2022 Winner: Juskirin Dhanoa, Future Leader Award

Juskirin Dhanoa, Managing Principal, Capco, was pointed out by the WIBF judges as someone that “can be seen as a leader NOW, as well as in the future”, and that her award submission “showed the demonstrable impact she is having and will have.”

Throughout her Capco tenure, Juskirin has developed an inclusive, empathetic, and nurturing leadership style, and has consistently demonstrated her commitment to Capco’s culture of D&I, both as a delivery lead in her client-facing roles, and in her additional responsibilities in graduate recruitment. She is a role model for female colleagues, providing continuous support, coaching and mentoring of 30+ women to help them achieve their potential, and she has tangibly and materially improved the gender diversity of Capco’s graduate hires.

Juskirin has proven that she is a highly capable management consultant, with responsibility for leading some of our key accounts from a delivery and business development perspective, including the delivery of a US$700m client acquisition, working across functions and with multiple C-Level stakeholders to realise synergy benefits between the merging organisations.

Juskirin has proactively taken on additional responsibility as lead of her firm’s Associate Talent Programme, which is responsible for hiring the next generation of talent into the business (typically new graduates). Juskirin joined through the programme eight years ago as a new associate and, having been promoted four times since, is one of the programme’s many success stories. This gave her insights into how the programme operated, which she used to implement significant changes to the strategy. Since she took ownership of the programme, Juskirin has increased the number of graduate hires into the business by more than 100% to a forecast of 200+ in 2022. She has also completed a full overhaul of the programme structure and approach which has significantly increased the diversity of candidates being hired, both relating to gender balance and other intersectional areas of D&I. Juskirin’s changes have focused on gender balance and economic diversity of new hires plus support for neurodivergent candidates and mental health.

The changes Juskirin has implemented to the Associate Talent Programme will have a lasting positive impact, not only on individual new female joiners to the business, but also for Capco as a whole, ensuring we can continue to foster a culture of equality, diversity, and inclusion throughout the business, hiring excellent women from the bottom level up, and providing them with support to achieve their potential. This demonstrates true leadership and distinguishes her from her peers.

Juskirin’s D&I-driven overhaul of graduate recruitment in the Associate Talent Programme has ensured that more female new hires are now joining the company (89 in 2021). These women will complete an industry-leading training programme to prepare them for the world of consulting and will be supported to complete the training roadmap, which is a tailored curriculum for four specific career paths to help them in taking the next steps in their careers. Thanks to Juskirin’s changes, throughout the programme and after they graduate from the training, Associates will be provided with continued support, guidance, and mentoring to ensure they are given the opportunities they need to achieve their potential. This includes targeted initiatives to support the progression of women through the business.

Juskirin was recognised as one of the top leaders at Capco in its 2021 Leadership Awards, in which Capco colleagues at all levels vote for the people they believe best demonstrate Capco’s leadership values. Juskirin won joint first place out of 99 people at her level in the Leadership and Role Model categories. She has consistently been recognised as a leader throughout her tenure at Capco, having also been nominated for the Leadership Awards in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

“In working with Juskirin, both in a client environment, and within Capco’s internal community, I’ve seen first-hand that she is both an excellent role model for Capco’s women and an incredible leader across the firm. She has great empathy, focus, and energy, and I am excited to see what the future holds for Juskirin’s career’’.

Anne-Marie Rowland, UK Managing Director, Capco