McKinsey West Coast

About Bob

Bob is the leader of McKinsey’s New Client Delivery Models and formerly led our Operations Practice in the Americas. He currently focuses on helping companies in the basic materials, medical products, high tech, financial services, private equity, and consumer goods sectors design next-generation operating models, with the goal of turning operations into a source of competitive advantage.

Based in San Francisco, Bob has advised clients in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia on a range of issues related to operations, strategy, and organization. He is particularly skilled at helping clients achieve and sustain radical performance improvement. His recent projects include supporting a mining company’s performance-improvement initiatives to boost outputs from its mines, helping a semiconductor manufacturer optimize the capital productivity of a new plant, and advising a chemicals company on opportunities to reduce purchasing costs and improve profitability.

Since joining McKinsey in 1994, Bob has directed many important internal initiatives. He previously led our global Private Equity Practice, focusing on portfolio-company transformations. He also helped open our South African office, relocating to Johannesburg for six years.

Bob graduated with honors from Stanford University with a BA in economics and history. He then received an MA in politics, philosophy, and economics from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. An avid pilot, swimmer, and cyclist, Bob serves on the board of directors of Quest Scholars, USA Water Polo, and the American Association of Rhodes Scholars.

“The onshoring option,” McKinsey Quarterly, March 2005

“Beyond cheap labor: Lessons for developing economies,” McKinsey Quarterly, February 2005

“When offshore manufacturing doesn’t make sense,” McKinsey Quarterly, November 2004

Past experience

Education