CIL named in Financial Times’ Leading Management Consultants

CIL is recognised with two bronze awards for its consulting services – one for M&A and another for strategy. First founded in 1986, CIL launched a new brand identity and name – CIL Strategy Consultants – at the start of this year, reflecting its position as global growth strategy experts, advising clients on value creation, market opportunity and commercial decision-making. This sustained growth has driven an expansion of its international footprint across London, Paris, Munich, Chicago and New York and headcount has increased by 25% a year.

Commenting on CIL’s achievement, Jon Whiteman, Managing Partner at CIL, said: “This is strong recognition by clients and our peers of the high-quality strategic advice we provide. We are proud to keep such good company in an outstanding sector, as we continually raise the bar in providing deep sector expertise with data, analytics and rigorous thinking to support the high-stakes growth decisions of our clients.”

Financial Times Leading Management Consultants 2026 Methodology

The Financial Times Leading Management Consultants 2026 results are based on three surveys – one among peers (partners and executives from consultancies evaluating other consultancies); and two among clients (evaluating consultancies they have worked with). The surveys were conducted online by Statista, with gold, silver or bronze ratings awarded to firms and networks in different categories according to how often they were recommended.

Peer survey:

More than 1,700 firms were used as a basis for the survey among peers, and the sample included more than 7,000 partners and executives of UK firms. This took place from June 16 to August 15, 2025.

Client surveys:

Two online surveys were conducted among 2,500 senior executives who had used management consultancies in the past four years. These took place between June and August 2025 and in September 2025.