Roland Berger, a leading global consulting firm, has announced the appointment of a new Partner to strengthen its Middle East team. The new Partner, Richard Paton, is joining Roland Berger in Abu Dhabi with a mandate to enhance the firm’s infrastructure, public sector and defense practice across the Middle East. Richard has over 20 years’ experience, eight years having been spent in the region and the last five years in Riyadh.
He joins Roland Berger from an international business consultancy, where he was head of infrastructure advisory services for the Middle East and South Asia, as well as head of PPP and public-sector strategy in Saudi Arabia, advising governments across the region on complex PPP financing structures.
Kushal Shah, Managing Partner for the Middle East at Roland Berger commented on the appointment, "Our Middle East practice is going from strength to strength, and we are delighted to be growing our team further by onboarding Richard Paton as Partner. Having previously been involved in the largest PPP transactions across the Middle East – including three airports, nuclear and renewable financing projects, school and hospital PPPs – he brings a wealth of experience as well as an innovative commercial approach, balancing government risk with private sector funding."
Richard Paton said, "I am delighted to be joining Roland Berger. Their mix of entrepreneurship, innovation and depth of expertise provides an excellent platform from which to deliver exceptional advice to our clients."
When not in a consulting role, Richard has worked for the UK government as an economist briefing ministers on energy policy and macroeconomics before becoming the Head of Regulatory Review for the Office of Fair Trading, leading economic investigations of mergers and acquisitions and their impacts on market structure, competitiveness and consumers. In addition, Richard has had the opportunity to work for and advise foreign government ministers, including those of Singapore and Saudi Arabia.
Roland Berger, with 2,400 employees operating from 34 countries, is the only leading global consultancy of German heritage and European origin. The consultancy is an independent partnership owned exclusively by 220 Partners. Roland Berger is very active in the Middle East, especially in the public sector, energy, telecom, transportation and financial services.