Bob Sternfels, an innovator who has led our industry and functional practices, is the 13th global managing partner of McKinsey & Company. He is passionate about accelerating our firm’s rate of innovation, diversifying our talent profiles, and ensuring that our partnership model continues to thrive as we scale.
A former leader of our Operations Practice in the Americas and our Private Equity & Principal Investors Practice globally, Bob led McKinsey’s client capabilities to ensure that we continue to meet the changing needs of our clients around the world. This work significantly expanded our firm’s capabilities in several key areas, such as digital, advanced analytics, implementation, transformation, and sustainability, and included the April 2021 launch of our Sustainability Practice.
Bob is a native Californian. In 1994, he joined the firm in San Francisco, spent six years with McKinsey in Johannesburg, and has worked with colleagues in nearly all of our offices around the world. As our global managing partner, Bob chairs our elected board of directors, known as the Shareholders Council, and is a member of the McKinsey Institute for Black Economic Mobility advisory council and a sponsor of our Women in the Workplace research.
Bob is active in key business institutions and involved with several global initiatives related to the improvement of business and society. He is a member of the Business Roundtable, the Asia Business Council, the Fortune CEO Initiative, the New York Jobs CEO Council, and Focus Capital on the Long Term (FCLT), of which McKinsey is a founding member. He has spoken at events hosted by the World Economic Forum, Bloomberg, and several other leading organizations.
Educated at Stanford University and the University of Oxford, Bob serves on the board of the nonprofit QuestBridge, on the advisory board of USA Water Polo, and as a trustee of the Rhodes Trust. He is also an enthusiastic private pilot.
Published work
“Return as a muscle: How lessons from COVID-19 can shape a robust operating model for hybrid and beyond,” McKinsey & Company, July 2021
The economic state of Black America: What is and what could be, McKinsey Global Institute, June 2021
“Speed and resilience: Five priorities for the next five months,” McKinsey & Company, March 2021
“Reenergizing an exhausted organization: A conversation with Admiral John Richardson,” McKinsey Quarterly, December 2020
“The emerging resilients: Achieving ‘escape velocity’,” McKinsey & Company, October 2020
“Unleashing sustainable speed in a post-COVID world: Reimagine structure,” blog entry, McKinsey & Company, September 2020
“As you return from the summer break, can you lead toward a COVID-Exit?,” McKinsey & Company, September 2020
“Unleashing sustainable speed in a post-COVID world: Rethink ways of working,” blog entry, McKinsey & Company, September 2020
“Ready, set, go: Reinventing the organization for speed in the post-COVID-19 era,” McKinsey & Company, June 2020
“Return: A new muscle, not just a plan,” McKinsey & Company, May 2020
“A roadmap for a digital transformation,” McKinsey &
Company, March 2017
“Trend spotting: Qualcomm executives consider the next wave of growth in semiconductors,” McKinsey &
Company, September 2014
Education
University of Oxford
MA, politics, philosophy, economics (Rhodes Scholar)
Stanford University
BA, economics, history