Kearney

In 1926, James O. McKinsey founded his firm of "accountants and management engineers"; three years later he hired Tom Kearney as the first partner at McKinsey & Company. Upon McKinsey's sudden death in 1937, the remaining partners disagreed on how to best run the firm and by 1939, they had split into three organizations: Scovell, Wellington & Company, the accounting practice run by Oliver Wellington that McKinsey & Company had purchased before McKinsey's death; McKinsey, A.T. Kearney & Company, the Chicago consulting office run by Tom Kearney; and McKinsey & Company, run by Marvin Bower. In 1947, when Bower purchased the rights to the McKinsey name from Kearney, Tom renamed the firm after himself, creating A.T. Kearney and Company. In 1972, the name was 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. This is a specialized foresight and strategic analysis unit which 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 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 established its Seoul, Korea office (A.T. Kearney Korea LLC) and was acquired by the American information technology company EDS for $569 million. However, 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, affecting 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 bought Cervello, a business analytics and data management consultancy which had offices in Boston, Dallas, New York, London and Bangalore.

In November 2022, Kearney acquired Optano, a Germany-based software firm which worked on supply chain planning.

In January 2025 Kearney announced the acquisition of Germany-based project management firm Project Partners, specialized in SAP transformation and managing large IT projects, to further extend its portfolio.

In February 2025, Kearney announced the strategic acquisition of IMTEK Inc., a business consulting and systems integration company focused on services and solutions for supply chain planning and execution