Hans-Paul Bürkner (born 1952) is a German management consultant serving as a managing director and Senior Partner, as well as Global Chair Emeritus of the

Boston Consulting Group Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the Big Three (or MBB, the world’s three largest management consulting firms by rev ...

. Bürkner served as

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

from 2004 to 2012, and was the first

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an chief executive in the firm's history.

Career

Bürkner began his career in corporate finance at

Commerzbank Commerzbank AG () is a major German bank operating as a universal bank, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. In the 2019 financial year, the bank was the second largest in Germany by the total value of its balance sheet. Founded in 1870 in Hambur ...

, and joined BCG in 1981 while it was a predominantly

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

-focused consulting firm. He was a member of the teams which opened BCG's

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

and

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

offices, in 1982 and 1991 respectively. He credited much of his inspiration and business approach to Tom Lewis, a principal at the firm at the time. Before becoming the firm's first

from Europe, he was head of BCG's global Financial Services practice, the Chair of the Practice Groups, and a member of the executive committee. Bürkner served three successive terms as President & CEO. He was first elected by BCG's partners in 2003, and subsequently re-elected in 2006 and 2009. Under his leadership, BCG had grown from 4,500 employees to more than 15,000, and he had overseen the opening of twenty new offices around the world, doubling the size of the firm's partner group. Upon the completion of his final term, Bürkner began serving as Chairman of BCG. The firm's partners elected Rich Lesser to begin a three-year term effective January 1, 2013. Bürkner has studied

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

business administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

, and

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

. He has received a

diploma A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution (such as a college or university) testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or offici ...

from the

University of Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...

, an M.A. from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, and a

D.Phil. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from St. Catherine's College,

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

between 1976 and 1980, where he was a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

. Today, Bürkner travels extensively in the 46 countries in which BCG operates in order to support key clients and teams.

Awards and recognitions

Bürkner was recognized as one of the Top 25 Consultants making an impact on clients and within his own firm by ''Consulting Magazine'' in 2003.

External links

Commentaries by Hans-Paul Bürkner - BCG Perspectives

Hans-Paul Bürkner Profile on BCG.com

Hans-Paul article in HBR

* *
Financial times interview with Bürkner

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burkner, Hans-Paul 1952 births Living people People from Varel German Rhodes Scholars Boston Consulting Group people German chief executives German expatriates in the United States Yale University alumni American chief executives

Career

Awards and recognitions

See also

External links

References