Our Founder

Clifford Forrester

Founder & Principal, Vantara Consulting Group

More than 20 years as the senior technology executive inside law and accounting firms, as Chief Information Officer, Chief Digital Officer, and Chief Technology Officer. Clifford founded Vantara in 2026 to give professional services firms that same senior leadership on AI, without a full-time executive hire.

Former CTO · Jackson Lewis P.C. Former Chief Digital Officer · Citrin Cooperman Former CIO · Berdon LLP
Clifford Forrester, Founder and Principal of Vantara Consulting Group
Founder & PrincipalClifford Forrester
His Story

Built by someone who has sat in your seat

Clifford Forrester spent more than two decades inside professional services organizations as the technology executive responsible for making complex systems work, and making them compliant. As CTO at Jackson Lewis, one of the largest labor and employment law firms in the United States, he led enterprise technology strategy, digital transformation, and the firm's early AI initiatives at a time when most law firms were still debating whether AI was relevant.

Before founding Vantara, Clifford held CIO, CTO, and CDO roles at law firms and accounting firms, including CIO at Berdon LLP and Chief Digital Officer at Citrin Cooperman, giving him a rare vantage point: he understands the business model, the regulatory environment, the partnership structures, and the cultural dynamics that make AI transformation different in professional services than anywhere else.

That experience is the product. When Vantara engages with your firm, you're not getting a consultant who has read about your industry. You're getting a practitioner who has lived it, and who built Vantara specifically to deliver what he wished he'd had access to as a client.

Former Employers
Jackson Lewis P.C. · Citrin Cooperman · Berdon LLP
Roles Held
CTO · CIO · CDO · CAIO
Experience
20+ Years
Based In
New York, NY
“Firms don't need more AI hype. They need someone who has run the technology, answered to the partners, and kept the firm compliant, and who will do the same for them.”
Our Journey

A career of building.
A firm built to deliver.

1998
Enterprise Technology Career Begins
Clifford begins a technology leadership career inside professional services organizations, building the operational and strategic experience that would define Vantara's approach two decades later.
2013
First CIO Role, Law Firm
Takes on the first Chief Information Officer role at a law firm, gaining deep experience in the intersection of legal practice management, data governance, and enterprise technology strategy.
2018
CIO at Berdon LLP
Appointed Chief Information Officer at Berdon LLP, a New York accounting and advisory firm. Leads technology strategy, infrastructure, and security in a regulated professional services environment.
2022
Chief Digital Officer at Citrin Cooperman
Appointed Chief Digital Officer at Citrin Cooperman, one of the largest accounting and advisory firms in the United States. Leads digital strategy and transformation as the firm grows through private equity–backed expansion.
2022
The AI Inflection Point
The emergence of generative AI, and the flood of ungoverned AI tools entering professional services firms, makes clear that the market needs a different kind of AI partner: one with the compliance expertise and implementation experience to make AI safe, defensible, and real.
2024
CTO at Jackson Lewis P.C.
Appointed Chief Technology Officer at Jackson Lewis, one of the nation's largest labor and employment law firms. Leads enterprise AI strategy, digital transformation, and technology governance for a firm with hundreds of attorneys across multiple offices.
2026
Vantara Consulting Group LLC Founded
Vantara Consulting Group is established in New York with a singular focus: AI strategy, governance, and implementation for professional services firms in the middle market. GovernanceLift™ is developed as the firm's flagship proprietary framework.
2026
Partner Network Established
Strategic technology partnerships formed with ChangePond and Intellect Technologies, giving Vantara a global delivery capability.
Let's build something that lasts

Meet the practitioner
behind the work.

Talk through your firm's goals and where AI can genuinely move the needle, with someone who has been in your seat and knows exactly what it takes.