My kids are my passion in life; I have boy and girl twins, and a younger daughter. My twins were born prematurely in 2003 when I was a summer associate at McKinsey. When I rejoined McKinsey in 2004, they still had serious medical issues. I was on a Fulbright Scholarship and my visa was expiring, but I wanted to stay in Boston to give them the medical care they needed.
McKinsey did a number of extraordinary things to support me. First, they made sure I had health insurance to cover my children’s needs, no questions asked. Second, McKinsey presented me with the opportunities I needed to get a new visa. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Office wanted letters of recommendation from 10 CEOs of major U.S. corporations. Through its network, McKinsey gave me the opportunity to work on projects with 10 CEOs. The rest was up to me. In the end, I got the 10 letters and the visa, and I was able to stay. The help I got from McKinsey’s leaders was a form of mentorship, not in the sense of developing my skills but making sure I was successful in my life, which means so much more to me.
The Future is Online
One of the most meaningful experiences I've had at the Firm is the work I did for a large U.S. insurance company. They were selling insurance through typical channels, primarily through agents, but we knew that this wasn't how people wanted to buy insurance anymore. Sites like Amazon.com and eBay had brought online shopping to the masses, and we knew that this was how people wanted to buy insurance, too. We built them a phenomenal Website, set up an amazing sales force, and built them a set of digital marketing tools to drive traffic to their site. And the success has been astounding: when we started, they captured maybe two percent of their new business online. Now, it's their fastest growing channel which represents a substantial share of new business.
That success wasn't immediately apparent, though, not when we completed the project. I continued to counsel the client, long after the project was over. I stayed in touch with them over two or three years, and watched as their success grew. As their online business grew, so did my understanding of my leadership skills, of my ability to serve as a long-term counselor to a client with whom I've grown close, both personally and professionally.
Global Reach
This project also gave me the notion that the future of insurance was multi-channel, which led me to launch the multi-channel insurance practice. It started as a small practice, but I was able to grow it into one of the most successful components of the insurance practice. We started it from nothing, and over the course of two years, we managed to bring it to the point where we had served six of our seven top clients in the U.S. Right now, we're deploying it globally, to clients in Europe, China, and Latin America. It's allowed me to realize that my work has incredible global impact, which is an amazing feeling.
The Value of My Ideas
I have worked with clients who manage pension assets in excess of a trillion dollars. I have worked with people who can change industries, even change society. It’s unbelievable. I think working with people at that level teaches humility, which is very important. But it also teaches you that your ideas have value. It gives you confidence and courage to talk about your vision and have that translate into something meaningful. Before you know it, you realize that not only do you have ideas but you know how to get them executed. That is so empowering.
What I do in my free time
I love to take care of my three children, who are 8 , 8, and 5. We typically spend our weekends playing tennis and going to the driving range together.
Offices
Education
| MIT - Sloan |
MBA |
2004 |
| Universite Catholique de Louvain |
MS, Materials Science, Materials Engineering |
1998 |