DIVERSITYINC
Q&A
BY SAM ALI
DELOIT TE CONSULTING U.S. CEO PUNIT RENJEN
People Are
Dif ferentiator
Greatthe
Halfway through his interview, Punit Renjen, marking his one-year anniversary as chairman and chief executive officer of Deloitte Consulting in the United States, turns the tables and starts asking
the questions. (Deloitte is No. 25 in The 2010 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies
for Diversity®.)
“Do you love your job?” Renjen wants to know. “If you do, you’re lucky. I believe a very small percentage of humanity falls into that bucket. And this is pure conjec- ture on my part, not based on any scientific data. I believe a slightly larger percent falls into the second bucket that I happened to fall into. I fell into my career and taught myself to love it.” In October, Renjen was tapped to lead the U.S. consult- ing business within the global accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, which employs 170,000. Renjen, who lives in Portland, Ore., with his fam- ily, admits he did not fully understand what a consult- ing career entailed or what he was getting into when he joined Deloitte 24 years ago, but he has thrived. He came to the United States from his native India when he was 21 years old on a prestigious Rotary Foundation Scholarship in 1984. He earned his MBA from Willamette University and was hired straight out of graduate school to work at Touche Ross, Deloitte’s predecessor firm. Renjen currently serves on Deloitte’s board of direc- tors and the firm’s global consulting executive commit- tee. Renjen’s philanthropic endeavors favor education.
In addition to volunteering with his wife at their son’s
school in Oregon, Renjen leads several other Deloitte
partners in a charity in India focused on improving literary skills for young women and girls. He also serves on
the board at his alma mater.
DiversityInc talked to Renjen about his new job, his
passion for his work and the legacy he wants to leave
behind for his 6-year-old son. Here are some excerpts
from the interview:
THE IMPORTANCE OF DIVERSITY
“For a firm like ours, it is absolutely critical for us to be very adept around diversity, around accepting, embracing and leveraging diverse
opinions and perspectives. It is who we are and it makes
us much better as a firm. Quite frankly, I am Exhibit A in
that sense. If you look at the top leadership at Deloitte,
it’s well represented from a diversity perspective. It is
central to who we are, and in a rapidly globalizing world,
it is a must-do. Let me give you a couple of economic
reasons. China and India, in particular, and Brazil are
where the growth is.
“Deloitte has committed $500 million to grow its
