Consello Taps Ex-EY Executive to Lead Global Strategy Push

Consello, a private equity-backed consulting firm focused on data and technology transformation, has appointed Olivia Pirovano as its first Global Chief Strategy Officer — a move signaling the company's intent to scale beyond its core Oracle consulting roots into broader enterprise AI and cloud infrastructure services. Pirovano joins from EY, where she spent over two decades building transformation practices and leading global client engagements.

The appointment comes as Consello, majority-owned by private equity firm The Riverside Company since 2021, looks to accelerate inorganic growth through acquisitions while expanding its service portfolio. Pirovano's mandate: shape the strategic roadmap for a firm that's been quietly stitching together Oracle implementation expertise with emerging capabilities in data governance, AI deployment, and enterprise architecture.

What's notable here isn't just the hire — it's the timing. Consulting firms are racing to retool their offerings as clients shift spending from traditional ERP implementations to AI-driven transformation projects. Consello is betting that a dedicated strategy executive with Big Four pedigree can help it compete not just with boutique Oracle shops, but with the consulting arms of Accenture, Deloitte, and the firm Pirovano just left.

"We're at an inflection point," said Pirovano in a statement, though the inflection she's referring to is as much internal as external. Consello has grown through a combination of organic client expansion and targeted acquisitions — including its 2023 pickup of Alithya's Oracle practice — but hasn't articulated a clear public position on where it sits in an increasingly crowded mid-market consulting landscape.

Consello operates in the overlapping space of Oracle Cloud applications, data platform implementation, and what it calls "business transformation" — consultant-speak for helping enterprises rewire their operations around new software. The firm works primarily with mid-market and upper mid-market clients, often in sectors like manufacturing, distribution, and financial services where Oracle's ERP and EPM products have deep penetration.

But Oracle consulting alone isn't a growth story anymore. The market's matured. What clients want now — and what Consello is trying to build capacity around — is the connective tissue between ERP systems and the next layer of intelligent automation: AI-powered analytics, predictive planning, real-time data fabrics.

That's where Pirovano's background becomes relevant. At EY, she led enterprise performance transformation programs that spanned finance, supply chain, and technology — exactly the cross-functional mandate required to sell modern consulting engagements. She also ran global client relationships, meaning she knows how to position services at the C-suite level, not just the IT department.

Consello CEO Paul Connors described her appointment as critical to "expanding our platform" — private equity language for both organic service line development and bolt-on acquisitions. Riverside-backed firms typically have 3-5 year hold periods, which puts Consello somewhere in the middle of its value creation plan. A CSO hire at this stage usually means the firm is preparing either for a significant scale-up phase or an exit that requires demonstrable strategic differentiation.

Pirovano's move is part of a broader trend: experienced consulting executives leaving Big Four firms for PE-backed boutiques. The reasons vary, but the pattern is consistent. Smaller firms offer faster decision-making, equity upside, and the ability to shape strategy without navigating the bureaucracy of a 300,000-person organization.

For Consello, the hire is a signal to both clients and competitors. It tells the market: we're not just an Oracle body shop. It tells potential acquisition targets: we have the leadership to integrate you properly. And it tells Riverside: we're building the executive team needed for the next stage, whether that's a larger platform play or a strategic sale.

The risk, of course, is that strategy without execution is just PowerPoint. Pirovano inherits a firm that's grown quickly but unevenly — some offices are strong in Oracle Cloud ERP, others in data analytics, still others in legacy on-premise implementations. Her job is to figure out which capabilities to double down on, which to sunset, and where the firm has white space it can credibly fill.

The competitive set is telling. Consello isn't trying to compete with Deloitte or Accenture on breadth — it's trying to carve out a position as the specialist alternative for clients who want Oracle expertise without the Big Four price tag or bureaucracy. That's a viable strategy, but only if the firm can prove it delivers comparable outcomes with less overhead.

