Public bio:
- Currently working in debt and structured finance at CBRE
- Previously spent 5+ years as associate and senior associate at other leading commercial real estate firms
- Volunteers on real estate groups, to help others enter the industry on the commercial/finance side
Public bio:
Raffaella is a senior corporate strategist and hands-on transformation leader with 25+ years of global experience across hospitality, retail, fashion, luxury, CPG, tech, travel, media, and financial services.
She partners with CEOs, boards, and investors to design and execute corporate strategies — covering organic and inorganic growth, market and business development, operating model design, ecosystem acceleration. She specializes in building cross-industry partnerships that enhance brand equity, expand customer reach, monetize guest journeys on a cross-industry landscape.
As Chief Strategy Officer at Majid Al Futtaim Retail, she led the corporate development agenda: from multi-market strategy and divestments, to B2B partnerships with FS and delivery operators, to the launch of sub-franchising and online grocery partnership in new markets. Her strategic planning translated directly into execution — delivering +120% online growth, +2pp market share gains, and double-digit profit uplift.
Earlier, as Managing Director at Accenture Strategy, she built and ran a $30M+ practice across Middle East & Turkey, serving global Fortune 500s and regional champions across retail, luxury, hospitality, and consumer goods. She advised on ZBB/ZBO/operating model transformations, digital acceleration, and innovation-led growth.
Through her advisory firm, LIRA Strategy Partners, Raffaella leads high-stakes consulting missions focused on growth strategy, venture building, M&A, and partnership enablement — always linking corporate vision to real-world execution.
She serves on several boards and advisory councils (STS Capital Partners, VAB, Vivenda
Group, HBR Advisory), speaks at global summits (LEAP, The Retail Summit, Retail Leaders
Circle), and contributes regularly to Entrepreneur Middle East.
A firm believer in ecosystem thinking, Raffaella blends strategic clarity with operating
speed to help companies scale boldly and smartly.
Public bio:
Rishikesh is a management consultant with over 6 years of experience across Kearney, KPMG, and Greyamp Consulting, spanning the Middle East, Europe, and Southeast Asia. He holds an MBA from IESE Business School and a degree in Computer Engineering. Over the course of his career, he has worked on projects across Mexico, Switzerland, Spain, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, India, and Australia. He currently is transitioning from Kearney's Dubai office to starting his own investment fund.
He has been coaching consulting candidates for the past two years, helping over 20 people land consulting roles while working limited hours. His coaching focuses on MBA and Masters students preparing for interviews at top strategy and management consulting firms.
Beyond coaching, Rishikesh is actively involved with IESE Business School's MBA program. He conducts interviews for candidates applying to the MBA program, and every year during the Christmas period he takes on 3 to 4 IESE MBA students for dedicated coaching, giving them a head start before the internship interview season begins.
His approach centers on developing a consulting mindset rather than drilling frameworks in isolation. He focuses on identifying each candidate's individual patterns, building their problem-solving instincts, and helping them understand the reasoning behind what makes a strong interview performance. He believes tailored, one-on-one coaching is what drives real improvement.
Public bio:
- Associate at EY-Parthenon focused on strategy projects for Fortune 500 companies and commercial due diligence projects for leading private equity firms
- Experience supporting companies investors on market analysis, growth strategy, restructuring, and transaction evaluation across multiple industries
- Graduated from Williams College with a BA in Political Economy and History
- Particularly helpful for students new to case prep or coming from non-traditional backgrounds
Public bio:
Chris brings over a dozen years of global experience at the intersection of sustainability, finance, operations, investments, and strategy. Across his career, Chris has served as a sustainability expert at an ESG advisory firm in Singapore, where he designed and structured innovative financing instruments for energy transition, the blue economy, and sustainable agriculture projects across Asia. Prior to his experience in Asia, he worked at PwC in London, directly advising the Consulting leadership on business growth strategies, leading acquisitions and integrations, and launching a digital ventures incubator while growing new segments of the business. Earlier in his career at Penzance Management, a Washington, DC boutique private equity real estate firm, he closed over USD $500M in transactions while enhancing asset value through sustainable management strategies.
Public bio:
I am a senior management consultant who works with Executives and CEOs to design and deliver organisational transformation that actually sticks.
Ex-Accenture, I have worked for global consulting firms, specialist boutiques and held in-house leadership roles, both in London and Sydney. I work directly with C-suite executives on the problems that matter most: how an organisation is structured, how it delivers, and how it needs to change to stay fit for purpose.
Experienced leading and developing organisational strategy, designing and delivering enterprise wide transformation & organisational change, alongside complex program delivery across a variety of sectors including; public sector, energy, financial services, transport and technology industries.
