The Consulting Report is pleased to announce The Top 25 Human Capital Consultants and Leaders of 2025. This year’s awardees are helping organizations confront some of the toughest internal challenges they face today: outdated operating models, uncertain talent pipelines, and rising expectations around technology, culture, and leadership. Their work is actively shaping how companies organize their teams, build capabilities, and drive performance through people.
Many work directly with the C-suite to design new structures and strategies that align business goals with workforce realities. Others lead complex transformations across leadership development, change management, and digital adoption—often in high-stakes, high-complexity environments. What unites them is their ability to turn strategy into execution in one of the most unpredictable areas of enterprise life: people.
This year’s awardees include leaders like Yaarit Silverstone of Accenture, who advises global C-suites on talent strategy and enterprise reinvention, drawing on decades of experience in leadership development and human capital transformation. Jason Averbook, Global HR Transformation Leader at Mercer, is pushing the boundaries of what's possible in digital HR by integrating generative AI and redefining how organizations deliver workforce technology. At PwC, Dave Eberhardt brings an execution-focused approach to HR transformation, with deep experience building operating models, leading change programs, and aligning talent strategies to business outcomes across Fortune 500 clients.
This year’s awardees were selected based on a methodical review of their advisory impact, domain expertise, and sustained contributions to human capital strategy and execution. Please join us in celebrating The Top 25 Human Capital Consultants and Leaders of 2025.
1. Yaarit Silverstone
Firm: Accenture
Title: Reinvention Executive Advisor Vice Chair, Senior Managing Director, Global Strategy
Yaarit Silverstone is a Senior Managing Director and Reinvention Executive Advisor Vice Chair at Accenture, a leading global professional services company that helps businesses, governments, and organizations reinvent themselves to thrive and win, leadership and people to continuously reskill, and define strategies and programs that move fast and effectively to win. Yaarit leads the firm’s Global Talent and Organization Strategy practice, advising C-Suites on effective reinvention journeys, enabling the people, technology, and corporate growth agenda.
She is regarded as a People’s leader and a powerful partner to create the future. Her clients and her teams appreciate her ability to create journeys that truly enable the future, inspire support and engagement, and deliver on the promise. With more than 30 years of consulting experience, Silverstone partners with global clients across industries, specializing in diagnosing complex organizational issues and designing, implementing, and sustaining leadership development programs, large-scale journey management, human capital strategy and transformation, and talent management solutions.
During her many years at Accenture, she has held leadership roles in the firm’s Talent and Organization performance service line, as well as in the chemicals, life sciences, resources, and products industry groups. Prior to joining Accenture, she led Gemini Consulting’s North American Human Capital practice and ran her own consultancy. Silverstone holds master’s degrees in psychology and business administration from Rand Afrikaans University and the University of the Witwatersrand.
2. Micah Alpern
Firm: Teneo
Title: Senior Managing Director
Micah Alpern is a Senior Managing Director at Teneo, having first joined the firm in 2022. Teneo is a global CEO advisory firm that partners with leaders around the world to help them achieve significant outcomes and build a better future. Drawing upon its expansive global team and network of senior advisors, the firm provides integrated advisory services across five core business segments—strategy and communications, financial advisory, management consulting, risk advisory, and people advisory—to address complex business challenges.
Teneo serves a substantial number of Fortune 100 and FTSE 100 companies, as well as other leading corporations, financial institutions, and organizations. Its services include strategic communications, investor relations, financial transactions and restructuring, management consulting, physical and cyber risk, organizational design, board and executive search, geopolitics and government affairs, corporate governance, and ESG.
Alpern has over 20 years of experience advising organizations and executives through transformations and transactions across all industries. He has a history of growing leaders and evolving corporate culture to enable strategy, accelerate transformation, enhance the employee experience, and improve performance. He also has deep expertise in team effectiveness, change management, and talent management.
Prior to joining Teneo, Alpern was a partner at EY, where he built a culture and leadership solution. Before that, he was a senior principal at Kearney and spent eight years at Booz & Company. He holds a master’s degree in business management from the University of Florida and a bachelor’s degree in economics and communications from Northwestern University.
3. Peter Brown
Firm: PwC UK
Title: Partner
Pete Brown is PwC’s Global Workforce Leader, with over 25 years of experience helping organizations navigate workforce transformation and unlock the full potential of their people. He advises global clients on workforce strategy, upskilling, talent development, and the future of work—focusing on building human-led, tech-powered organizations.