Pirovano spent the bulk of her career at EY, most recently as a senior leader in the firm's transformation consulting practice. That means she's used to selling $5M+ engagements, managing global delivery teams, and navigating the politics of large client accounts where multiple service lines compete for wallet share.

The Chief Strategy Officer role means different things at different firms. At a publicly traded consulting company, it's often a mix of M&A oversight, investor relations support, and long-range planning. At a PE-backed platform like Consello, the job is more operational.

Pirovano will likely spend her time on three things: First, defining Consello's service portfolio — what stays, what goes, what gets built. Second, identifying and vetting acquisition targets that fill capability gaps or expand geographic reach. Third, creating the internal structures (pricing models, delivery frameworks, go-to-market messaging) that allow the firm to scale without fragmenting.

That last piece is harder than it sounds. Consulting firms grow by hiring smart people and giving them autonomy to serve clients. But autonomy creates inconsistency, and inconsistency makes it difficult to sell the firm as a platform with repeatable methodologies. Pirovano's challenge is to impose just enough structure to enable growth without strangling the entrepreneurial culture that makes boutique firms attractive to senior talent in the first place.

One person familiar with Riverside's consulting investments said the firm typically looks for portfolio companies to double revenue during the hold period — which for Consello would mean growing from an estimated $150-200M in annual revenue to $300-400M by 2026 or 2027. That's aggressive but achievable if the firm can layer in two or three acquisitions while maintaining organic growth in the high teens.

Whether Pirovano can pull that off depends largely on whether she can articulate a strategy that feels differentiated. The Oracle consulting market is mature and competitive. The AI transformation market is noisy and crowded. The space in between — helping clients operationalize AI within their existing Oracle infrastructure — is real but narrow.

Riverside is known for a consistent value creation playbook in the services sector: acquire a founder-led firm with strong client relationships, professionalize operations, add strategic hires, and roll up adjacent capabilities before exiting to a larger platform or strategic buyer. Consello fits the pattern.

The firm's 2023 acquisition of Alithya's Oracle Cloud practice added roughly 50 consultants and deepened its bench in Oracle EPM (enterprise performance management) — a higher-margin, more strategic offering than basic ERP implementation. That deal signaled intent: Consello wants to move upmarket, which requires both deeper technical capabilities and the ability to sell business outcomes, not just software deployment.

Assuming Pirovano's appointment is a precursor to more aggressive growth, here's what to watch:

First, acquisitions in adjacent practices. Likely targets include boutique data analytics firms, AI implementation specialists, or regional Oracle consultancies in geographies where Consello is underrepresented. The goal would be to build a services portfolio that maps to the full client journey — from cloud migration to data platform buildout to AI-powered automation.

Second, partnerships with technology vendors beyond Oracle. Consello's current positioning is tightly coupled to Oracle's product roadmap, which is both a strength (deep expertise, preferred partner status) and a vulnerability (limited if Oracle's cloud momentum stalls). Expect Pirovano to explore alliances with Snowflake, Databricks, or Microsoft to diversify the firm's tech stack.

Third, a more aggressive push into industries where Oracle has traction but Consello doesn't yet dominate. Healthcare and public sector are two obvious candidates — both are large, both are undergoing forced digital transformation, and both prefer working with specialized consultancies that understand regulatory constraints.

Not everyone is convinced that hiring a chief strategy officer — particularly one without direct P&L responsibility — translates to measurable outcomes. Strategy roles can become expensive think tanks that produce slide decks instead of revenue. And in consulting, where delivery teams are the real engine of growth, there's always a risk that strategic planning becomes disconnected from the work clients actually buy.

Pirovano's success will hinge on whether she can translate Big Four experience into a mid-market context. EY has dedicated M&A teams, brand recognition that opens doors, and clients with budgets that accommodate experimentation. Consello has none of those advantages. What it does have is speed, flexibility, and the ability to make decisions in weeks, not quarters.

Consello's move is part of a larger pattern reshaping the consulting industry. Private equity firms have been rolling up mid-market consultancies for years, but the pace has accelerated as clients seek alternatives to the Big Four's increasingly standardized service delivery models.

