James Lane Allen (November 21, 1904 – November 5, 1992) was one of the founders of the

management consulting Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...

firms

Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (informally Booz Allen) is the parent of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., an American management and information technology consulting firm, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in Greater Washington, D.C., with 8 ...

and

Strategy& Strategy& is the strategy consulting business unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), one of the Big Four professional service firms. Strategy& is a global strategy consulting firm with a network of 75+ offices with 3000+ consultants around the wo ...

, a division of

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

. Allen was born November 21, 1904, on a farm in

Somerset, Kentucky Somerset is a home rule-class city in Pulaski County, Kentucky, United States. The city population was 11,924 according to the 2020 census. It is the seat of Pulaski County. History Somerset was first settled in 1798 by Thomas Hansford and rec ...

. He spent his boyhood in Somerset, was educated in public schools, and graduated from Somerset High School in 1921. He attended

business college A business college is a school that provides education above the high school level but could not be compared to that of a traditional university or college. Unlike universities and even junior and community colleges, business colleges typically ...

and in 1922 moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

where he worked at several jobs and attended night school. Allen graduated from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

in 1929 with a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

degree in

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 ...

from the

Kellogg School of Management The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (also known as Kellogg) is the business school of Northwestern University, a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1908, Kellogg is one of the oldest and most p ...

. Kellogg's James L. Allen Center for executive education is named for him. Allen joined

Edwin G. Booz Edwin George Booz (September 2, 1887 - October 1, 1951) was an American management consultant, businessman and corporate executive. He co-founded the consulting firm, Booz Allen Hamilton. Biography Early life and career Booz was born in 1887 ...

Surveys in 1929 and was named a

partner Partner, Partners, The Partner, or, The Partners may refer to: Books * ''The Partner'' (Grisham novel), by John Grisham, 1997 * ''The Partner'' (Jenaro Prieto novel), 1928 * ''The Partners'' (book), a 1983 book by James B. Stewart * ''Partner'' (m ...

in 1936. Subsequently, the firm's name was changed to Booz Allen Hamilton. Allen led the firm from 1944 to 1970, a time of rapid growth in partners, staff, and office locations as well as diversification in services. He headed the firm as

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the

executive committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

and later, after incorporation, as

chairman of the board The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

. In 1970, he was named honorary chairman. He died in 1992 in Gulf Stream, Florida.

References

External links

James L. Allen Center for Executive Education, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, James L. 1904 births 1992 deaths People from Somerset, Kentucky Booz Allen Hamilton people Kellogg School of Management alumni 20th-century American businesspeople