Accenture Chooses New Chief Executive
July 11 2019 - 3:45PM
Dow Jones News
By Allison Prang
The board of consulting company Accenture PLC has named the head
of the company's operations in North America as its new chief
executive.
Julie Sweet, 51 years old, will become CEO of Accenture and join
the company's board on Sept. 1. Since 2015, she has headed
Accenture's North American operations, a division that makes up
nearly half of the company's revenue. She started at Accenture in
2010 and has also served as the firm's general counsel and
compliance chief.
In an interview, Ms. Sweet said the firm will continue to evolve
the services it offers clients, including examining burgeoning
trends like blockchain.
"Our focus will remain on being the transformation partner" of
companies, Ms. Sweet said.
Accenture's interim CEO, 58-year-old David Rowland, will become
executive chairman.
Mr. Rowland, who used to be the company's finance chief, has
been running Accenture since the company's former CEO and chairman,
Pierre Nanterme, left in January. Mr. Nanterme died Jan. 31, having
been diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016.
Mr. Nanterme was CEO for eight years and was the company's third
CEO since 2001. The late leader moved the company into new areas
for consulting including digital marketing, cybersecurity and data
analysis. During his tenure, Accenture spent more than $6 billion
on over 100 deals.
In April, Accenture said it was buying ad agency Droga5 but
didn't disclose the terms of the deal. Consulting companies have
been building design and marketing operations in recent years. The
company also said in April it was going to buy Germany-based
technology consulting firm Zielpuls.
Ms. Sweet said that looking for diversified revenue growth will
continue to be a priority for the company under her direction.
Accenture reported $41.6 billion in revenue for its 2018 fiscal
year, which rose 13% from a year earlier. It also reported $4.06
billion in profit, up 18%. The company employed about 459,000
people at the end of August last year.
Through Wednesday morning, shares of Accenture were up 36% year
to date and 16% over the last 12 months.
Write to Allison Prang at allison.prang@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 11, 2019 16:30 ET (20:30 GMT)
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