The world’s oldest management consultancy Arthur D. Little is eyeing the Australian market, with Franco Santucci recruited as country lead partner in Melbourne to help expand its local business.

Previously EY-Parthenon’s global power & utilities practice head, Franco Santucci joins after the past four years as managing director of sustainability advisory Energise Partners, which now also becomes a part of Arthur D. Little.

Founded in 1886, Arthur D. Little has established a thriving business in east and Southeast Asia over the last decade following its management buyout in 2012, from where it has mostly served the Australian market on cross-border projects.

Now the consultancy – which has grown its partnership by 50 percent to 150 across 44 countries since just 2021 – looks to be moving towards a greater local presence. If so, it could be hoping to emulate fellow global advisories Oliver Wyman and Alvarez & Marsal, both of which have been expanding rapidly since stepping up their efforts on Australian soil over the past two years.

Santucci brings more than three decades of experience to such an endeavour, having first kicked off his consulting career with a five-year stint at McKinsey & Company back in 1989. He later joined Kearney, before spending the best part a decade at Deloitte, ultimately departing for the rival Big Four partnership of Ernst & Young and then its strategy arm EY-Parthenon.

Franco Santucci is Lead Partner for Australia at Arthur D. Little

Having spent much of his career focused on growth strategy, business models, market entry, optimisation, and transaction services in the energy sector, Santucci left EY-Parthenon upon its purchase of Australian boutique Port Jackson Partners in 2020 to build Energise Partners, while also serving for a year and a half as executive director of impact investment firm Sentient.

Alongside Santucci, fellow recruit and former EY director Andrew Sampson will also be aiding the expansion plans, bringing more than two decades of advisory experience to the firm as a principal, while Sydney-based financial services partner Yoshiro Makita crossed to Arthur D. Little in 2022 following a brief stint heading up PwC’s local insurance practice.

Others with a local connection to Arthur D. Little include Southeast Asia energy & utilities practice leader Trung Ghi, who is listed as spending his time between Singapore and Australia and completed his MBA at Melbourne Business School in 2004. Meanwhile, the firm is also currently recruiting in-country, noting that it’s on the hunt for consultants with three-to-five years of top-tier experience.

Having earlier completed a degree in mechanical and space engineering at the University of Queensland, Ghi provides an example of the calibre of advisors at Arthur D. Little, which is known for its long history of technical expertise. Upon its 135th anniversary celebrations, global CEO Ignacio García Alves described the firm as ‘ambidextrous’, both creative and pragmatic.