Smart. Pragmatic. Dedicated. International.
Our team has outstanding analytical skills, intellectual curiosity, a genuine desire to achieve the best for our clients and the ability to get things done.
Academic excellence and intellectual ability underpin our reputation for rigorous, data-driven work for our clients.
Our people are pragmatic, ensuring that your bespoke solutions are practical and actionable.
Partners, team members, senior advisors – everyone goes the extra mile to serve our clients.
We come from all over the world, a team with a genuine international outlook addressing your UK and global challenges.
Meet the partners
Rupert Barclay
Managing Partner
Rupert’s strategic advisory career spans 30 years working in consulting and industry. He spent ten years at LEK Consulting, the last five as a partner, working on a variety of strategy and M&A assignments in various industries. He followed this with spells as head of strategy and M&A at two top 50 UK companies, Allied Domecq and Reuters. He specialises in corporate and business unit strategy in education and B2B business information. He has an MA in Classics from Cambridge, an MBA with Distinction from INSEAD and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.
Julie Mercer
Partner
Julie joined Cairneagle in April 2019 to lead the growth of our management consulting practice and the Higher Education sector. Julie was previously a partner at Deloitte where she set up and grew the education practice in the UK before becoming the industry leader for education globally. Her work spans the whole education system, and she brings over 20 years of experience of designing and delivering new operating models to improve service design and quality, reduce cost, improve productivity, open new markets and grow revenues in the UK and internationally. A qualified accountant, Julie trained with the National Audit Office and advised the C&AG and PAC on policy matters, including education. Julie graduated from the University of Bristol.
Arun Kanwar
Partner
Arun joined Cairneagle in 2015. His strategy consulting and commercial due diligence experience includes both LEK Consulting and PwC, where he has worked across various industry sectors. In addition, he has spent over eight years in industry – at Tesco.com and Bright Horizons – where he had hands-on experience of formulating and delivering on growth and operational goals. At Bright Horizons, he headed up the UK mergers and acquisitions function when the business added over 100 childcare and education settings. Arun has an MChem in Chemistry from the University of Oxford.
Jorge Amirola
Partner
Jorge focusses on the education and media/technology sectors. He’s worked in international schools across four continents and has 20 years of consulting and industry experience, including roles with AMR International. His strategic work includes M&A advisory assignments (in transactions ranging from £10m to £1bn+), strategic reviews, market entry, product development, pricing and due diligence. Jorge holds an MSc and PhD (Summa cum laude) in Engineering and an MBA from CEIBS (Shanghai) and London Business School.
Meet the team
Mary Curnock Cook
Senior Advisor
Mary was chief executive of UCAS, the University Admissions service, for seven years. During that time, she drove the growth of UCAS’s data and analytics capabilities and the development of new revenues in media and advertising. She helps drive the growth of Cairneagle’s education practice in the higher education sector.
Céline Dhorne
Manager
Céline joined Cairneagle in 2016 after working as a consultant in Paris, and as a business analyst in Germany. She has an MSc in International Marketing from Strathclyde University and a Masters in Management from Audencia Business School.
Matt Dixon
Associate
Matt began his career at Marakon and has led numerous strategy, technology and analytics engagements for a range of education, technology, and financial services clients. He specialises in education and education technology at Cairneagle, with an emphasis on higher education. Matt has an MA (Class I) in English and Modern Languages from the University of Oxford.
Peter Fenichel
Senior Advisor
Peter’s career spans 35 years in investment banking and capital markets advisory, including key strategic work in financial markets technology and product development. He supports Cairneagle’s work in wholesale financial markets and market places.
Christoffer Fogtdal
Consultant
Chris joined Cairneagle full-time in 2018 after successfully completing an internship at the company in 2017 during his studies. Prior to Cairneagle, he interned as an analyst for a digital solutions consultancy. Chris has a BSc in Business Administration from the University of Bath.
