From its humble beginnings as a one-man consulting firm, Roland Berger has grown forcefully and developed a sizable global footprint. The market leader in Germany and the only native European consultancy to boast an international presence, its 3,500 employees today work in  55 offices spanning 35 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, the Middle East, and North and South America. The company provides a diverse array of consulting services to many of the world’s largest corporations across a broad spread of industries, including aerospace and defense; automotive and commercial vehicles; chemicals; civil economics; construction; consumer goods, retail, and agriculture; energy and utilities; financial services; industrial products and services; infrastructure; pharma and health care; private equity and strategic investors; technology, media, and telecom; and transportation, tourism, and logistics.

Roland Berger (the man) founded the firm in Munich in 1967, and it spread into Italy and Brazil within a decade and passed a series of notable milestones on its journey to the present day. In 1980, it became the first European firm to be welcomed as a member of the U.S. Association of Consulting Management Engineers (ACME)—a remarkable achievement given that, for legal and ownership reasons (Deutsche Bank-owned a majority stake in the company from 1988 to the late 1990s), Roland Berger didn’t gain a permanent foothold on the U.S. market until 1995. Its initial U.S. presence took the form of a representative office in New York in that year. After regaining majority control, however, the company was finally able to open an independent office on U.S. soil (in Detroit) three years later. Offices in Chicago (2008), Boston, and Montreal (both 2012) followed, by which time Roland Berger was also on the ground from London to Tokyo and from Madrid to Singapore.