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EY-Parthenon
Multinational strategy consultancy From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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EY-Parthenon is one of Ernst & Young's four global service lines and following a major expansion in 2025 is the 'transformative strategy and transactions' consulting arm of the firm.[5][6][7][8] The expansion of the brand in 2025 globally saw EY-Parthenon become a 25,000+ strong proposition across 120+ countries. It now positions itself as an advisor to CEOs, Boards, Private Equity, and Governments on strategy, M&A, divestitures, corporate finance, value creation, turnaround, and optimization, along with sector-specific strategic advisory and transformation services.
 | This article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject, potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral. (March 2021) |
The firm was established as The Parthenon Group LLC in 1991 by former Bain & Company directors William "Bill" Achtmeyer and John C. Rutherford. In 2014 The Parthenon Group merged with professional services firm EY forming the new entity EY-Parthenon.[9][10][11] The move was viewed as part of the continued efforts by the Big Four to move up the value chain from their traditional audit services into more lucrative areas of business, as well as to provide new points of entry to clients.
The firm advises top management (C-Suite) on strategic issues across a broad range of industries including Private Equity, Consumer Products, Education, Financial Services, Healthcare, Government, Infrastructure, Entertainment & Media, Advanced Manufacturing, Life Sciences, Oil & Gas and Technology.[12] The firm competes with strategy consultancies such as McKinsey, Bain and BCG as well as the strategy consulting arms of the other Big Four firms such as Monitor Deloitte and Strategy&. and is consistently placed near the top of strategy consulting rankings with its branding centred around 'solutions that work in practice, not just on paper'.[13]
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History and merger
EY-Parthenon was founded in 1991 as The Parthenon Group by William "Bill" Achtmeyer and John C. Rutherford, who at that time served as director at the management consultancy Bain & Company.[14] The founders established the firm to be a specialty boutique consulting firm leveraging the client relations they built during their time at Bain. In the subsequent years the firm grew rapidly and merged with Big Four professional services company Ernst & Young in 2014.
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Expansion under the EY brand
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Under the new brand, EY-Parthenon has pursued an aggressive expansion strategy growing its consultant base from approximately 350 in 2014 to 10,000 in 2019. It stands at 25,000 globally in 2025. This growth was realized organically through expanding teams and extending the brand across a broader range of services as well as inorganically by acquiring consulting firms. Over the period 2016–2017, EY-Parthenon acquired the Benelux, French and German branches of OC&C Strategy Consultants.[15][16][17][18] It bolstered its Asia Pacific offering through its acquisition of Australian boutique Port Jackson Partners in May 2020.[19] It announced its first innovation collaboration with the global start-up ecosystem Plug and Play in October 2020 to enable their clients to engage with disruptive digital technologies.[20]
As part of its expansion, EY-Parthenon has also invested significantly in proprietary technology and AI-powered solutions.[21] The Edge platforms, which deliver 'AI-powered solutions for strategy and M&A' [22] and neurosymbolic AI capabilities [23] underscore its ongoing investments in new technologies.[24]
It also has a strong track-record of thought leadership in its focus sectors. For example, it has published several articles in the Education sector on helping underprivileged students secure employment, including a 2014 report for the United States Department of Education on its Gainful Employment rule,[25] and a 2018 report for the Boston Public Schools school district on better serving "off-track" youth.[26]
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Rankings
In 2025, EY-Parthenon was ranked as a leader in strategy consulting globally in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Enterprise Strategy Consulting Services.
In 2023, EY-Parthenon was ranked 4th globally in the Vault Consulting 50 as well as the 5th most prestigious.[27][28] It also ranked among the Top 25 Strategy Consulting firms by consultancy.uk.[29]
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References
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