Pierce Hickey
Consultant
Pierce holds a Masters in Management from LSE and a BEng in Biomedical Engineering from Imperial College. Prior to joining Cairneagle, he held internship positions at a digital skills training agency, two strategy consultancies, and also worked as a private tutor.
Christopher Howard
Senior Consultant
Before joining Cairneagle in 2015, Christopher worked in strategy consulting, corporate finance advisory and start-ups. He has an MSc in Business Administration from Maastricht University.
Sam Lecacheur
Senior Consultant
Sam joined Cairneagle in 2016 after working as the content lead for a mobile e-learning company. Sam has a Masters in Physics from the University of Oxford.
Rui Marques
Consultant
Rui has an MSc in International Management from ESADE Business School and a BSc degree in Business Administration from Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics. He worked previously as a business analyst for a Spanish consulting firm and interned at Merck SA, in Lisbon.
Mark Pearson
Associate
Mark is a technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) industry expert with almost 20 years’ experience. He has expertise in fixed and mobile telecoms and TV. He has conducted a wide variety of assignments ranging from business unit strategy development through to cross-industry scenario planning and complex company valuations. He supports Cairneagle in TMT assignments.
Fergal Roche
Senior Advisor
Fergal is an ex-headmaster and former CEO of The Key, the fast-grown schools information business. He has worked with central and local government, unions and other critical stakeholders to understand the needs of sector leaders in a highly complex environment. He has an in-depth understanding of the education landscape, including maintained, academy, independent and international sectors.
Ina Todorova
Consultant
Ina has a BA in Business Management and holds a Masters from the University of Cambridge. Prior to Cairneagle, she interned as a management consultant and a global strategy analyst.
Ed Tranham
Senior Advisor
Ed is editor and publisher of The Assignment Report, the leading market intelligence report for the UK education industry. Since 1989, he has been involved in setting up and developing several publishing and service companies within the sector, including Optimus Education (now part of Electric Word plc) and Cambridge Education Associates (now Cambridge Education).
Richard Walker
Senior Advisor
Richard spent 37 years in secondary education, 23 of them as a head. He founded Portland Place School in 1996, and prior to that, he was head of chemistry at St Paul’s Girls’ School, London and the founding principal of Abbey College. Richard is a Chartered Chemist (CChem), Chartered Scientist (CSci) and was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) for his services to chemistry education. He brings to Cairneagle sound experience in the education sector and in its governance practices.
Christiaan Walstock
Senior Advisor
Christiaan is a seasoned international banker, formerly with ABN Amr, with a solid track record in corporate finance and private equity. Recently he has been supporting Cairneagle in advising private education companies on international and regional business development, and their owners/shareholders on investments and acquisitions.
Peter Wang
Consultant
Peter has a BEng in Electronics from the University of Edinburgh and holds a Masters from the University of Cambridge. Prior to Cairneagle, Peter interned as a management consultant.
Iain Watt
Senior Advisor
In a career spanning more than 30 years, Iain has held senior international corporate roles in finance, strategy, marketing and general management in Deloitte, BP, Diageo, Philip Morris and AXA. Over the last eighteen years, having co-founded IGI, a network of communications consultancies, Iain has advised blue-chip organisations on marketing and communications strategy as well as governance and reputation. He brings a wide network of contacts internationally to Cairneagle.
Elena Wyllie
Consultant
Elena studied at the University of Edinburgh and the Sorbonne. Before Cairneagle, she completed an internship in financial analysis at a FTSE 100 company.
Angeliki Zacharaki
Administrative Assistant
Angeliki has a BSc in Business Administration from the Athens University of Economic and Business. Prior to Cairneagle, she worked as a personal assistant and hotel receptionist.
Discover
Meet the team
Our team has outstanding analytical skills, intellectual curiosity, a genuine desire to achieve the best for our clients and the ability to get things done.
Case studies
View our collection of case studies to see real life examples of how we have helped our clients to succeed in improving and growing their business.
Work with us
We are always keen to hear from dynamic and talented people who want to work in strategy and management consulting.
Get in touch
You can call us on: +44 20 7036 9400
or use the contact form below:
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