After months of bitter wrangling, an international arbitrator has ruled that Andersen Consulting will be allowed to break away from its parent company, Arthur Andersen.

Now it is up to Mr Joe Forehand, chief executive and managing partner of the consulting group, to maintain the structure and success of the newly independent company, which must change its name at the end of the year.

The arbitrator, appointed by the International Chamber of Commerce, ruled that Andersen Consulting had to change its name, but it could leave its parent without paying the $14.5 billion in damages Andersen Worldwide had demanded. Under the terms of a revenue-sharing deal, it will pay a mere $1 billion to Anderson Worldwide.

Mr Jim Wadia, the chief executive of Arthur Andersen, resigned immediately on the news. For his part, Mr Forehand is claiming victory, but says he will not bask in it for too long. "This is a total win for Andersen Consulting," he says. "We won. It's over now and it's time to move on independently."

Moving on should not be difficult for someone who has worked his whole career at the company, overseeing 11 of the firm's 16 industry consultancy groups.

Mr Forehand (52) was named to his current position on November 1st, 1999, after Mr George Shaheen caused a stir by leaving to head the online grocer WebVan.

Mr Forehand was previously the managing partner for the firm's communications and high-tech global market unit. While in that job he spearheaded the group's e-commerce efforts.

Earlier, Mr Forehand was the managing partner for the global products industry.

He says the company's work on staking its claim as a leading company in IT consulting is far from over.

"We are trying to learn how to win in the new economy," Mr Forehand said. "We are moving from a seller-driven market to a buyer-driven market. Customers have perfect information and now technology drives business strategy."

Chicago-based Andersen Consulting has revenue of $8.9 billion annually, from management and technological consulting. Once an offshoot of accounting giant Arthur Andersen, it has grown to dominate its estranged parent.

So far, under Mr Forehand, Andersen has created a new company, Avenade, in partnership with Microsoft and has announced plans to take up to $1.2 billion equity in start-ups over the next three years.

The group has also introduced an internal operation that will seek out and encourage start-up initiatives by Andersen's employees.

"We have ignited both engines here, entreprenurial and corporate initiatives, the full gamut," Mr Forehand said. "The way I see it, we need more fuel and less brakes."

The company has 238 dot.com clients. Mr Forehand said that he expects revenues derived from e-commerce related projects to rise in the current year.

But there are neither plans to immediately go public nor offer online consulting services he said.

"One step at a time. And as far as online services, it's hard to replace that face-to-face interaction with a consultant," he said. "We think that's more valuable to clients."

Mr Forehand, who currently lives near Dallas, Texas, and works in Andersen Consulting's Las Salinas, Texas office, says he learned his work ethic growing up in Alexander City, Alabama.

He graduated from Auburn University with a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering. He later received his master of science degree in industrial administration from Purdue University. Fresh off Purdue's campus, Mr Forehand joined the firm's Atlanta office in 1972. He would become a partner 10 years later, after working with a variety of manufacturers, retailers, distributors and transportation enterprises in the firm's products group.

When he was appointed partner he became head of the products group in Atlanta and subsequently regional director before moving to Dallas in 1990 to become that office's managing partner.

By 1994 he was running the Americas products group and was later named managing partner of the whole products division in 1997. At that time he began splitting his time between offices in Dallas and Paris, which he did for the next two years.

His 1998 appointment as managing partner for the global communications and high-tech market unit propelled him into the line of succession.

Mr Forehand got his chance sooner than he thought as Mr Sheehan, seduced by the lure of the Internet, joined WebVan. The future, Mr Forehand says, will be all about reinvention.