London-based financial services consultancy Thistle Initiatives continues strong growth by appointing new CEO, Scott Friedrichs, to accelerate expansion in the consulting market following the recent recruitment of four new Partners and CFO Alex Knight.
Thistle Initiatives is a 70-person, London-based consulting firm that provides advisory services across regulatory compliance, financial crime, and change and transformation. The firm works with financial services institutions, including banks, insurers, investment and advice firms, payment providers, and credit lenders.
His appointment heralds a broadening of Thistle Initiative’s focus from compliance consulting, a field in which they have won multiple awards, to management consulting across the financial services sector.
Thistle’s expanded scope will embed regulatory compliance, financial crime prevention, and robust governance expertise directly into clients' transformation initiatives, ensuring that change is not only efficient and effective but also fully compliant and risk-aware from inception.
Commenting on his appointment, Scott Friedrichs stated:
“I’m thrilled to be joining Thistle Initiatives at such an exciting point in its growth. The firm has a hugely talented group of consultants and an ambitious leadership team that’s clearly driving the business forward. Having spent the last 25 years of my career in the United States consultancy market, I’m looking forward to bringing a fresh perspective and spearheading Thistle’s continued expansion.”
Thistle Initiatives has seen significant growth across the business, particularly in its financial crime, insurance, and newly established change and transformation division. This expansion has been reflected in hiring at every level. The firm continues to support clients across the full spectrum of financial services, including wealth and asset management, banking, payment services, fintech, crypto and digital assets, consumer lending, and neo-banking.
Non-Executive Chairman Martin Wassell stated:
“We’re delighted to welcome Scott to Thistle Initiatives as our new CEO. Growth remains at the heart of our strategy as we continue to expand our support for clients across the financial services sector, from our long-standing strengths in M&A due diligence and compliance, to newer areas such as financial crime, digital assets, and change and transformation. Scott’s leadership and fresh perspective will be invaluable as we build on this momentum and take Thistle into its next phase of development.”
About Scott Friedrichs
Scott Friedrichs served as Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Life Sciences at North Highland Consulting.
Prior to that, he was SVP/Director Americas at Chaucer/BIP Group, where he built a high-performing US consulting business from a team of 5 to over 30, delivering revenues exceeding $10m and gross profit margins above 44%.
Scott also spent two decades at PA Consulting Group, where he held multiple leadership roles, including Americas Head of Business Transformation and Global Co-lead of Project Management Consulting. He led large-scale transformation initiatives for top pharmaceutical companies, oil and gas majors, global investment banks, and international organisations such as the UN and IMF. His expertise spans organisational design, operational improvement, mergers and acquisitions, and intelligent PMO delivery.