Nigel Williams
Senior Advisor, Novantas
Nigel Williams holds dual British and American citizenship. Born and educated (for the most part) in the United Kingdom, he holds a B.A. and M.A. in Classics, Philosophy, and Ancient History from Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, where he held several academic scholarships, and a Diploma in French Language and Literature from the Sorbonne in Paris. After flirting with a career in the intelligence services, he joined Schroders, at the time a leading investment bank in London, in 1971.
In 1975, he gained an M.B.A. with distinction from the European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD), where he held a NATO Science Fellowship, a French Government Scholarship, and a London Chamber of Commerce Scholarship. Rather than returning to investment banking, he joined McKinsey in London, thus launching his career in management consulting. He transferred to McKinsey’s New York office in 1978, becoming a partner in 1982 and later a co-leader of the North American Banking and Securities Practice. In 1989 he was recruited by the Boston Consulting Group to lead its North American Financial Services Practice, and in 1996 he accepted the invitation of former partners at McKinsey to join consulting firm A.T.Kearney, where he became the client-serving Chairman of the $250 million revenue global Financial Institutions Group.
In August 2005 Nigel suffered a brain hemorrhage that left him paralyzed and without his short term memory. Since then, he has made a recovery described by his principal doctor as “miraculous”, while another doctor in the team treating him describes him as “navigating uncharted waters” in his recovery. At the time of his brain hemorrhage, Nigel had just become a senior partner at Novantas, a recently founded financial services consulting firm focused uniquely on bringing analytical rigor and insight to its clients’ dealings with their customers.
For three decades, Nigel has found himself doing a large amount of overseas work from his base in New York. His clients have come from the United States, Canada, Bermuda, the United Kingdom, and more recently, mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Australia as well. They typically have had problems of strategy, organizational or operational effectiveness, and are prominent in the banking, insurance, and securities sectors within financial services. He has also served the world’s largest law firm, and several quasi-governmental organizations. He has been a regular speaker on topics of business interest, in private and public forums, such as the World Economic Forum.
Since 2007, Nigel has also been a lecturer in the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program of Mt. Sinai Hospital and Medical Center in New York. He continues to be active in financial services consulting, as a senior advisor to Novantas, and lives with his German wife in Litchfield County, Connecticut. He has two grown children, one living and working in London, the other in New York.
