We are pleased to announce Nous Group Principal Julie Mercer has been appointed as office lead to guide the business’ next phase of growth in the United Kingdom.

Julie joined Nous in November 2021 and plays a key role leading higher education strategy and transformation programmes. This new appointment will see Julie’s focus expand to support our UK business across education and government and working with clients, existing and new, to address their most strategically pressing priorities and secure positive influence through our work with them.

“It is an absolute privilege to work at Nous and to now be leading our UK office,” Julie said. “I am excited to be working with colleagues to bring our distinctive consulting approach to more clients across more sectors. We have a passionate team who bring their candour, expertise and ingenuity to every situation to secure the commitment and trust to solve problems and make big things happen.

“I truly believe that Nous offers a different approach to working with clients and is in some ways the best kept secret in consulting. I want to change that. Our unique proposition is grounded in our purpose of changing people’s lives for the better and I’m excited to work with the team and bring this offer to more clients across the UK.”

Nous founder and Managing Principal, Tim Orton, congratulated Julie on her appointment, “In just over a year, Julie has already made a huge impact at Nous. She has a wealth of experience in consulting as well as board and advisory roles and I’m thrilled she will be leading our UK operations as we further expand our network and relationships in higher education, government and the public sector.”

Julie takes the reins from Nous Principal Simon Lancaster who has worked alongside Tim and the team to build Nous’ profile and business in the UK since the group opened its doors in London in 2015. Under Simon’s leadership, the UK team has established its expertise working with universities, governments, not-for-profit organisations and businesses to address their most challenging strategic issues from strategy to operations, digital and change.

“The UK was our first office outside Australia, where we founded the business 24 years ago. Simon has done an incredible job, ensuring our ethos, approach and ambition for positive influence are embodied in our client work, our operations and our relationships in the UK,” Tim said. “We cannot thank him enough for leading the UK office during this vital stage of our development and we look forward to him taking on a bigger project focus as Julie steps into the office lead role.”

With more than 700 people working across the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Nous Group’s broad consulting capability spans strategy, organisational performance, leadership and capability, transformation and implementation, economics, public policy, data and analytics, digital and design.