Consulting Magazine Honors Amy McJoynt as a 2026 Women Leader in Consulting
Amy McJoynt, Centric's Chicago practice lead, is a 2026 Women Leaders in Consulting honoree for leading a three-year enterprise consolidation program.
Danielle Maldonado was recognized as one of five Diversity Champions for transforming Centric Consulting’s inclusion and belonging strategy into a measurable, companywide model.
When Centric Consulting’s talent acquisition lead, Danielle Maldonado, stepped up to lead Centric Together — Centric’s inclusion and belonging strategy — the volunteer-led effort lacked a consistent way to measure progress. But Maldonado transformed it into a governed model embedded in the firm’s operations, earning recognition as a Diversity Champion in Consulting Magazine’s 2026 Women Leaders in Consulting awards.
To first understand where momentum had stalled and what employees needed next, she held structured sessions with group leaders and analyzed engagement surveys and employee feedback. Based on those findings, Maldonado merged a separate diversity, equity, and inclusion function into Centric Together and replaced the council-and-ambassador model with 11 advisors who represented operating groups and the global team.
She also engaged an independent research and advisory firm to establish the program’s first external benchmark, grounding the work in objective data.
“Danielle continues to strengthen inclusion and belonging across Centric by bringing it into the way we work every day,” said Centric CEO Larry English. “Through her leadership, more employees are connecting through employee resource and community groups, and we’re seeing measurable progress. This recognition is well deserved and speaks to the impact of her work.”
Today, six employee resource groups (ERGs) operate with standardized annual plans and dedicated budgets, while seven community groups extend that sense of connection across the firm. More than 380 employees belong to these communities, and roughly 71 percent are connected to Centric Together.
Maldonado brings nearly two decades of global talent leadership to this work. At Centric, she unified a decentralized recruiting approach into a single enterprise function, introducing the firm’s first internal mobility process and talent community. She also led the adoption of an AI-powered hiring platform and regularly speaks about AI and the future of talent acquisition.
“I came into this field because I saw how much a single opportunity can change the trajectory of someone’s life,” Maldonado said.
Early in her career, a mentor shared a line from author Suzy Kassem that has stayed with her: “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.” The message encouraged Maldonado to embrace new challenges.
“Almost everything meaningful in my career began that way, including the inclusion work I lead today,” she said.
Maldonado is quick to share the recognition with her colleagues. “This work is rarely done alone,” she said. “The advisors, ERG leaders, and volunteers who build community at Centric do so alongside demanding full-time roles, with a commitment that extends well beyond their day-to-day responsibilities.”
See the full list of 2026 Women Leaders in Consulting honorees.