My mission is to support leadership and organisations navigate complex change, bringing structure to execution, strengthen internal delivery capability and improve performance to ensure sure you are able to meet the needs of the future head on.
Operating across the entire end-to-end program lifecycle, I can provide support and coaching from generating strategic initiatives, designing and executing complex delivery, to change management and ensuring ongoing success.
My approach is human centric, and I aim to deliver results with integrity and full transparency with my stakeholders. I can offer a breadth of experience and insights that can support and drive your career forward.
Public bio:
ransformation leader with 10+ years of experience from top-tier global firms - Accenture, Alvarez & Marsal, and Deloitte - specializing in Operating Model Design, Talent Strategy, Job Architecture, and Workforce Optimization.
I help organizations design and implement agile, human-centric solutions that build resilient workforces and drive measurable business outcomes. My work sits at the intersection of strategy and execution: from future-state operating models and HR transformations to skills-based talent frameworks and large-scale change programs.
Across my career, I've led multi-workstream transformation programs for global clients in Financial Services, Manufacturing, Technology, Retail, and Life Sciences - spanning the Americas, Europe, and beyond, across multiple countries. I bring a natural cultural fluency to this work: bilingual in Spanish and English (intermediate Italian), with deep experience navigating complex, cross-border organizations.
Areas of expertise:
- Organization Design & Operating Model Transformation
- Service Delivery Model Design (including Shared Services)
- Talent Strategy & Skills-Based Talent Management
- Workforce Optimization & Job Architecture
- Change Management & Stakeholder Engagement
- Program Management for Large-Scale Transformations
Whether embedded as an internal people transformation leader or advising as a management consultant, I thrive in ambiguous, high-stakes environments where the work demands both strategic vision and hands-on delivery - and where inclusive, culturally aware leadership makes the difference.
Public bio:
Executive coach, strategic advisor, and former senior leader at American Express with 30+ years of experience in business transformation, strategy, and digital innovation. I mentor CEOs, founders, and aspiring consultants on structured problem solving, case interviews, and personal positioning, combining real-world consulting experience with a coaching-driven, practical approach.
Public bio:
Hi,
I am a Legal and Finance strategist with a background in Law and Accountancy. While I hold an Executive MBA, my core strength lies in Corporate Governance and Regulatory Compliance. I specialize in managing the legal nexus of multi-entity structures—handling everything from high-stakes commercial lease negotiations to global indirect tax compliance (EMEA/APAC). I don't just report numbers; I build the legal frameworks that protect them.
I manage the legal and financial architecture for a multi-entity conglomerate. While my background is in Law and Accountancy, my focus is on Corporate Governance and Statutory Compliance. I’ve recently led projects on complex 12A registrations and commercial rebranding agreements. I’m looking to leverage this hybrid expertise in a role that requires high-level oversight of international regulatory
Public bio:
James Wong is a private markets investment professional specializing in infrastructure investing. He currently focuses on sourcing, evaluating, and managing direct and fund investments across energy transition, digital infrastructure, and core-plus infrastructure strategies.
Prior to moving into private markets, James developed experience working alongside investment banks, sponsors, and institutional investors on complex transactions, including acquisitions, financings, and strategic asset management initiatives. His work involves financial modeling, due diligence, risk assessment, and investment committee presentations, giving him direct exposure to the technical and strategic skillsets required in investment banking.
James is passionate about mentoring students and early-career professionals who are pursuing careers in investment banking and broader capital markets. He provides practical guidance on technical preparation (financial modeling, valuation, accounting), recruiting strategy, networking, and navigating the transition from university to high-performance finance roles. He is particularly interested in helping mentees build strong analytical foundations while developing the judgment, communication skills, and resilience required to succeed in demanding environments.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can’t find an answer? Please send an email to [email protected]
The WSO mentor service runs at a very slight profit (~5-10% net margin) in order to help motivate amazing professionals to provide great (free) advice in the forums (many mentors have green "mentor" buttons next to their usernames) which strengthens the entire WSO community. Luckily, there is a surprising number of elite professionals within the WSO community that love giving back to motivated candidates. We also recently automated the mentor matching with an algo that helps reduce the manual work needed on the backend should a requested mentor not be available. Prices range from as low as $57 up to $997 depending on the package you purchase and the mentor you select. Given the success of our service and the number of repeat clients we have, we know that we can afford to run on thin profit margins and serve thousands of applicants. We also know that many of you will follow the advice of our mentors and invest in additional courses and/or services from WSO.
