Denison Consulting starts strong in 2025 | Article

Denison Consulting is built on professional development, with students learning to scope and manage projects, serve clients, work as a team, and communicate and present their recommendations effectively.

The program is open to all students, regardless of their major. However, they must apply and can be promoted — or not — based on their performance.

Students earn stipends as interns and work in groups of five or six. Each team is paired with a partner-in-residence, a professional consultant who mentors and offers advice but allows the students to lead each project.

“I want the students to have an authentic management consulting experience through Denison Consulting,” partner-in-residence Rosa Ailabouni said. “This gives students an opportunity to think through real-world business challenges and positions students for future internships and careers in consulting firms and industry.”

At each project’s conclusion, “Students have to deliver and defend their recommendations to the client and answer hard questions that show what they have learned about the company and the industry,” she said.

Ailabouni has worked in management consulting for over 20 years in the U.S. and abroad, and owns RMA Strategies, LLC, a boutique firm that specializes in guiding businesses through the people-centric side of adopting new IT tools and technologies headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. She has supported Denison Consulting for four semesters.

“I love working with students,” she said. “I like to observe their growth and understanding of the project and industry during the semester. It is exciting to hear and challenge the way they think about client problems, and work with them on client recommendations.

“Who knows, one of my students could go on to become the CEO of a big company,” Ailabouni said. “I hope that one day they’ll lean on some of the lessons they have learned during my time with them on a Denison Consulting project. This is professional development at its finest.”

Mike Russell ’93, a managing director and senior digital transformation executive at Accenture Song in New York City, is another of the program’s partners-in-residence.

He is impressed by Denison Consulting and the college’s commitment to career development.

“What I see now is next-level and a real differentiator,” Russell said. “It’s another example where Denison punches above its weight.”

“All the stuff we do every day at Accenture, the students are doing as part of our projects,” Russell said. “There is no better way to learn than to actually do the work. The value is in the experience and the experience prepares Denison students for what working with clients and working on a diverse team is like.”

In addition to consulting, the Red Frame Lab offers immersive workshops, startup programs, pitch competitions, alumni entrepreneur summits, and one-on-one coaching. It is also the home of Red Corps, a unique on-campus consulting arm in which students work to address the needs and concerns of various campus partners with the aim of improving student life.

Swiggett knows that even if he eventually pursues a career other than consulting, the lessons he is learning will benefit him regardless.

“My experience has been nothing short of incredible,” Swiggett said. “There are countless skills you learn that can be applied to the general workspace. I’ve learned that one of the major determining factors of how your project will turn out is the way you run your team.

“From communicating, scheduling, workload management, and the overall drive of your members, all of these things are crucial for these projects and the real world.”