A recognized thought leader, Pete drives PwC’s flagship Hopes & Fears survey, which explores the sentiments of over 55,000 workers globally. He also leads the development of the AI Jobs Barometer, which offers critical insights into the impact of AI on global labor markets. He regularly collaborates with the World Economic Forum, contributing articles and insights on workforce disruption, inclusive growth, and leadership in the age of AI. Pete is a sought-after voice on how organizations can create agile, future-ready workforces and align people strategies with business success.
Prior to working in professional services, Pete was in the Royal Air Force and continues to support them as an Ambassador for the RAF Museum and as an Hon Group Captain in No 601 (County of London) Squadron RAuxAF. He was appointed MBE in 2000.
4. Anthony Abbatiello
Firm: PwC
Title: Partner and Workforce Transformation Practice Leader
Anthony Abbatiello is a Partner at PwC, where he leads the firm’s Workforce Transformation practice. He helps organizations align workforce and business strategies across organizational design, talent strategy, skills development, workforce analytics, and the responsible use of AI. His work focuses on helping clients navigate disruption, shifting employee expectations, and the rise of agentic technologies.
With over 25 years of experience in human capital consulting and leadership advisory, Abbatiello advises senior executives on performance, transformational leadership, and succession management. He is a recognized thought leader on the future of work and has led extensive research on global workforce trends.
Before joining PwC, Abbatiello led the global advisory business at Russell Reynolds Associates. He began his career at Accenture, where he helped build the firm’s HR transformation capabilities. He has also been named an HR Trendsetter by SHRM. He holds a business degree from Villanova University.
5. Dave Eberhardt
Firm: PwC
Title: Partner
Dave Eberhardt is a Partner at PwC, a global network of over 370,000 professionals operating in 149 countries. PwC provides a range of services across audit and assurance, tax, legal, deals, and consulting, supporting clients in navigating complex challenges and driving business growth. The firm’s approach focuses on helping organizations build resilience, optimize performance, and maintain a competitive edge in their industries.
With over 20 years of experience in human capital, Eberhardt specializes in helping clients develop and implement effective strategies for HR transformation, service delivery models, operating model development, leadership enhancement, culture building, change management, talent management, and workforce analytics and planning. His expertise has consistently driven positive outcomes for a range of organizations.
Eberhardt’s extensive experience includes leadership and consulting roles at premier organizations such as Accenture, Deloitte, and Booz & Company, where he has worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies. In addition, he has served as a chief human resources officer, providing him with a well-rounded perspective on human capital management. Eberhardt holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah and an executive certification from The Wharton School.
6. Joe Farrell
Firm: KPMG
Title: Managing Director
Joe Farrell is a Managing Director at KPMG, having first joined the firm in 2020. KPMG is a leading professional services firm and the fastest-growing Big Four accounting firm in the United States. As a trusted learning advisor to chief learning officers and business transformation leads, Farrell has co-designed some of the most innovative learning solutions available in the market today.
7. Fran Maxwell
Firm: Protiviti
Title: Managing Director
Fran Maxwell is a Managing Director at Protiviti, a global consulting firm that provides deep expertise, objective insights, a tailored approach, and collaboration to help business leaders confidently navigate the future. Together with its independent and locally owned member firms, Protiviti offers consulting and managed solutions across finance, technology, operations, data, digital, legal, HR, risk, and internal audit.
8. Bianca Briola
Firm: Alvarez & Marsal
Title: Managing Director
Bianca Briola is a Managing Director in Alvarez & Marsal’s Healthcare Industry Group in Charlotte. Alvarez & Marsal is a leading global professional services firm committed to helping organizations address their most complex business challenges, maximize stakeholder value, and achieve sustainable transformation. Briola leads the Human Capital and Workforce Management Practice.
9. Jason Averbook
Firm: Mercer
Title: Global HR Digital Transformation & AI Leader
Jason Averbook is a thought leader, keynote speaker, author, and future of work visionary on human resources, the digital experience, and workforce technology. Currently a senior partner and the Global HR Transformation Leader at Mercer, Averbook has spent three decades advising executives, HR and people functions, and technology solution providers. He also drives Mercer’s global Generative AI strategy and services, spearheading innovative solutions across the HR technology landscape.
Previously, Averbook was the co-founder and CEO of Leapgen, a digital transformation company helping organizations shape their future workplaces. Through Mercer and Leapgen’s partnership, he has expanded resources and reach, bringing more value to a global market. At Mercer, he continues broadening executive mindsets to rethink how to better design and deliver employee services and drive the shift from doing technology projects to being a digital function.
