MGI's research on productivity and competitiveness covers nearly 20 economies around the world across more than 30 industries as well as the relationship between IT and productivity. Other research priorities include: global economic integration; capital markets; the ascendance of China and India; labor markets and offshoring; health care; global energy demand; and consumer demand and demographic shifts.

Ms. Farrell's work has appeared in academic journals, books, and on the op–ed pages of leading international publications, and she is a frequent speaker at major US and global conferences. She is the editor of an anthology series based on MGI research, published by Harvard Business School Press, 2007. Together with Lowell Bryan, she is the co-author of Market Unbound, published by Wiley & Sons, 1996.

Ms. Farrell was previously a McKinsey consultant in the Washington, D.C. office and a leader of McKinsey's Global Financial Institutions and Global Strategy practices. She has served clients around the world in a variety of capacities. Prior to joining McKinsey, she worked for Goldman, Sachs & Company in New York.

Ms. 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.

Ms. Farrell is a member of Council on Foreign Relations, the Bretton Woods Committee, and the Pacific Council on International Policy; a trustee for the Committee for Economic Development; a Board Advisor to the Bay Area Economic Pulse; a member of the Bay Area Economic Forum's Research Council; and Senior Advisor to the American Assembly’s Next Generation Project. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two children.