It's been a crazy 18 months for Dan McCaw -- and that's even before he takes over on May 1 as global chief executive officer of the world's biggest human resources consulting firm.
Winnipeg-born Mr. McCaw had moved to New York from Toronto in the fall of 2000 to run William M. Mercer Ltd.'s U.S. operations -- just in time to catch the economic slowdown.
He was working in Mercer's midtown Manhattan headquarters on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorist-guided planes flew into the World Trade Center's twin towers. About 80 of his own employees were in the second tower, and they all escaped with their lives.
Some of the worst traumas, he says, were experienced by employees in his midtown office who had a clear view as the second plane plowed into the building where their colleagues were working.
"You sense that you've got a bunch of good people in good times," Mr. McCaw says. "You know you have a bunch of good people when they react the way they did through those events."
Now, Mr. McCaw, 54 and a 29-year company veteran, is poised to take command of Mercer's global HR consulting operations in the midst of the Enron Corp. scandal, and more upheaval in his industry.
This time, Mercer might be a beneficiary. One result of the Enron fallout is that the big accounting firms will have to split off their consulting business from their audit function, he says.
This consulting work has often involved human resources and employment benefits business, which is Mercer's bread-and-butter.
Some of that business may now move his way, Mr. McCaw acknowledges.
In addition, "we may see some good people look to change firms, and some of these things being spun off into smaller firms."
To add to this momentum of change, Mr. McCaw is also presiding over subtle adjustments in the branding of William M. Mercer, which was founded by Vancouver actuary William Manson Mercer in the mid-1940s.
The firm has been owned since 1959 by insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Cos. of New York.
Starting today, William M. Mercer Ltd. becomes Mercer Human Resource Consulting, a name that Mr. McCaw says better reflects the full range of services, which extend beyond actuarial and benefits work to broader human resources consulting.
For Canadian employees of the firm, dropping the founder's first name is not a big deal, he insists, but "it would certainly be a big deal if somebody suggested dropping 'Mercer.' "
Any marketing benefit is welcome at Mercer, which last year experienced revenue growth of about 7 to 8 per cent globally, but only 4 per cent in the key U.S. market, where it does 50 per cent of its business.
Total global revenue amounted to about $1.9-billion (U.S.) last year. The firm employs more than 13,000 people in 39 countries, including 1,500 in Canada.
Mr. McCaw, who began his Mercer career as an actuary in 1973, is forecasting revenue growth in the high single-digit percentages this year. But hiring increases, which were robust in the nineties, will be in the low single digits.
Some parts are doing better than others. Retirement and pension consulting seems resilient to economic upheaval, but clients see other services, such as compensation and employee communications advice, as more discretionary spending.
Mr. McCaw took his commerce degree from University of Manitoba, and worked briefly for a life insurance company in Toronto before moving over to Mercer.
He headed the Toronto office from 1981 to 1984, and became president of the Canadian company in 1987.
Mr. McCaw, whose brother David is a human resources vice-president with Toronto-Dominion Bank, says his biggest challenge now as global CEO is to strengthen Mercer as a global firm, which in his mind means providing seamless consulting services to its multinational clients, no matter in which country they're operating.
Part of that process is unfolding this week in Montreal, where Mr. McCaw is hosting a three-day annual partners meeting, in which 225 of the firm's most senior people wrestle with how to be more of an internationally integrated firm.
Asked for his career-advancement secrets, he says that in the consulting business, it is important to focus on two things -- your clients and your employees.
"When you come in every morning and you have a to-do list, if there is anything that doesn't directly affect your clients or your people, put it at the bottom of your list. Get to it if you get everything else done that day -- and if you do that every day, it seems to work out."
Mr. McCaw, who lives in Manhattan with his wife, has learned over the past 18 months that Canadians and Americans are very similar in how they do business, but there are subtle differences in their attitudes.
"Americans tend to be a little less conservative and, in their outlook on life, a little more entrepreneurial."
It sounds like another expatriate bad-mouthing his native country. But Mr. McCaw points out that he's an actuary, which means he has an inherent bias in favour of conservatism.