Nithya Vaduganathan

Nithya Vaduganathan is a leader in Boston Consulting Group’s People& Organization practice. She was most recently a fellow with BCG’s Henderson Institute concentrating on creating talent advantage. She has deep expertise across the entire education value chain, and functional expertise in new talent models, operating and organizational model redesign, and change management

Nithya helps executives rethink how they attract and retain talent. Her research includes how companies can meet pressing talent needs by tapping into a broader and more far-reaching set of talent sources— including external sources such as global sourcing, alumni, skilled freelancers, and corporate borrowing; and by identifying and unlocking the potential of internal hidden talent. She has partnered with Harvard Business School’s Managing the Future of Work project to complete an in-depth investigation of skilled freelancers and co-authored Rethinking the On-Demand Workforce, which was published in the Harvard Business Review. In December 2022, she gave a TED talk, “Five hiring tips that every company and job seeker should know.”

On the education side, Nithya co-leads BCG’s education work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, involving developing models for student success interventions including digital learning and advising. Nithya has supported higher education institutions with growth strategy, operating model and organizational redesign, and merger support. She has helped publishers and ed tech firms understand key market trends and reimagine their operating models in the face of digital disruption. Nithya’s early education and K-12 experience includes strategic planning and organizational redesign in districts including New Orleans (post-Katrina), Dallas, Atlanta, Memphis City-Shelby County, and Cleveland.