Denis McFarlane is the founder of Infinitive, the data and AI consultancy in Ashburn, Virginia, and a former Accenture consultant who started the firm in 2003 with, in his words, only “a business name and a computer” (Profiles in Success).
Paper Routes, Cookies, and Andersen Consulting
McFarlane grew up with a father who told him to “play the game,” which he came to read as playing by the rules and making sure the teachers, clients, or employees around him were happy (Profiles in Success). He had a paper route as a boy, and at Catholic University he ran a mailbox installation business and a cookie delivery service called Big Dens, Big Cookies (Profiles in Success).
He credits the cookie business with helping him land a job at Andersen Consulting after graduation, and he stayed through its change to Accenture for 12 years, focusing on small company issues (Profiles in Success).
Starting Infinitive in 2003
He left Accenture in 2003 with a six-month client contract and used that time to set a marketing plan, sign more work, and hire; within a year the firm had ten employees (Profiles in Success). About two years in he recruited Phil Kyle, an Accenture colleague, as his partner, and by 2006 and 2007 the team had grown past 70 people (Profiles in Success). “It’s okay to not know everything before you start,” he said in 2011, adding that he had waited too long for the perfect moment (Profiles in Success).
In November 2024 he announced he would move from CEO to executive chairman and asked Kyle, then COO, to become CEO, saying he would focus on networking, client and partner development, and coaching (Phil Kyle on LinkedIn; Denis McFarlane on LinkedIn). Infinitive’s October 2026 LinkedIn post on its Consulting Magazine ranking calls him founder and CEO and quotes him: “when Infinitivians are empowered, heard and trusted, great things happen” (Infinitive on LinkedIn).