The Temple Consulting Club leadership includes (from left) students Hassan Volcy-Ndiaye ’25, director of community affairs, Meriel Nguyen ’25, director of internal communications, Brynne Gaffney ’26, director of external communications, Colin Cross ’25, president, Prachi Patel ’26, director of finance, Sam Usherenko ’24, chief technology officer, and Eli Nassif ’26, vice president. (Photo by Delia Joyce)
Within minutes of meeting accounting major Colin Cross, it’s evident that he is proud to serve as president of the Temple Consulting Club, a Student Professional Organization (SPO) at the Fox School of Business.
“I am so thrilled of where our organization is currently at, but even more excited for the future,” Cross says. “Our leadership has put in an immense amount of hard work and guidance into helping us achieve growth and opportunities for our members like we’ve never had before.
“We’ve reached a point where we are expanding our impact and reach to some of the top companies in and around the Philadelphia region.”
If you were Cross, you’d be enthusiastic, too.
As one of the many SPOs at the Fox School, the Consulting Club prides itself on providing real-world preparedness and experience to its members.
Originating as a side project by students at the Fox School in the late 2010s, the organization, led by Cross and his leadership team, now hosts a growing number of members and offers some of the strongest connections and tangible experience students can find with an SPO.
A keystone of membership to the club is participation in the group’s project teams. Comprised of students of varying class years, the teams are instituted at the beginning of each semester and then paired with an actual business or nonprofit organization within the Philadelphia region. Once assigned to a company, the student team will provide the organization with pro-bono consulting work to provide reports, research and aid in solving business challenges across the semester.
“The project teams offer our members an invaluable way for them to gain exposure within the consulting industry,” Cross says. “We are dedicated to providing our students with a way to take what lessons they’ve learned in the classroom about the industry and make it applicable in a professional setting.”
This initiative, molded by the group’s north star of “bridging experience with opportunity,” allows the SPO to provide members with the tools, insights and knowledge necessary to excel within the consulting industry.
As an additional perk of the project teams, students often leave the semester with strong networks forged.
Photo by Delia Joyce
As an additional perk of the project teams, students often leave the semester with strong networks forged.
“While the chance to do the consulting work is great, the experience has led our members to have a chance to do an actual internship or be invited to participate in a job interview with the company they did this work for,” Cross says.
“We’ve done work for Fortune 500 companies, top private companies and nonprofit organizations—it brings me and my fellow club leadership joy to see our team’s hard work allow our members to find connections and opportunities through what we’ve accomplished.”
The SPO also prides itself on offering other key resources and events for its members. These include hosting consulting industry leaders as guest speakers and networking/recruiting nights like “Meet the Firm,” a reoccurring series which included Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey & Company last semester. Earlier this semester, the SPO hosted recruiting events with Deloitte and PwC.
The Fox community has taken notice of the club’s activeness, too.
“I am delighted to see what the Consulting Club has evolved into across the past few semesters here at Fox,” says Dennis Paris, an associate professor of practice in the marketing department and faculty advisor for the club.
“The group provides critical exposure to and training for entering the world of consulting. Students are enabled to include the value-added experience of team-based consulting assignments to their job seeking and interview portfolio, offering them an edge when competing for positions against other candidates.”
As the SPO anticipates another productive academic year ahead, Cross considers the club’s evolution continuing well into the future, even beyond his tenure of leadership.
“I know the club will be in great hands beyond when I graduate next May,” Cross says. “I am proud of the place where my team and I have gotten the club to and look forward to seeing new leadership continue its development and upward trajectory.”
He recognizes participation in the club can be an important part of a student’s overall Fox experience.
Photo by Delia Joyce
“At the core, our SPO offers students a chance to get involved and become passionate about developing their skills and insights for their future professional endeavors—that, to me, aligns with what the mission of Fox is.”