The theory goes like this: clients want the strategic thinking and delivery quality of a McKinsey or Deloitte, but they don't want the rates, the junior team ratios, or the cookie-cutter methodologies. PE-backed firms like Consello are betting they can thread that needle — offering senior-heavy teams, customized approaches, and competitive pricing while still delivering enterprise-grade results.

Whether that's true at scale remains an open question. Boutique firms excel when they're small and nimble. The challenge is maintaining that culture while growing fast enough to satisfy private equity return expectations. Consello is now big enough to need formal strategy functions but still small enough that every senior hire matters.

If Pirovano can help the firm articulate a clear market position — something more compelling than "we do Oracle consulting but also other stuff" — the appointment will have been worth it. If not, she'll join the long list of strategy executives whose ideas never made it off the whiteboard.

Consello isn't the only PE-backed consulting firm chasing Oracle-adjacent transformation work. Firms like UpperEdge, Crosslake Technologies, and Hitachi Solutions all compete in overlapping service areas, each with slightly different positioning and private equity backers.

What differentiates winners in this space is often less about technical capability — most competent Oracle consultancies can handle a Cloud ERP implementation — and more about sales effectiveness, client retention, and the ability to expand wallet share once you're inside an account.

That table reveals the opportunity and the risk. Consello has built credibility in Oracle Cloud — a necessary foundation — but hasn't yet staked out a defensible position in the higher-value, faster-growing adjacencies like AI and advanced analytics. Pirovano's job is to close that gap before competitors do.

One strategic question she'll need to answer quickly: Does Consello try to become a full-stack transformation firm (competing more directly with mid-tier players like Cognizant and Capgemini), or does it stay focused on a narrower set of Oracle-centric capabilities and go deeper in specific industries? There are successful firms pursuing both strategies. There are also plenty of failures that tried to do everything and ended up mediocre at all of it.

Riverside typically holds services businesses for 4-6 years, which suggests Consello could be positioned for an exit as early as 2025 or 2026. If that timeline holds, Pirovano has roughly 18-24 months to show tangible progress: new service lines launched, acquisitions integrated, revenue growth accelerating.

The most likely exit path is a sale to a larger consulting platform or a strategic acquirer looking to build Oracle depth. Accenture, Cognizant, and Capgemini have all made tuck-in acquisitions in this space. So have private equity firms assembling larger consulting roll-ups.

Less likely but possible: Consello becomes the platform itself, acquiring smaller Oracle and data consultancies to build scale before going public or selling to a tech-enabled services buyer. That path requires more capital and a longer timeline, but it's the higher-return scenario if executed well.

Either way, Pirovano's tenure will be judged not by the elegance of her strategy decks but by whether Consello exits at a meaningful multiple premium to where Riverside bought in. In private equity-backed services firms, strategy is only valuable if it translates to EBITDA growth and valuation expansion. Everything else is noise.

Over the next 12-18 months, a few signals will reveal whether Pirovano's appointment was a meaningful inflection point or just a press release:

Does Consello announce acquisitions that expand beyond Oracle? If the firm picks up a Snowflake or Databricks specialist, or a vertical-focused AI consultancy, that's evidence of strategic repositioning. If it just keeps buying Oracle shops, the strategy is more incremental.

Does the firm start showing up in different conversation spaces? Right now, Consello is visible in Oracle user groups and partner conferences. If Pirovano is doing her job, the firm should start appearing in AI transformation discussions, data governance events, and industry-specific forums.

Do senior hires follow? One executive from EY is interesting. Three or four would indicate a deliberate talent strategy and a culture that's attractive to Big Four refugees.

And finally: Does Consello start winning work it wouldn't have won before? If the firm begins appearing on shortlists alongside Deloitte and Accenture for transformation programs that go beyond Oracle implementation, that's proof the strategy is working. If it stays in the same competitive set, talking to the same buyers, selling the same projects — then the CSO role was window dressing.