After checking out, your request will immediately be sent to the mentor you selected. You will be expected to fill our some basic information (location, industry preference, etc) along with upload a Word version of your resume in order to help the mentor decide if they feel like they are a great match. As soon as they accept (usually within ~9-12 hours), an email will be sent making an introduction. Your mentor will introduce him/herself and then proceed to review your current resume and/or offer times when you can connect for a mentor session. Over the following days, you will schedule a time that is mutually convenient for you initial phone call to go over what you need help with (mock interview, career consultation and/or both). If you would like to continue with this mentor, you can schedule more hours anywhere from 1 hour to 3+ hours with him/her over the following weeks & months.
Typically the match happens within 12hrs. If your preferred mentor has not responded within 9 hours or they indicate they can't take you on as a mentor, we will notify other top mentors that have the most in common with the mentor you selected (based on our matching algo). These backup mentors will indicate to you if they are available and you have the choice to move forward with one of them, get a refund or wait longer for your preferred mentor. If for whatever reason we cannot match you in time and/or there are no mentors that are available that you'd like to work with, we will refund your purchase in full, no questions asked.
We have an incredible team of 1,000+ dedicated mentors across top firms all around the world. Our #1 goal is to make sure you are placed in the hands of the most competent and detail-oriented professional in your specific target industry. This coupled with our strict process ensures a smooth and thorough experience. Why do we use actual professionals? The answer is simple: they are the ones ACTUALLY SCREENING APPLICATIONS for their own firms! They know what it takes to make it out of the trash pile and into the interview pile. On top of this, since we have been doing mentor sessions for over a decade across THOUSANDS of clients, we are able to immediately identify a top mentor and feed them more clients to ensure happy customers like you (due to our strict screening process). Our team includes investment bankers at all the top bulge brackets and elite boutique banks as well as private equity, hedge fund and VC professionals at the most prestigious funds. We also have reviewers at the top management consulting firms in the world, elite prop trading firms, top corporate finance roles as well as other related finance careers.
Usually these are all self-limiting beliefs, but if you're unsure if we are a good match for you, please send us a quick email to [email protected] and we can send over some bios if we think there might be a potential good match for you.
Too Young / Too Inexperienced: We do NOT recommend our mentor service until you at least have at least some relevant WORK experience that we can leverage. For the young clients out there, this means an internship, ideally in your target or related industry. If you are still in high school, it is unlikely that you have this experience. The earliest we'd recommend doing a mentor session is early freshman or early sophomore year as you prepare for summer internship recruiting. If you have no relevant experience then it probably doesn't make sense to sign up for the service. Our mentors are amazing, but they aren't magicians. If you tell us you really want to be in Investment Banking or Private Equity (for example) and everything in your background points to law or medicine, it's going to be an uphill battle. On the other hand, if you have unrelated experience but you have started the transition process by taking relevant classes and joining relevant clubs and associations, we'd love to work with you. You may not be the most competitive candidate, but we will highlight the most relevant education and functions at your current job that would translate well across industries.
Too Old / Too Experienced: We DO recommend our mentor service for more experienced professionals that are looking to make a transition or have an interview coming up. We have several very senior mentors that can answer the tough questions and make sure you are up to date on the latest trends in your target industry. However, before you move forward, we encourage you to give yourself an honest assessment. If you are looking to make the transition and have not made any steps outside of considering this mentor program, you probably aren't ready. If you've taken steps (education, new degrees, courses, etc) and feel like you're ready, we're on board and eager to help!
Yes, but if you have a negative attitude you are unlikely to have success. If you think a mentor session is an automatic referral, please don't bother to hire us.
Yes, our mentors often do refer our clients for open positions at their firms (over 20%), however, this should not be asked of our mentors to avoid a conflict of interest and it should not be expected as part of the service. It is up to you to impress the mentor if this is your goal, however, we believe you can gain much more out of the experience by being honest about your weaknesses and concerns with the mentor so there can be an open dialogue on how to improve your chances.
The only discounts are for larger packages and more hours purchased at once. This is an incredibly labor intensive 1-on-1 service using finance professionals that typically make well over $200/hr and are doing this primarily to give back.
This is a personal question and the answer is naturally subjective. If you are serious about landing a job in investment banking, private equity, hedge funds, trading, asset management, management consulting or any other competitive industry, it's more than likely that the answer to that question is a resounding "YES".
Career services advisers at your school are not screening applications for interviews...neither are your classmates. If you do happen to have a friend in the industry, are they going to take the hours necessary to give you a realistic mock interview? Odds are that their time is limited outside the office and if they do give you some guidance, it won't be as thorough as our expert mentors. If you look at the competitive nature of recruiting nowadays, why would leave your application up to chance when many of these jobs pay well over $100,000?
Join the 1,000+ candidates just like you who have already used the WSO Mentor Service
If you’re reading this, you’re here for a reason: because you want to be one of the very few who gets an an elite job and because you need help doing it. The choice really is yours. And your opportunity really is limited.
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