It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but New Jersey means a lot to financial consultant John Drzik.
Drzik, who is president of the recently merged Mercer Oliver Wyman operation freely admits: “I have never lived more than 30 miles from where I was born.”
Born in Newark, with a Princeton education and a Manhattan working life, he’s certainly stayed close to his roots, though of course, as with any high ranker in the world of finance, he spends a good part of his life flying around the world.
Consultants, particularly financial consultants, are often accused of being jargon junkies. Drzik certainly does not do anything to dispel this idea when he peppers his language with such words as “complementarities”.
And he admits that the clichéd view of consultants as cloistered egghead graduates telling people in the real world how to go about their business from behind the shelter of their laptop computers is not grossly wide of the mark.
“I’m not sure that some [consultants] wouldn’t deserve some of that criticism,” he says, before adding that his own business has tried hard to get away from that approach.
Early commitment A career consultant, Drzik got into the business when he left Princeton in 1983 and hooked up with Bill Wyman and Alex Oliver at Booze Allen.
“I had worked on projects for both of them when they were directors at Booze Allen, so when they decided to spin out in 1984, I followed,” he recalls. “Oliver Wyman started with six people, I was the ninth and by the end of the first year we had 12.”
Drzik has been with Oliver Wyman ever since. In 1990 he took over the risk management practice. Then, in 1994, he became president of the company when Wyman retired. In 1999 when Oliver retired, Drzik was made chairman.
The merger with Mercer’s financial services and risk consulting units forms Mercer Oliver Wyman & Co – an idea that first started to come together two years ago.
“Mercer’s first approach was a couple of years ago because they were interested in our strength in financial services,” says Drzik. “In time both sides got more interested. There was clearly a good opportunity for joining [Mercer’s parent] Marsh & McLennan.”
Where Oliver Wyman’s consultancy strength was in corporate banking, Mercer’s was in retail banking and insurance, so Drzik says the deal makes sense and is a good fit.
The 45-year-old is married with two young children. He says his family takes up his free time but before the children came along he was an enthusiastic golfer, and before that a keen basketball player.
