Boston Consulting Group has announced the elevation of Christoph Schweizer to Chief Executive Officer, in line with a succession plan drawn up in May this year, when Schweizer was elected for the post according to the firm's leadership management processes. He is BCG's seventh CEO and took over on 1 October from Rich Lesser, who is now Global Chair.

Schweizer joined BCG in 1997 and has worked with the firm's largest clients on every continent. He was most recently Head of Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East, and prior to that was Head of Global Practice Areas. He has served as a member of BCG's Executive Committee and Operating Committee since 2014. During his tenure with the firm, his specialty areas included the healthcare industry and private equity firms. He is currently based in Munich.

Of his new responsibilities going forward, Schweizer described the current environment as "one of the most exciting periods of our firm's history". He said of the work BCG is doing today: "So many clients I speak with are grappling with unprecedented change: how to digitise 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 organisations face today."

He added that he intends to focus on the firm's own employer branding: "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."