Our people
Our team combines decades of experience working successfully in professional services, in-house roles both as employees and secondees, and as independent contractors.
Partners are supported by a senior team which has been selected to provide a complementary range of leading expertise across key domain areas of risk, backed up with extensive track records of successful client engagement delivery and satisfaction. Its assembly also reflects our previous career experience of working with one another - we already know and trust each other's strengths and capabilities.
Matt Elkington
Managing Partner
Matt is the co-founder and Managing Partner of MERC & CO. A highly experienced risk consultant focused on quality and innovation, he has been successfully partnering with clients to enhance their management of risk in a career spanning 25 years.
Across the primary disciplines of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), resilience and compliance, Matt has worked with an extensive range of UK based and international clients across the majority of industry sectors, with widely varying size and corporate structures.
The scope of his support is similarly broad and has ranged from leading delivery of multi-year ERM transformation programmes with major global organisations both on secondment and as an external consultant, development coaching of incumbent heads of risk and compliance, to bespoke advice in areas such as predictive risk analytics, integrated risk, resilience and compliance frameworks, AI leverage and scenario modelling.
Previously Matt led the UK corporate risk advisory practice for over a decade at a major global professional services firm.
Areas of expertise
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Enterprise Risk Management
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Operational Risk Management
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Third Party Risk Management
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Compliance
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Operational Resilience
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Business Continuity Management
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Internal Controls
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Corporate Governance
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Insurance
Sector experience
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Construction & Engineering
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Financial Services
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Life Sciences
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Manufacturing
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Metals & Mining
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Oil & Gas
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Petrochemicals
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Power & Utilities
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Public Sector
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Real Estate
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Retail & Consumer Goods
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Technology, Media & Telecoms
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Transportation

Ross Olding
Partner
Following a successful decade at a major global professional services firm, Ross became a co-founding Partner of MERC & CO in 2019.
Recognised for his agility in working across a uniquely broad domain of expertise and industry sectors, Ross supports his clients by helping them solve their most complex risk and compliance challenges. This can range from leading strategically important transformation programmes to providing more tactical interventions and advice directed at acute areas requiring remediation and improvement, with compliance risk management and control library development being notable areas of expertise.
Ross's experience of holding in-house roles as the interim risk and compliance lead for several large organisations has taught him the importance of offering clear, actionable and practical advice as an external consultant. Working across many different industries and geographies has also afforded Ross the opportunity to observe leading practices in a variety of fields, which his clients can also learn and benefit from.
Ross is also a chartered accountant and MERC & CO's CFO.
Areas of expertise
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Enterprise Risk Management
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Third Party Risk Management
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Compliance
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Anti-bribery and corruption
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Fraud
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Internal controls
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SOX / JSOX
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Programme assurance / Internal audit
Sector experience
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Construction & Engineering
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Financial Services
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Life Sciences
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Metals & Mining
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Oil & Gas
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Power & Utilities
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Public Sector
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Real Estate
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Retail & Consumer Goods
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Technology, Media & Telecoms
