Business Experts at The Boston Consulting Group to Lead Task Forces and Speak at The New York Forum

First-of-Its-Kind Gathering on June 22-23 Aims to Address the Future of the Global Economy, Including Strategies to Spur Job Creation and Develop New Business Models


NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - June 21, 2010) -  The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), one of the world's leading management consulting firms, will play a major role at The New York Forum this week, facilitating five interactive "task force" workshops and providing one of its top executives as a speaker on innovation and growth.

The first annual New York Forum, to be held on June 22 and 23, will bring together hundreds of international business leaders, entrepreneurs, sovereign fund managers, regulatory officials, and academics for a series of results-oriented dialogues and debates. Its mission is both bold and urgent: to reinvent business models, stimulate job creation, and restore faith in the international economy.

"We are thrilled to be involved in planning the topics and background for this event and to be facilitating the five task forces, where many of the recommendations for action will be determined," said Rich Lesser, BCG's chairman of North and South America. "We feel that The Forum couldn't be timelier. It is addressing many of the same issues that we've been working with clients to resolve. We're delighted to see such an enthusiastic reaction to developing a collective and collaborative response to today's pervasive challenges."

The five task forces that BCG will be leading will be small, highly interactive discussions focused on defining tangible opportunities and solutions to specific challenges in the current environment. The output will be a set of practical, actionable steps for organizations' leadership teams. Each session will also provide input into The New York Forum Declaration, which will be presented to the Group of 20 (G-20) at their meeting in Toronto following The Forum.

Michel Frédeau, a BCG senior partner who will be leading one of the workshops, noted: "Each task force is unique in its format and size. They are cross-industry and cross-geography, with senior executives from corporations, governments, and finance participating. Challenges such as growth, business innovation, and talent development cannot be solved in silos."

The five parallel sessions are scheduled for Wednesday, June 23, from 12:30-2:30pm, and will cover the following topics:

  1. Driving extraordinary growth in extraordinary times
    Facilitator: Kermit King, leader of BCG's Strategy practice in the Americas
    http://www.ny-forum.com/taskforces_driving

  2. Build resilience or attempt clairvoyance: Rethinking risk management
    Facilitator: Duncan Martin, a partner in BCG's Financial Institutions practice
    http://www.ny-forum.com/taskforces_build

  3. The new talent: Developing, retaining, and empowering people for a complex world
    Facilitators: Michel Frédeau, a BCG senior partner, and Roselinde Torres, BCG's global topic expert on leadership
    http://www.ny-forum.com/taskforces_thenew

  4. Competing in the emerging-market driven world: New imperatives for business
    Facilitator: David Michael, global leader of BCG's Global Advantage practice
    http://www.ny-forum.com/taskforces_competing

  5. Changing the game: Reinventing business models for radically enhanced advantage
    Facilitator: Michael S. Deimler, global leader of BCG's Strategy practice
    http://www.ny-forum.com/taskforces_changing

In addition, BCG's Lesser will be speaking on a panel titled "The Disruptive Corporation: Finding New Models for Innovation and Growth," from 3:00-4:15pm on Wednesday.

The New York Forum is the brainchild of Richard Attias, founder of The Experience, who for more than a decade produced the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos and has organized and managed a number of high-profile global conferences, including the Petra Conference of Nobel Laureates and the Clinton Global Initiative. "In the wake of the economic slowdown, the United States and its financial capital have a special responsibility and ability to lead this conversation," Attias said. "At this time, there is no place with greater creative potential to turn adversity into prosperity than New York City."

Topics to be addressed in the plenary session are the future of the global economy, a reinvention of the New York economy, and rebuilding confidence and credibility in the business world.

BCG joined the event as a strategic partner earlier this spring and has helped shape the overall content agenda. Frédeau serves on its Advisory Board. Other strategic partners include the New York Times, the Partnership for New York City, and Columbia University's Center on Capitalism and Society, under the direction of Nobel Prize winner Professor Edmund Phelps.

For more information about The New York Forum, visit www.ny-forum.com.

For more information on BCG's participation or to request an interview with a BCG expert, please contact Dave Fondiller at 212 446 3257 or fondiller.david@bcg.com.