by Chip Cutter

The crisis engulfing Boston Consulting Group over its involvement with a humanitarian project in Gaza deepened Thursday when the firm announced two senior partners were stepping down from their leadership roles over their connection to the work.

The firm got involved last fall in an effort that became a widely criticized Israeli-backed aid-distribution initiative that resulted in hundreds of Palestinians being killed by troops. It has spiraled into the most significant crisis in BCG's roughly six-decade history.

Long-term clients are expressing outrage. Employees and BCG alumni are pointing fingers, asking how one of the best-known corporate advisory firms ever got involved in Gaza in the first place.

The project began as a pro-bono effort to help solve food-supply challenges in Gaza. The firm says it turned into an unauthorized project by two other partners against the firm's instructions. That work included a postwar financial model to voluntarily relocate Palestinians.

In the latest leadership shuffle, BCG's chief risk officer, Adam Farber, and the head of its social-impact practice, Rich Hutchinson, will no longer serve in those roles but remain as senior partners. According to people familiar with the matter, both were aware of early phases of the work.

Those moves follow the June firing of two partners, Matt Schlueter and Ryan Ordway, who BCG suggests essentially went rogue in the months after starting the project. Both Schlueter and Ordway had worked in BCG's public sector defense and security practice before being ousted.

Write to Chip Cutter at chip.cutter@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 10, 2025 17:25 ET (21:25 GMT)

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