Raj Konanahalli

Raj has over 25 years of management consulting, entrepreneurial, and industry experience. He is a proven leader who helps senior executives and private-equity sponsors think through urgent and complex issues. Clients benefit based on his successful track record of developing and implementing value creation strategies that dramatically improve financial and operating performance.

Raj is a senior leader in the firm’s Consumer Products practice and has worked with companies of various market capitalizations and in all stages of the health curve. He is known for successfully leading complex and comprehensive profit improvement programs that span both the top and bottom line. His areas of expertise include transformations, revenue and growth, M&A across the deal lifecycle, and operating model design.

Key Engagements:

• Led broad-based whole company turnaround for a Private Equity owned health and wellness company that was facing a myriad of issues including declining sales and margins, debt covenant risk, and management turnover. Mobilized rapidly; conducted assessment to identify high value margin improvement opportunities across commercial, cost, and organization; and established and led TMO to drive overall transformation. As a result of our efforts, company sales and margins are well ahead of plan, and cash position has improved significantly. The company is on a path to achieve over $20 million in run-rate EBITDA benefits, and the PE sponsor is on track to accelerate their exit.
• Led holistic transformation for a $1+ billion food manufacturer that was facing unprecedented commodity inflation, dealing with low confidence in data integrity, and lacking process and structure. Implemented digital customer and product profitability platform, established Revenue Win Room to prioritize and execute against improvement levers including Pricing, and executed improvements in operational areas. The company achieved record sales and profits after 18 months, and on track for next phase of growth.
• Led a comprehensive profit improvement program for a fast-growing food company looking to maximize exit valuation. Major improvement initiatives included growth, go-to-market strategy, design-to-value, and SG&A improvements. Achieved $30 million EBITDA impact, and company subsequently achieved industry-leading exit multiple upon sale.
• Led the merger integration planning effort for an $8 billion combined entity. Established and ran the IMO, identified and quantified synergies, prepared the company for Day 1, and developed master integration plan including charters, workplans, risks and mitigating strategies. The company had a successful Day 1, and on track to achieve full synergies.
• Led eCommerce transformation project for a $5 billion global household products company facing explosive growth in online channels but dealing with significant margin erosion. Conducted holistic assessment including across assortment, trade, marketing, supply chain, packaging, operating model, and retailer collaboration. Developed execution roadmap including playbook with 10 specific workstream charters and over 20 specific recommendations. Ongoing EBITDA impact estimated at ~$100 million across enterprise.