About Dennis
Dennis Layton is a principal in McKinsey’s London office, where he leads McKinsey’s Organisation Practice in the UK and Ireland and our work on performance transformation across Europe. He is also the co-leader of McKinsey’s cybersecurity special initiative globally.
Dennis’s work focuses on the strategic, operational and organisational issues associated with services businesses. Among his recent projects, he led a strategic review of opportunities in the commercial electronics industry, including capabilities needed to win and potential acquisition targets; reviewed opportunities in the cybersecurity products and services markets in the UK and globally; and advised a leading basic materials and construction services company on its organisation strategy and design, helping it to uncover opportunities to rationalize its asset portfolio, merge territories and streamline management. In another major project, Dennis supported a leading global IT services company with the implementation of a three-year, $1 billion cost-reduction programme for its IT outsourcing division.
As well as serving clients, Dennis plays an active part in research efforts. He co-led a joint venture with academics from Harvard, Stanford and the London School of Economics to research best practices in hospital management. He also led a McKinsey team conducting research on identifying and managing complexity in organisations and exploring targeted interventions to improve value creation.
Dennis has written several articles on rapid cost reduction and performance transformation. Before joining McKinsey, he worked in the executive office of the US president on the negotiating team that created the foundation for the Free Trade Area of the Americas, spent several years in senior strategic and operational roles at IBM and served in the US Navy, where he focused on cryptography.
Dennis holds a BA in sociology from Georgetown University.
Published work
“Why hospital management matters,” Health International, 2011, Number 11 (PDF–824 KB)
“Can you hack it? Managing the cybersecurity challenge,” McKinsey on Government, Autumn 2011 (PDF–481 KB)
“A better way to cut costs,” McKinsey Quarterly, October 2009
Past experience
| IBM |
Executive |
2003-2005 |
| InterVentures Consulting |
Director |
2002-2003 |
| 12 Entrepreneuring |
Director of strategy |
2000-2001 |
| Executive office of the President/White House |
Special assistant |
1994-1995 |
| US Navy |
Cryptographer |
1985-1992 |
Education
| Georgetown University |
BA in sociology |