About
Senior thinking. Hands-on partnership. Lasting impact.
YellowRock Consulting is an independent strategy and transformation advisory, founded in London in 2015.
Our approach connects strategy with the realities of delivery.
We work with executive teams to address complex business challenges, from growth and innovation to organisational redesign, change and leadership development.
We help clients decide what matters, design how the business should work, mobilise the people who will make it happen and establish the governance and capabilities needed to sustain progress.
We work through focused teams that combine senior leadership with relevant specialist expertise. Rather than relying on a fixed methodology, we adapt the work to the organisation, its context and the decisions that need to be made.
What makes us different
Four commitments our clients can hold us to.
- 01
Strategy and execution together
We connect commercial choices with organisational design, governance, performance and adoption.
- 02
Senior-led, collaborative delivery
Clients work closely with experienced advisers, not a large rotating delivery pyramid.
- 03
Comfort with complexity
Our experience spans multinational organisations, regulated industries, matrix structures and multi-country programmes.
- 04
Capabilities that stay
We build practical tools, ways of working and leadership confidence rather than leaving behind recommendations alone.
Founder
Ayse Sarikaya
Founder & Managing Director
Ayse Sarikaya is the founder and Managing Director of YellowRock Consulting. She brings more than 20 years of experience, combining executive advisory work with hands-on delivery across global organisations. Her work spans healthcare, MedTech, pharmaceuticals, financial services, payments, consumer businesses and advanced materials.
Before founding YellowRock, Ayse was a Manager at McKinsey & Company and Acting Head of Digital Strategy at Visa Europe, where she helped shape innovation priorities and commercial execution across European markets. At YellowRock, she has led multidisciplinary teams on enterprise transformation, operating-model and organisation redesign, innovation governance, growth strategy and leadership-enabled change.
Ayse holds an MBA from London Business School and Columbia Business School and a BSc in Industrial Engineering from Koç University, where she graduated first in her class on a full scholarship. Her executive education includes INSEAD’s Transforming Your Business with AI and Cambridge Judge Business School’s Circular Economy and Sustainability Strategies.
She works directly with leadership teams and brings together specialist collaborators where projects require broader capabilities. Her approach is analytical, collaborative and grounded in implementation.
Career
- 2015–todayFounder & Managing DirectorYellowRock Consulting, London
- 2012–2014Acting Head of Digital StrategyVisa Europe
- 2005–2012Business Analyst to ManagerMcKinsey & Company, London and Istanbul
Education
- MBALondon Business School · Columbia Business SchoolMaster of Business Administration
- BScKoç UniversityIndustrial Engineering, first in class
- 2026INSEADTransforming Your Business with AI
- Exec. ed.Cambridge Judge Business SchoolCircular Economy and Sustainability Strategies
Earlier career
McKinsey & Company, 2005–2012.
Selected work from Ayse’s time at McKinsey, before she founded YellowRock.
Ayse rose from Business Analyst to Manager, working with executive teams in financial services, telecommunications, technology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, retail and consumer goods. Her work combined corporate and growth strategy with practical organisational change.
- i.
Strategy, growth and commercial transformation
Developed a five-year strategy for a major retail bank after its partnership with an international financial-services group. Also helped create a new banking business unit, from proposition design and distribution to organisation, recruitment and training.
- ii.
Operating models, governance and delivery
Led the programme management office for a major UK retail bank’s commercial transformation, covering organisational redesign, end-to-end processes, governance and execution planning. Further work included retail post-merger integration and healthcare operating models.
- iii.
People, leadership and organisational capability
Designed a talent development and retention programme for a major telecommunications group across five markets, and supported selection, coaching and training as banks launched new business units and channels.
- iv.
Digital, customer and healthcare strategy
Developed customer lifecycle initiatives for a European telecoms operator with more than 25 million subscribers. In healthcare, built the business case and operating model for a proposed NHS organisation, and supported service improvements for UK blood and transplant services.
Sector experience
Sector knowledge informs our work, but the problems we solve often cut across industries.
- 01
MedTech & healthcare
Operating models, R&D governance and launch excellence
- 02
Pharmaceuticals & life sciences
Development governance and operating-model change
- 03
Advanced materials & industrials
Growth strategy, go-to-market and integration
- 04
Financial services & payments
Digital product strategy and market entry
- 05
Consumer businesses
Market entry, growth and retail integration
- 06
Energy
Sustainability strategy and roadmaps
- 07
Education
Organisation design and leadership