David Ellis was appointed as the new managing partner at IBM Consulting

Ellis, a University of Cambridge engineering graduate, began his career in 1998 as a London-based consultant with renowned German-origin management firm Roland Berger, where Ellis spent four years in total, including two stints. From there, Ellis moved into the telecommunications industry, eventually earning a job with Telecom New Zealand and later served as general manager of technology and transformation out of Auckland until 2010. Since then, Ellis has been based in Sydney, advancing from A/NZ CMT strategy managing director at Accenture to head of the technology consulting firm's worldwide B2B Telco practice and communications sector division for APAC in just six years.

Ellis joined global strategy consultant Bain & Company as an enterprise technology partner in 2017, after serving in several high worldwide leadership roles for the previous seven years. Ellis succeeds Perth-based vice president and managing partner Ian Abraham, who has overseen IBM Consulting's Australia and New Zealand operations since late 2022. Among the scores of well-wishers and former colleagues who congratulated Ellis on LinkedIn was Bain & Company Asia Pacific regional chief Satish Shankar and Australia managing partner Peter Stumbles, who complimented Ellis for his "tremendous impact over the years". The latest senior hire is part of the firm's continuous change since relaunching the consultancy line and separating its infrastructure segment as Kyndryl.