Before founding Leapgen, Averbook served as the CEO of The Marcus Buckingham Company. In 2005, he co-founded Knowledge Infusion LLC and served as its CEO until the company was sold to Appirio. He has also held senior leadership roles at PeopleSoft and Ceridian Corporation. With more than 20 years of experience in the HR and technology industries, Averbook has collaborated with industry-leading companies to transform their HR organizations into strategic partners. He holds an MBA in marketing as well as a bachelor’s degree in marketing and finance from the University of St. Thomas.
10. Simona Spelman
Firm: Deloitte
Title: U.S. Human Capital National Managing Principal
Simona Spelman has been Deloitte’s U.S. Human Capital National Managing Principal since 2023, focused on “making work better for humans and humans better at work.” She advises leaders on how to achieve their business objectives and architect future-focused growth strategies through human performance and the latest emerging technology solutions.
As an integral part of the Global Human Capital Executive Leadership Team, Spelman proactively addresses the work, workforce, and workplace challenges organizations face while looking to realize the value of their AI and emerging technology investments. Spelman is an active contributor to and advocate for prominent Human Capital eminence, such as Deloitte’s annual Human Capital Trends report.
Spelman brings over 25 years of experience with Fortune 500 clients, leading them through complex, global transformations to achieve business and human outcomes. Her deep expertise is in optimizing staffing and management of delivery models for enterprise programs, which helped her to grow and advance Deloitte’s Human Capital practice. Her experience includes managing several complex global projects as a single, integrated program with a unified set of resources, governance, program management, quality assurance, and delivery capabilities.
11. Greg Gratteau
Firm: BDO USA
Title: Managing Director
Greg Gratteau serves as the Human Capital Management Services leader within BDO’s Business Services and Outsourcing practice, offering services that span from strategic HR due diligence to recurring support for day-to-day HR functions within client organizations. With more than 20 years of experience, he aims to drive a common operating vision, as well as develop and implement key HR strategies and initiatives that empower the employee experience.
12. Matthew Cowell
Firm: FTI Consulting
Title: Senior Managing Director
Matthew Cowell is a Senior Managing Director at FTI Consulting, a leading global expert advisory firm that supports organizations navigating crisis and transformation. With more than 8,300 employees across 34 countries and territories, the firm brings deep expertise to complex business challenges. Cowell has over 25 years of HR consulting experience, including 20 years leading financial HR due diligence, global post-deal integrations, and carve-out to stand-alone executions. He has been involved in over 1,500 transactions throughout his career.
13. Alexis Krivkovich
Firm: McKinsey & Company
Title: Senior Partner
Alexis Krivkovich is a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm that serves as a trusted advisor to many of the world’s leading businesses, governments, and institutions. The firm partners with organizations across the private, public, and social sectors. Krivkovich is the global cohead and North American leader of McKinsey’s People & Organizational Performance Practice. Previously, she served as the managing partner of the Bay Area office and led their financial technology work in North America.
14. Pete Gerend
Firm: Bain & Company
Title: Partner
Pete Gerend is a Partner at Bain & Company, having first joined the company in 2018 as an expert vice president in leadership. Bain & Company operates globally, with a presence in 65 cities across 40 countries. The firm works closely with clients to address complex challenges and support long-term success, focusing on delivering practical, results-driven solutions. Bain combines deep industry expertise with digital innovation to help clients navigate change and drive sustainable improvements.
15. Jennifer Sauer
Firm: Slalom
Title: Partner
Jennifer Sauer is a Partner at Slalom, a business and technology consulting company that operates with a human-centered approach, focusing on delivering meaningful outcomes that create lasting value. Slalom works with a wide range of organizations, including leaders from the Global 1000, successful enterprise, mid-market, and emerging companies, as well as over 500 public sector agencies, foundations, and universities.
16. Keith Joughin
Firm: PA Consulting
Title: Partner
Keith is a Partner at PA Consulting and leads their Global People & Change team for Public Services. PA works with their clients in both private and public sector organizations, on their most critical workforce challenges, such as talent strategy, organization design, leadership and culture, skills and learning, and business change around complex transformation.
Keith has 22 years’ experience in consulting, with a primary focus on the public sector, and has worked extensively across UK government departments in a range of sectors, including police and law enforcement, justice and home affairs, revenue, welfare, health, defense, and education. He has led on offerings and market thought leadership on topics such as skills and learning transformation, AI and digital impacts on workforce, leading transformation through uncertainty, and organizational agility.
Keith sits on PA’s Public Sector Global Governance Team, leading Strategy and Performance. Prior to working with PA Consulting, Keith was a Managing Director at Accenture, where he led their Talent & Organization practice for Health and Public Services for the UK and Europe.
