Diana Farrell is the director of the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), McKinsey & Company’s internal economics think tank.  McKinsey Global Institute’s independent research combines McKinsey & Company’s rigorous microeconomic understanding of companies and industries with the rigor of leading economic thinking to derive perspectives and publish reports on important global economic issues. The Institute is widely acclaimed as a leading contributor to the economic debate and is prominently featured in international publications.

McKinsey Global Institute continues to build on in-depth, sector-based productivity studies of economies around the world. To date, MGI has published reports on 15 countries across nearly 30 industry sectors. Under Farrell’s leadership, MGI’s research agenda has spanned additional, related topics including foreign direct investment, offshoring, capital markets, and the relationship between IT and productivity.  Farrell is the co-author, with Lowell Bryan, of Market Unbound, published by Wiley & Sons, 1996.  She has also published numerous articles and op-eds.

Farrell was previously a McKinsey partner in the Washington, D.C., office and a leader of McKinsey’s Global Financial Institutions and Strategy practices.  She has served clients around the world in a variety of capacities. 

Farrell has a B.A. from Wesleyan University in Economics and in the College of Social Studies.  She also holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.  Prior to joining McKinsey, Farrell worked with Goldman, Sachs & Company in New York. 

Farrell is a member of the Bretton Woods Committee, a trustee for the Committee for Economic Development, a Board Advisor to the Bay Area Economic Pulse, and a regular contributor in major U.S. and global economic forums.