Freddy Wee, Chintan Ganatra & Michael Peer join PwC Consulting as Partners

Weeks after promoting three new partners in its South East Asian Consulting arm, professional services giant PwC has admitted three more senior advisors to its partnership in the region. Freddy Wee, Chintan Ganatra and Michael Peer all join from tier-one competitors.

Freddy Wee

Freddy Wee brings over two decades of experience in the information security field to PwC. The past four years Wee, based in Singapore, worked for Accenture as a Managing Director – the equivalent of Partner at the firm – in its Security practice. In the 15 years prior to that, Wee worked for RSA, the security division of EMC; Logica, currently known as CGI; and IBM Global Services, the consultancy wing of the US technology giant. Wee however started his career in defence, serving Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) for over a decade, before transitioning into the security domain.

Throughout his career, Wee has led large-scale cyber security and digital identity design and transformation programmes, as well as been involved in operationalising effective cybersecurity frameworks and governance models into business functions. His professional experience spans working for clients across the public sector, resources, products, financial services and telecommunications, across South East Asia, Greater China and Korea.

At PwC, which has 223,000 employees globally, he has been named Cybersecurity and Privacy Leader for South East Asia. The division helps clients with management consultancy and digital services, from design through to implementation. PwC’s Consulting arm also works closely with Strategy& in the region, which is PwC’s strategy consulting unit forged after the Big Four firm acquired Booz & Company back in 2014. Booz & Company was later rebranded as Strategy& following contractual agreements with US-headquartered Booz Allen Hamilton, the former parent of the strategic consulting firm.

Wee’s appointment comes at a time when Asia Pacific organisations are facing heightened cybersecurity threats against a backdrop of growing e-criminal activity. Meanwhile, according to Oliver Wyman, organisations in the region are struggling with fending off threats, while at the same time keeping pace with technology-led changes in the realm. In another study on the matter, consultants from A.T. Kearney highlighted that for the region to be successful in tackling cybercrime, a more cohesive approach between government, companies and innovators would be required.

Chintan Ganatra

After serving Litmus Group, a Singapore-based management consulting firm part of PPB Advisory for 15 years, latterly in the role of Partner, Ganatra has now joined PwC as a Partner in the firm’s Energy & Mining industry group within Consulting. Ganatra, who is an Australian national, specialises in reviewing and optimising business models, driving technical initiatives, information systems analysis, and benefits identification and management.

Ganatra will focus on helping energy and mining companies navigate change, including the rise of digital competition, growing regulatory burden, sustainability pressures and more. Renewable energy is one area he will oversee, with a recent study by PwC showing that investments in ‘greener energy’ are set to boom in the coming years to a total of $114.8 billion. In mining, the newly appointed Partner will focus on trends such as cost optimisation, technology adoption – with emerging tech such as Internet of Things (IoT) offering massive efficiency opportunities to players in the ecosystem.

Michael Peer

The third new Partner, Michael Peer, has been appointed a leader in PwC’s Dispute Advisory practice. The service line supports clients with a range of dispute-related services spanning commercial litigation, class action support and litigation risk management, contract compliance, post-close M&A disputes, construction disputes and family and estate disputes. Peer relocated from the city of Prague, where he led KPMG’s dispute advisory practice covering Central Eastern Europe – Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Peer worked 11 years for KPMG, and prior to that served Big Four accounting and consulting rival EY, formerly known as Ernst & Young. During this period, he has lead investigations, including those under the FCPA and UK Bribery Act, in over 65 jurisdictions. He brings with him extensive experience in dealing with disputes between private companies, cases involving sovereign states (in particular under bilateral investment treaties: BITs), and ad-hoc arbitrations. In addition, he has conducted numerous investigations leading to criminal prosecution or civil litigation, as well as the removal of senior management through negotiated settlements.

Earlier this month, PwC’s South East Asian Consulting arm, which works closely with the firm’s US and Australia & New Zealand practices as part of an alliance signed in 2014, added Shaun Ryan, Martijn Schouten and Simon Tong to its Partner team.