Keith lives in Manchester with his wife, Jude, a Child Psychologist, and their son Sebastian, daughter Emily, and Golden Retriever, Isla. He coaches youth football, cricket, and rugby teams during the weekend and is a keen runner, swimmer, and padel player.
17. Arthur Mazor
Firm: Deloitte
Title: Principal, Human Capital
Art is a visionary transformation leader with a proven track record in leading digital and organizational transformations. With 30 years of experience, he has honed the ability to identify emerging trends and leverage innovative technology to address complex business challenges. His strategic foresight and ability to drive change have been instrumental in helping clients navigate turbulent transformational landscapes.
Art brings his passion for enabling people to thrive through his collaboration with complex, global clients to unlock value by transforming the human experience and the very essence of work. Art has held senior HR leadership, outsourcing executive, and transformation consulting roles that form the multi-faceted foundation from which he delivers value to his clients across strategic planning, operating model and organization design, experience transformation, digital enablement, governance, and change management for sustained results.
As a hands-on leader, Art is actively engaged in driving major transformation initiatives with some of the world’s best-known brands. He has served as Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Practice Leader, leading the Global Human Capital Executive Team as a member of the Global Consulting Offerings and Assets Leadership Team. Prior to that, Art led the HR Transformation practice globally.
Art earned his degree in organization and management at Emory University's Goizueta Business School. Originally from New York and having worked and traveled around the world, today Art and his family reside in Atlanta.
18. Todd Waltman
Firm: Marsh
Title: SVP, HR Business Partner
Todd Waltman is an HR Business Partner at Marsh, where he supports senior leaders across the organization and helps shape HR strategy in complex, matrixed environments. He first joined Marsh in 2014 as vice president and HR business partner. Marsh, a business of Marsh McLennan, is a global insurance broker and risk advisor that works with clients to manage risk and support long-term resilience and growth.
19. Gina Formichelli
Firm: Gartner
Title: Senior Vice President, Human Resources
Gina Formichelli is the Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Gartner, a global research and advisory firm that provides actionable insights to executives and their teams. With over 45 years of experience, Gartner helps organizations make smarter decisions across mission-critical priorities. The firm serves 14,000 client enterprises worldwide, with 21,000 associates across 90 countries.
20. David Chisholm
Firm: Willis Towers Watson
Title: Senior Vice President, Human Resources
David Chisholm is the Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Willis Towers Watson, a leading global advisory, broking, and solutions company. WTW provides data-driven, insight-led solutions in the areas of people, risk, and capital. With a presence in 140 countries and markets, the firm combines global reach with local expertise to help organizations sharpen their strategy, enhance resilience, motivate workforces, and maximize performance.
21. Meeta Bedi
Firm: Wipro
Title: Vice President of Human Resources
Meeta Bedi is the Vice President of Human Resources at Wipro. Wipro Limited is a leading technology services and consulting company that focuses on building innovative solutions to address its clients’ most complex digital transformation needs. With over 230,000 employees and business partners across 65 countries, the company helps clients, colleagues, and communities thrive.
22. Jeffrey Williamson
Firm: Booz Allen Hamilton
Title: Vice President of Human Resources
Jeffrey Williamson is the Vice President of Human Resources at Booz Allen Hamilton, a technology and consulting firm serving the defense, civil, and national security sectors. The company develops solutions in areas such as AI and cybersecurity to support U.S. government missions. In his role, Williamson applies his expertise in people services to oversee talent development, talent acquisition, people analytics and technology, people operations, human resources, international operations, and strategic talent integration and coordination.
23. Marni Rozen
Firm: RSM US
Title: Principal
Marni Rozen is a Principal at RSM US and leads the firm’s Human Capital Consulting practice. Rozen is an organizational leader with extensive experience in human resources and talent management operations, recruiting strategy, and talent systems. Her experience includes assessing and improving business processes, implementing HR technologies, and optimizing a company’s employee experience. She has helped clients gain relative industry perspective, enabling them to anticipate and respond to the needs of their workforce.
24. Jennifer Morelli
Firm: Grant Thornton
Title: Principal
Jennifer Morelli is a Principal at Grant Thornton and is a leader of the firm’s People and Culture practice. Grant Thornton is the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International, a global network offering audit, tax, and advisory services across 146 countries. The firm supports organizations of all sizes with a focus on collaboration, quality, and trusted relationships.
25. Maya Smallwood
Firm: EY
Title: Americas People Consulting Consumer Sector Leader
Maya Smallwood is the Americas People Consulting Consumer Sector Leader at EY, where she helps clients design workforce strategies that support large-scale transformation. She focuses on enabling people-centric change, improving workforce performance, and aligning employee experience with long-term business value.