEA Leader of Healthcare and Life Sciences at IBM Consulting, where she oversees teams across digital, data, and analytics in European markets. With over 20 years of experience, Spatharou has worked with leading health systems, hospitals, insurers, digital health innovators, and life sciences companies across the UK, EMEA, US, and Latin America to enhance value, improve outcomes, and drive sustainable improvements.
19. Ulrica Sehlstedt
Firm: Arthur D. Little
Title: Managing Partner
Ulrica Sehlstedt is a Managing Partner in Arthur D. Little’s Stockholm office and heads the Global Healthcare and Life Sciences practice. Sehlstedt’s work includes strategy development, opportunity assessment, complex procurement, operational and commercial due diligence, change management, and program management. She works with healthcare suppliers, including pharma, medtech, and biotech companies, as well as providers, and investors.
20. Bill Stith
Firm: Wipro
Title: Senior Vice President
Bill Stith is the Senior Vice President and Global Head of Health Business at Wipro, a leading technology services and consulting company focused on building innovative solutions that address clients’ digital transformation needs. Stith is a senior healthcare and technology executive with over 27 years of experience in healthcare, life sciences, and technology domains. He has executive leadership experience in business development, product management, software development, consulting and managed services.
21. Samantha Jones
Firm: Atos
Title: Senior Vice President
Samantha Jones is the Senior Vice President of Health and Life Sciences for Northern Europe at Atos, a global leader in digital transformation with approximately 92,000 employees and an annual revenue of around €10 billion. Atos provides tailored, end-to-end solutions in cybersecurity, cloud, and high-performance computing across 69 countries, and is a pioneer in decarbonization services.
22. Ambar Boodhoo
Firm: EY
Title: Americas Life Sciences Strategy and Transactions Leader
Ambar Boodhoo is the Americas Life Sciences Strategy and Transactions Leader at EY, a global professional services firm providing assurance, consulting, and advisory services. Boodhoo advises life sciences and health care clients on their capital and transaction agendas from strategy through execution, primarily focusing on large, complex investments.
23. John Connolly
Firm: Willis Towers Watson
Title: North American Industry Leader - Life Sciences
John Connolly is the North American Industry Leader of Life Sciences at Willis Towers Watson (WTW). WTW provides data-driven, insight-led solutions in the areas of people, risk and capital. WTW operates in 140 countries, helping organizations enhance strategy, resilience, and performance.
24. Raja Sharma
Firm: HCLTech
Title: Global Director, Life Sciences
Raja Sharma is the Global Director of Life Sciences at HCLTech, a global technology company with over 219,000 employees across 60 countries, specializing in digital, engineering, cloud, and AI solutions.
Sharma is a trusted leader, with a track record of working across geographies in critical projects in a range of program and delivery management, account management, and product and application development. Sharma has over 16 years of experience managing key portfolios in healthcare, banking, and manufacturing, overseeing large teams across multiple geographies and working with Fortune 500 clients.
25. Todd Berry
Firm: BDO USA
Title: Principal
Todd Berry is a Principal at BDO USA and has more than 30 years of experience auditing and advising middle-market, privately held, venture backed and multi-national public life sciences and technology companies. As the national co-leader of BDO’s Life Sciences practice and leader of the BDO Boston Life Science practice, Berry has worked with companies such as Nimbus Discovery, ImmunoGen, DecImmune Therapeutics, Exact Sciences, and T2 Biosystems.
