Global management consultancy Baringa has appointed Nicola Gleeson and Michael Conway as partners, marking a strategic expansion of the firm's artificial intelligence and technology capabilities aimed at the financial services sector. The appointments, effective September 28, 2026, underscore Baringa's ambitions to deepen its technical expertise and position itself as a trusted advisor for banks, insurers and asset managers navigating artificial intelligence deployment at scale. Both executives bring hard-won experience building and operationalizing AI systems within major financial institutions, a profile that addresses a critical gap in advisory services where clients demand more than theoretical guidance.
Graeme Swan, head of Baringa's financial services team, highlighted the strategic rationale for the hires in a statement, noting that "financial services firms don't just need AI advice, they need people who have actually built and shipped these systems inside the institutions that will be judged on getting this right." The appointments follow several recent engagements with major UK banks and insurers deploying generative and agentic artificial intelligence at scale, suggesting Baringa has identified sustained demand for deep technical expertise. Neither appointment was announced through a search firm, representing a direct recruitment by the consultancy's existing leadership.
Gleeson arrives at Baringa from JPMorgan Chase, where she spent nearly a decade as a managing director in senior technology leadership roles spanning engineering, architecture, product and artificial intelligence. Her career has unfolded inside large financial institutions, allowing her to witness artificial intelligence's evolution from research curiosity to board-level business priority. She articulated her attraction to Baringa as stemming from the firm's "independence and the ambition to help the industry get this transition right, rather than simply reselling someone else's platform," suggesting a view that boutique consulting houses may offer more authentic technological leadership than larger competitors. Conway joined from IBM Consulting, where he held the rank of senior partner and built and led the firm's UK Banking and Fintech practice. More notably, Conway founded IBM's AI Consulting business in 2016, advising major UK lenders including Nationwide and Lloyds Banking Group on their artificial intelligence strategies. His background combines philosophy studies with over 16 years at IBM and foundational work in scaling applied AI for financial services.
Baringa itself represents a distinct operating model in management consulting. Founded in London in 2000, the firm has grown to a 2,000-strong global partnership with operations across Asia, the Pacific, Europe and North America. The consultancy specializes in energy, financial services, telecommunications and consumer products, with notable capability areas including strategy, transformation and operational excellence, now increasingly powered by data and artificial intelligence. The firm has earned recognition including multiple Financial Times rankings for UK management consulting excellence and designation as a World's Best Management Consulting Firm by Forbes for four consecutive years. As a certified B Corporation, Baringa emphasizes a people-first culture and sustainability commitments, positioning itself as a values-aligned alternative to traditional tier-one consulting powerhouses.
The appointments suggest Baringa views financial services' artificial intelligence transformation as a sustained, high-value opportunity rather than a near-term trend. By recruiting two practitioners who have built AI capabilities from the ground up within banks, the firm appears to be signaling confidence in demand for hands-on technical credibility over theoretical advisory. The timing also reflects broader movement in management consulting toward acquiring deep technologists who can translate implementation experience into advisory frameworks. Whether Baringa's focus on practitioners without prior consulting backgrounds will differentiate its AI practice, or whether the hiring represents a broader shift toward operational expertise among UK-based mid-market consultancies, may become evident as the practice scales.
