Hans-Paul Bürkner (born 1952) is a German management consultant, and a managing director, senior partner, and 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 (management consultancies), Big Three" (or MBB, the world's three large ...

. Bürkner was

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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

from 2004 to 2012, and was the firm's first European CEO.

Career

Bürkner began his career in corporate finance at

Commerzbank The Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft (shortly known as Commerzbank AG or Commerzbank ) is a European Financial institution, banking institution headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany. It offers services to private and entrepreneurial c ...

, and joined BCG in 1981 while it was a predominantly U.S.-focused consulting firm. He was a member of the teams which opened BCG's

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

and

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

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 had 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 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 a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

business administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

, and Chinese. 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 offi ...

from the University of Bochum, an M.A. from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, and a D.Phil. from St. Catherine's College,

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

between 1976 and 1980, where he was a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

. 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