shortened to A.T. Kearney. A.T. Kearney opened its first international office in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1964. Its first office in Asia was opened in 1972, in Tokyo, Japan. Kearney established its Global Business Policy Council in 1992. The Council is a specialized foresight and strategic analysis unit that conducts research and analysis. It regularly ranks near the top of the University of Pennsylvania's list of best for-profit private-sector think tanks; it was ranked fourth globally in 2020. The Council also hosts and an annual CEO Retreat, whose attendees include prominent academic, corporate, and government thought leaders. Membership is by invitation only, and current members may veto the invitation of competitors. In 1995, A.T. Kearney was acquired by the American information technology company EDS for $569 million. The purchase of a successful management consultancy by an IT services group was unprecedented, but initially financially successful, with Kearney's revenue tripling in five years to reach an industry-leading $1.3 billion by 2000. However, the firms experienced some culture clash: the Financial Times later described a clash between "A.T. Kearney's individualistic, entrepreneurial style and the more bureaucratic approach of EDS." These tensions peaked when the dotcom bubble burst, impacting both companies results. EDS eventually shed hundreds of jobs at A.T. Kearney, reduced compensation, consolidated back-office functions, and eventually relocated A.T. Kearney's headquarters from Chicago to Plano, Texas. By mid-2005, A.T. Kearney had experienced 11 straight quarters of shrinking revenues, including being unprofitable the final three quarters. In 2006, A.T. Kearney CEO Henner Klein and the consultancy's management struck a deal with EDS CEO Michael Jordan to buy the firm back, and A.T. Kearney was once again an independent firm. In 2019, Kearney acquired Cervello, a business analytics and data management consultancy that had offices in Boston, Dallas, New York, London and Bangalore. Cervello's focus areas include enterprise performance management, data management, business intelligence and CRM. References External links Official site 1926 establishments in Illinois Consulting firms established in 1926 International management consulting firms Companies based in Chicago Privately held companies based in Illinois Management consulting firms of the United States