Bouri Joins UMS as Senior Partner, Managing Director

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

George Bouri

George Bouri, a veteran corporate executive and management consultant, has joined Arlington, Va.-based UMS Advisory, Inc., as the real estate and facilities management consulting firm’s new senior partner and managing director.

“The first thing I’d like to tackle is to gain a deeper understanding of UMS Advisory, its people and client base,” Bouri told Commercial Property Executive. “While I know the leadership team, I haven’t met everyone else in the company just yet. My key priority is to take full stock of the scope of services we are delivering, the clients we are currently serving and the opportunities that may exist for us to improve on our current service offerings.”

In his new role, Bouri will be responsible for providing leadership for the firm across a broad range of areas, including driving growth strategies, spearheading key accounts, building client solutions and optimizing service offerings.

“George brings exceptional qualities as a leader, corporate executive, and as a transformation strategist. The combination of these qualities are hard to find in any top executive,” Rakesh Kishan, UMS Advisory’s president & executive managing director, told CPE. “But what made him especially a good fit for us was his ability to work effectively in our entrepreneurial culture, resonate effectively with our staff, and his drive and bold vision for our growth and potential in an increasingly globalized business environment.”

Bouri plans to address and implement changes over time, but said it would be a bit ambitious and presumptuous on his part to start addressing changes so early in the game. One early goal is delivering on his commitment to taking UMS Advisory to the next level.

“We’ve already achieved great success and I’m committed to elevating that success by working hard to make us a tier-one management-consulting firm with a broader remit than our current offerings,” Bouri said. “We’re looking forward to playing in the big leagues and meeting some big goals in the future.”

Bouri has more than 20 years of business transformation experience with a proven track record in leading companies to financial and operational success. Prior to joining UMS Advisory, he served as senior vice president of Global Shared Services Real Estate & Facilities for Time Warner Inc., and held senior management positions with Deloitte Consulting, Andersen Business Consulting, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett Packard and Richard Ellis (now CBRE).

“What I am looking forward to most from George is creative collaboration towards new approaches to strategy and transformation,” Kishan said. “The ability to collaborate effectively, think outside the box, and bring new, transformative solutions to clients is the most gratifying professional experience for management consultants like me. That I am looking forward to with relish.”

According to Bouri, having been both a client (at HP, Sun Micro and Time Warner) and a consultant (at Andersen, Deloitte and Richard Ellis), will help him with both perspectives when addressing client solutions and client needs.

“There is no one thing on my resume that will help me most.  I believe it’s the blending of the various experiences and roles that I have held throughout my career that uniquely qualify me for this role,” he added. “In addition to working with great people and blue chip clients, I’m really looking forward to being free of all of the shackles and constraints that come with operating within very large companies as I have done throughout my career. Working at UMS Advisory gives me the opportunity to be an entrepreneur and operate with more strategic agility.”