NEW YORK—Boston Consulting Group (BCG) welcomes Christoph Schweizer as the firm’s new chief executive officer. Schweizer, 48, has served as BCG’s head of Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East since 2017. He was elected in May by the firm’s nearly 1,500 managing director and partners, each of whom had an equal vote in the election.
A native of Germany, Schweizer has worked for BCG for twenty-four years, including five years based in the firm’s New York office from 2007 to 2012, and he has worked on every continent for many of BCG’s largest clients. Schweizer is currently based in Munich, where he lives with his wife and three children.
Former CEO Rich Lesser becomes BCG’s global chair after serving the maximum three full terms, totaling nine years as CEO.
“I’m energized to lead BCG in one of the most exciting periods of our firm’s history. So many of clients I speak with are grappling with unprecedented change: how to digitize operations, increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence; how to rise to the enormous challenges of climate change and sustainability; how to be world-class employers; and how to emerge out of this pandemic. These are some of the most critical, complex issues companies and organizations face today – and precisely where we as BCG can have the greatest impact for our clients and for the world,” said Christoph Schweizer.
“I’m fortunate to be able to build on Rich Lesser’s incredible impact over the last nine years, not just the exceptional growth of our business and expansion of capabilities, but also in the way he has led BCG with integrity. As I look ahead, I am committed to advancing BCG as an employer of choice for the world’s most talented thinkers and business leaders of the future.”
Earlier this year, BCG was announced as the Consultancy Partner for COP26, and launched the new BCG Center for Climate & Sustainability to help develop and deliver solutions to tackle climate change. The firm is also a founding partner of Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, a groundbreaking program to accelerate the development of the climate-smart technologies necessary to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Schweizer served as head of BCG’s global practice areas from 2014 to 2017 and as global head of the firm’s Health Care practice from 2011 to 2014. Since joining BCG in 1997, he has developed major international businesses, particularly across the health care industry and with private equity firms. He has served as a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and Operating Committee since 2014. He holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin and a BA from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Koblenz.
