Himal is a trusted advisor to businesses and their leaders, known for transforming organizations and helping people for more than 40 years. He founded Fathom in 2004 believing that the traditional consulting model does not work for many organizations, particularly in the mid-market. Himal has served on private company boards and on the management teams of Fathom clients. He was publicly credited with creating the strategy that won the NBA franchise for the Toronto Raptors in a hotly contested franchise battle. Himal’s volunteer activity includes serving on the Board of Covenant House Toronto and on the Fundraising Committee there, as well as serving on the Board of the Bishop’s College School Foundation, where he was Chairman for six years. Born in the Himalayas, Himal has lived on three continents and came to Canada with his late parents as refugees of the Biafran war. Himal is an inveterate dog and music lover, an enthusiastic golfer, and a traveller at heart. An avid reader and follower of news and politics, Himal is also a dedicated HABS fan.

Prior to founding Fathom, Himal was Senior Vice President and Partner at Advance Planning & Communications for 10 years where, as part of a team of closely-knit partners, he helped to build and sell what was at the time, the largest independent PR firm in Canada. Before joining Advance Planning, Himal held progressively senior roles in the advertising agency business.

Himal tells his story this way:

“I didn’t set out to do any of this. As a Partner in the largest independent PR firm in Canada in the early 2000s, people started asking me to help them solve business problems.”

• My consumer & small business division is broken, it’s bleeding money, can you help me fix it? (Telecom President)

• We spent $400+ million to buy this business in the U.S., but the topline has been stuck in neutral for 3 years. Can you tell us what is going on and how to grow it? (Pension Fund CEO)

• What do I need to do to make this business attractive to an acquirer? (Manufacturing CEO & Founder)

“I was good at solving these problems, and more people kept coming. When we sold our PR firm to a large global player, the buyers looked at me and said: ‘You’re not in the PR business, you’re a management consultant, you don’t need to stay.’ I looked at them and said, ‘Well that’s good because I don’t want to stay!’

And so I was free but what to do? I had come to believe that conventional cookie-cutter consulting does not work for the mid-market. So I started Fathom Strategies to help people solve their growth problems in a better way.

That’s what I do. I help mid-market companies solve difficult growth problems and I have the great privilege of helping a lot of people along the way. It makes me happy. I’m the Unconsultant.”