SymphonyIRI Group names new president, CEO

CHICAGO — SymphonyIRI Group on Wednesday announced that Andrew Appel has joined the company as president and CEO.



Appel, who also joins SymphonyIRI’s board of directors, succeeds John Freeland, who moves into a new interim role as executive vice chairman and will remain on the board of directors until his retirement later in 2012.



"We are extremely pleased to have Andrew join SymphonyIRI to lead this next phase of our growth," stated Lawrence Benjamin, chairman of SymphonyIRI. "He brings to SymphonyIRI a strong track record leading global professional service organizations and deep experience in technology and operational excellence."



Appel has held a number of senior leadership positions for Chicago-based professional service firms. As chief operating officer at Aon, Appel developed and implemented a successful revenue growth plan for the company. He also led the team responsible for the $5 billion acquisition of Hewitt, solidifying Aon's leading position in human resource consulting and outsourcing. Prior to this, Appel was CEO of two of the firm's three global divisions: Aon Consulting, a leading benefits and human resources consulting firm, and Aon Benfield, the world's largest reinsurance broker.



Prior to joining Aon, Appel was a senior partner at McKinsey & Co., where he advised leading global financial institutions on operational, strategic and organizational issues. Appel joins SymphonyIRI from Accretive Health, where he was SVP revenue operations.



Appel holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, where he was the Henry Ford II scholar. He is an active board member at the Joffrey Ballet.

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