Charlotte, N.C. – May 12, 2011 – Big Sky Associates, a leading management consulting firm, today announced that John M. Dillard Jr., president and co-founder, has been presented the 2011 Distinguished Young Alumni Award by the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina.

The Distinguished Young Alumni Award is the highest honor that the Moore School of Business bestows. Dillard (MIBS, ‘99), who co-founded Big Sky with fellow alumnus Hanno Ekdahl (MIBS ‘99), will be recognized today at the Moore School of Business Leadership Dinner and Awards Program. Mr. Dillard has worked as a consultant to both private and public organizations in a range of industries including research and development, defense, manufacturing, airlines, automotive and financial services. As a senior leader at Big Sky, Mr. Dillard has built close relationships with some of the most senior leaders in Federal Government, where he has helped clients transform their R&D programs, launch new organizations, transform complex global processes and prioritize hundreds of millions of dollars of technology projects. Mr. Dillard began his career as an intelligence analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency and served as a Reserve Intelligence Officer in the U.S. Navy.

This latest recognition adds to the list of prestigious awards Big Sky’s team members have received within the last 12 months. In 2010, Big Sky team members were awarded the U.S. Army Commander’s Award for Public Service, one of the highest civilian honors the Army can bestow, for exceptional performance while assisting the Army in streamlining a complex, global process that involved millions of soldiers and civilians and hundreds of millions of dollars. The team’s efforts helped revolutionize the Army’s security clearance process and reduced processing time by 80 percent, resulting in dramatic cost savings and establishing a centralized, standardized and automated solution for processing security clearances.

In addition, Big Sky was recognized as the 7th fastest growing company in the Charlotte, N.C., region by the Charlotte Business Journal Fast 50 of 2010. Big Sky has a 3-year average growth rate of 87 percent by providing services that help its clients dramatically reduce costs and transform strategic operations.

Big Sky Associates, Inc., a leading management consulting firm, provides independent, evidence-based advisory services to Fortune 1000 and government executives. Focused on helping clients make better decisions faster, Big Sky provides decision analysis, process improvement, and technology strategy for public and private organizations including Federal agencies, financial institutions, healthcare organizations, and other Fortune 1000 companies.  Big Sky team members have received the U.S. Army Commander’s Award for Public Service and since its founding in 2006, Big Sky has been recognized as one of the fastest growing companies headquartered in Charlotte, N.C. For more information, visit www.bigskyassociates.com