FTI Consulting appointed four senior hires in its transformation practices in London.
Jan Timmermann, Malvinder Singh and Rakhi Williams join the firm as senior managing directors and Irina Bakanova joins as a managing director. Their arrival strengthens the firm’s investment in its operational performance and transformation capabilities across its global private equity and financial services practices.
“We are delighted to welcome Jan, Malvinder, Rakhi and Irina to the firm. They each bring valuable and complementary expertise across deal execution, transformation and value creation for our PE and financial services clients,” Diederick van der Plas, EMEA head of corporate finance and restructuring at FTI Consulting, said. “We are ambitious about our growth and with stronger capabilities in financial, operational, carve-out and technology due diligence and value creation, we are now better positioned to support clients across the investment cycle.”
Timmermann brings more than 25 years of experience in industry and professional services and has led more than 80 private equity assignments across a wide range of sectors. He specializes in pre-deal operational and carve-out due diligence, with a focus on value creation and technology integration. On post-deal matters, Timmermann has a proven track record of leading high-impact value creation projects that help portfolio companies exceed their pre-deal targets and accelerate performance improvement.
In his role at FTI Consulting, Timmermann will lead the expansion and delivery of integrated operational due diligence solutions and post-deal value creation services for private equity clients. Prior to FTI Consulting, Timmermann was the European lead for private equity portfolio operations at Kearney, a global consultancy firm. He has previously worked in the private equity performance improvement practice at Alvarez & Marsal, and held roles at Deloitte, PA Consulting and in-house at Procter & Gamble.
Timmermann said, “FTI Consulting’s multidisciplinary support to private equity firms was a big draw for me. I am excited to build on the firm’s extensive capabilities and global reach to help our clients identify the game-changing opportunities that will unlock future value and drive success across their portfolio companies.”
Singh’s work leading technology, digital and operational transformation projects for private equity firms and their portfolio companies spans the UK and continental Europe. He brings deep expertise across the PE deal life cycle, with a particular focus on post-deal value creation, including rapid IT diagnostics, IT cost optimization, carve-outs and technology-driven lead-to-cash business transformations.
In his role at FTI Consulting, Singh will help clients use advanced digital technologies to improve performance across operational departments. Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Singh was a partner at EY, where he established and expanded the private equity technology value creation team. He previously worked at Alvarez & Marsal, PwC and served in senior industry technology roles.
Singh said, “It is great to join a firm with a clear vision for growth, a collaborative culture and a track record for advising on consequential mandates for private equity firms.”
Williams has led complex transformation programmes focused on value creation, commercial excellence and operational performance for private equity and listed companies. In her role at FTI Consulting, she will lead the expansion of transformation and value creation solutions for private equity portfolio companies in the consumer and TMT sectors. Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Williams held senior industry roles as CEO, COO and non-executive director in the media and information services sector. She previously worked at McKinsey and L.E.K. Consulting with a focus on private equity and transformation.
Williams said, “FTI Consulting is an impressive firm with an incredible entrepreneurial culture. I’m excited to work with colleagues who share my passion for helping clients improve their businesses in ways that create long-lasting benefits.”
Bakanova has expertise in strategy, innovation, growth, digital transformation and operational improvement within financial institutions and other global businesses. She was previously head of strategy at Zing, a fintech business of HSBC. Prior to that, Bakanova led HSBC’s global consulting team specializing in strategic retail product development and held a variety of roles at McKinsey and Royal Bank of Scotland.
