What the new partners at McKinsey & Co tell us about its strategy
Consulting firm McKinsey have quietly announced a new round of partners. It's not clear precisely how many people McKinsey promoted, but their areas of expertise are an indication of the firm's focus for the future. And the cross-section we've looked at suggests a few things are considered important.
McKinsey has 2,700 partners in total, according to the Financial Times. We looked at two dozen of this year's new partners and it's apparent that McKinsey is focusing on areas like the clean energy transition, analytics and - naturally - financial services.
However, be warned that this doesn't mean you can leave banking and easily become a partner at McKinsey & Co. With some exceptions, most of this year's partners have worked for McKinsey for at least a decade. Former bankers may also be discouraged by the comparatively poor pay on offer: salaries for McKinsey partners are 'just' $275k according to the H1B database. This is roughly similar to VPs in investment banks, although partners, like VPs, receive bonuses too.
Meet some of McKinsey’s & Co's new finance partners
There's a discernible trend within McKinsey's finance partners for promoting people with a background in ESG within financial services, assisting with deals, and helping private equity firms run their portfolio companies. All are likely to be useful in 2023.
Matthew Maloney, former global finance director for brewer Anheuser-Busch, is part of McKinsey’s private equity practice, assisting PE firms in identifying investment opportunities and improving target company performance. He joined McKinsey in 2017 and is based in New York.
Christie McNeill, formerly of Catalant Technologies, helps financial institutions prepare climate-friendly and emissions-considerate investment portfolios. She's based in Boston.
Blazej Karwowski, a former TV journalist and press officer at the Warsaw stock exchange, assists banks and asset managers with market operations and M&A target assessments. He's based in London.
Arun Gundurao, a former Citi SVP and Morgan Stanley ED, was promoted to McKinsey’s upper echelon after joining the firm in 2018 – although he was an IT guy (sorry, IT guys). He served as head of enterprise metrics and analytics at Morgan Stanley, and at McKinsey he advises financial firms on digital and technology innovations. He's based in New York.
Brian Weintraub assists financial institutions across strategy, M&A, capital markets and technology. He joined McKinsey in 2018, and is based in New York.
Meet McKinsey & Co's new tech partners
McKinsey's new technology partners were more well-rounded, although there was a focus on enterprise consultants who work on company-wide computer networks. Interestingly, a much higher percentage of tech partners were brought in to be partners than in finance, perhaps indicating a lack of home-grown talent.
Oana Cheta, formerly of government contractor Maximus, was brought in at McKinsey as a partner. Cheta is an expert in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, and is based in Chicago.
Colin Gunter is an experienced consultant in large-scale IT systems, and also joined McKinsey relatively recently – just shy of two years ago. He joined from Candid, another consultancy that was acquired by McKinsey, where he was managing partner, and is based in Atlanta.
Brooke Daniels joins McKinsey as a partner from Pametto, a South Carolina software developer, where she was chief business officer. She's based in New York.
Marcus Lockard, a former Australian army platoon commander and private equity associate, conducts lead diligence and growth transformation. He joined McKinsey in 2016 and is based in New York.
Fernando Sinagra is a Santiago-based computer scientist who joins McKinsey after 20 years with Accenture, the IT consultant.
Justin Moulden, based in Frisco, Texas, joined McKinsey two years ago when the firm acquired Candid, where he was also a partner. He was the cloud engineering lead for Southwest Airlines prior to Candid.
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