David Rowland named interim chief as Accenture CEO steps down

Accenture’s lauded chairman and CEO Pierre Nanterme has stepped down from his positions due to health concerns, with David Rowland appointed as interim chief.

Taking the helm in 2011 at what is now one the world’s foremost technology-driven professional services firms, the French-born Pierre Nanterme has overseen revenue growth at Accenture over the past eight years from roughly $25 billion to more than $40 billion last year, with the firm accelerating its aggressive market strategy across multiple sectors in recent times – including an ongoing acquisition spree which has added a number of enterprises in just the past two months.

Initially joining the firm in 1983 (at what was Andersen Consulting), Nanterme was made partner in 1993, rising through the ranks to become Accenture’s country managing director in France in 2005. Five years later and he was named as CEO, taking on the additional chairman role in the following years. In 2016, Nanterme revealed that he had been diagnosed with colon cancer – otherwise given the green light to stay actively involved in Accenture’s day-to-day operations.

Citing health reasons, Nanterme has now stepped down from his dual CEO and chair positions, effective immediately. “It has been my honor and privilege to serve Accenture’s people and our clients for my entire 36-year career, and I’ve never been more confident in our business strategy, leadership team and people,” said Nanterme. “This is the right decision for my family and me, so I can focus on my health.” Following Nanterme’s resignation, Accenture has appointed former Chief Financial Officer David Rowland as interim CEO, and independent lead director Marge Magner as non-executive chair. “I know that David’s significant involvement in developing and delivering our growth strategy to rotate our business to new, high-growth areas of digital, cloud and security, and his tenure as a highly respected senior leader and developer of talent, will make this transition seamless,” Nanterme said.

Like Nanterme, Rowland has been with Accenture since 1983, following a B.Sc degree in management from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Rowland has held numerous leadership roles over the course of his career at Accenture, including a six-year stint as senior vice president of Finance before ascending to the CFO position in 2013. Rowland has been replaced by Finance Operations Managing Director KC McClure, who has been with the firm for thirty years.

“I am very honored to serve as Accenture’s interim chief executive officer,” Rowland said. “I look forward to working closely with our talented, best-in-class leadership team, including KC as our new CFO, to continue building on the strong momentum in our business. On behalf of our 469,000 Accenture people around the world, I want to thank Pierre for his inspirational leadership and stewardship of our company. He has clearly left Accenture better positioned for generations to come.”

Magner, meanwhile, has served on Accenture’s board of directors since 2006. “Pierre is stepping down after a remarkable career at Accenture,” she said. “On behalf of the board, we thank Pierre for his leadership and visionary role in transforming the company to lead in a digital world. Pierre demonstrated exceptional commitment to clients and a passion for developing a deep bench of extraordinary leaders and has been an outstanding advocate for creating a culture of equality at Accenture.”