Julie Sweet

Julie Sweet already drove nearly half of Accenture’s $43 billion in revenues as head of North America before she became global CEO of the consulting and tech behemoth in September. It was a quick ascent for an executive who started as the Ireland-incorporated company’s general counsel and compliance chief in 2010; before that, the Orange County, Calif., native had been a partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore for a decade. Sweet left her coveted law partnership to become a “business leader with legal expertise” at Accenture; it was a bigger leap, she says, than when she moved across the world to Hong Kong or Taiwan.

In the near-decade since Sweet took the plunge, Accenture has outperformed its peers in both tech and consulting. The stock, meanwhile, has soared 41% year to date. An important part of Accenture’s growth strategy has come from acquisitions, including the high-profile deal to buy ad agency Droga5 in April. Sweet’s next challenge? Seeking out a new generation of acquisitions to expand Accenture’s digital, cloud, and security services businesses.

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