Teneo
Firm Overview
Teneo is the global CEO advisory firm. We partner with our clients globally to do great things for a better future.
Drawing upon our global team and expansive network of senior advisors, we provide advisory services across our five business segments on a stand-alone or fully integrated basis to help our clients solve complex business challenges. Our clients include a significant number of the Fortune 100 and FTSE 100, as well as other corporations, financial institutions and organizations.
Our full range of advisory services includes strategic communications, investor relations, financial transactions and restructuring, management consulting, physical and cyber risk, organizational design, board and executive search, geopolitics and government affairs, corporate governance, ESG and DE&I.
The firm has more than 1,600 employees located in 40+ offices around the world.
Established in 2012, Teneo’s Middle East and Africa geography is led by Senior Managing Director Nicholas McDonagh. Benefitting from the deep regional experience within our diverse team, we are proud to advise some of the region’s leading companies and institutions, offering globally integrated services across all of Teneo’s verticals. Our regional team of 120+ colleagues from 18 nationalities provides our clients with full, in-house Arabic language capabilities for all requirements.
The Team
Nicholas McDonagh
Senior Managing Director, UAE
Teneo
Prior to joining Teneo, Nicholas McDonagh was a Partner with the global communications firm, Finsbury, where he was the head of their Middle East & Africa business, based in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. During this time, Nicholas worked on a broad range of communications challenges and issues across the wider Middle East and Africa region, including corporate, financial, political and crisis communications.
Nicholas joined Finsbury in 2011 after a prior 15 years in the global private equity and investment banking industry. He has considerable international experience advising companies from a financial standpoint, as well as investing in a range of industries and acting on the board of directors.
In 2008, Nicholas moved to Dubai to become a fund manager and Managing Director with a UAE-based private equity group focusing on investments across the Middle East region.
Nicholas joined Deutsche Bank’s Australian private equity team in Sydney in 2001, and in 2006, he co-led the management buy-out of part of this business into an independent early and growth stage private equity funds management company, Accede Capital.
Before joining the private equity industry, Nicholas worked with Deutsche Bank in London, New York and Singapore within the global strategic acquisitions, investments and corporate development group. During this time, Nicholas worked on many of Deutsche Bank’s large global acquisitions, investments, joint ventures and strategic initiatives in the USA, Europe and Asia.
Nicholas studied business at Trinity College, University of Dublin, Ireland and undertook the third year of studies at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.
Kevin Roland
Managing Director, UAE
Teneo
Kevin Roland advises Teneo’s global executive clientele on strategic priorities, to include building and executing government relations, public affairs, political and economic risk, and crisis preparedness and response efforts across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and North America. Kevin established Teneo’s Middle East and Africa office in Dubai in April 2012, has served as COO of Teneo’s International division, and helped establish the firm’s Risk Advisory practice. His clients span energy, petrochemicals, mining/minerals, industrial, finance, transport, technology, hospitality, and retail sectors.
Prior to joining Teneo, Kevin served with distinction in the Foreign Service of the United States Department of State. His front-line diplomatic roles traversed issues of political, economic, and security affairs, with postings in Northern Ireland, Iraq, Egypt, South Africa, Jordan, and the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in Washington, D.C. Kevin served as Staff Assistant to then Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, William J. Burns, during which time he traveled extensively to Middle East capitals and international fora and engaged with regional leaderships on the U.S.’ top policy and national security priorities. Kevin earned multiple State Department Superior and Meritorious Honor awards for his service.
Kevin is an alumnus of the Foreign Service Institute’s Advanced Arabic Language Field School in Tunis, Tunisia, and has received several State Department Superior and Meritorious Honor awards for his service. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Kevin worked in finance and banking in the Baltimore, Maryland region.
Kevin received a B.A. in international studies and economics from Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland.