Meet Lloyd

Lloyd Howell Jr. is Booz Allen’s chief financial officer. He is responsible for the firm’s financial statements, capital structure, and related financial operations. Prior to his current role, he led many Booz Allen’s business units during his nearly 30 years at the firm.

Lloyd’s federal clients included the U.S. Department of Treasury and its bureaus, Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Reserve, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and Commodity Futures Trade Commission. His commercial clients included companies within the top 50 global financial institutions and significant stock exchanges.

Lloyd joined Booz Allen in 1988 to provide systems engineering support to multiple Department of Defense (DOD) satellite programs. Between 1991 and 1995, he took a leave of absence to earn an M.B.A. from Harvard University, and then was an associate in Goldman Sachs’ investment banking division.

In 1995, he returned to Booz Allen as a member of the strategy and organization team where he focused on DOD clients, specifically the Navy/Marine Corps, Army, and Office of the Secretary of Defense. Among his many leadership roles since then, Lloyd led the firm’s Strategy and Organization practice supporting both international and domestic commercial and public sector clients. He was the client service officer of the financial services account. In addition, he led Booz Allen’s civil and commercial business. Lloyd has served on the firm’s leadership team since 2007.

In 2021, Lloyd was elected to the board of directors for Moody’s Corporation. He is also a member of the Washington Economics Club and serves as a trustee at the University of Pennsylvania and on the Board of Overseers of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Lloyd holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from Harvard University. He received the Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA) in 2011 and was the winner of the BEYA organization’s Professional Leadership in Industry award in 2010.

Why is Booz Allen an ideal firm for someone with your expertise and skills? There’s an opportunity to learn a lot of different things. Certainly, over the course of my career, starting out in more of a technical capacity, then morphing into a combination of technical-managerial-financial, to now one that’s primarily financial. All that opportunity would be available to a prospective candidate.

What are the greatest challenges you face in this role? Addressing and managing surprises. Usually not-so-pleasant surprises: A canceled contract, a government shutdown, a loss, things of that sort. What are the financial impacts and ripples? That’s one category of surprise. On the other side of the coin is a positive one. There’s a plus up in the budget and how to account for and accommodate that financial good news. It’s a good surprise, but it’s still something that needs to be accounted for.

Where do you see Booz Allen in the next 100 years? I would hope that Booz Allen is still working on or engaged with exciting, important areas and topics. I’d hope that the workforce of Booz Allen is creative, diverse, and excited about the work they perform. Financially, I’d hope that the company is growing profitably and on a very solid financial foundation. From a capabilities standpoint, I’d hope that the firm is seen as a resource of great intellectual capital and work that improves the world.

What are your three tips for managing and motivating people? Mastery of the content. Do they know their stuff? Their functional expertise? Their ability to communicate effectively—whether that’s to get information or to be persuasive. And that they have something to say, that they’re an active contributor to the discussion, the dialogue, the debate.

What mentorship advice would you give to someone who just took on a new leadership role? Exceed expectations.