This is a profile image of Brendan Gaffey

Brendan Gaffey

Senior Partner, Dallas

Advises global TMT clients on strategy and growth, helping them expand scale, value, and capabilities

About Brendan

Brendan coleads McKinsey’s global Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Practice and is the North American TMT practice leader. He previously led Fuel—a McKinsey offering focused on start-ups and venture capital—as well as digital and AI-focused offerings for clients in the Southern US office. Brendan also sits on a McKinsey committee that is responsible for deploying over $500 million in investment funds to accelerate the decarbonization of the planet.

Brendan has extensive experience in supporting growth, strategy, operational scaling, sales, and marketing at a range of TMT clients, from mobile operators to hyper-growth start-ups. He is one of the firm’s leading experts on wireless broadband technologies, mobile virtual-network operators, and the overall wireless ecosystem.

Examples of Brendan’s recent client work include the following:

  • contributing to two of the largest M&A transactions in the North American telco market from end to end
  • driving return-on-sales improvement from pricing transformation at a large software as a service (SaaS) provider
  • collaborating on a tier-one communications platform as a service (CPaaS) and digital ID SaaS player for an integrated mobile/fixed telecom operator
  • leading a four-year transformation of a major telecom asset (a top- and bottom-line-focused operating model reboot)
  • working closely with a global growth equity investor to drive accelerated growth and value creation for the fund and its portfolio companies

Before joining McKinsey, Brendan received a PhD from Yale University and a BA from the University of Notre Dame.

Published work

Winning through the turns: How smart companies can thrive amid uncertainty,” McKinsey & Company, September 2025

AI infrastructure: A new growth avenue for telco operators,” McKinsey & Company, February 2025

Pushing telcos’ AI envelope on capital decisions,” McKinsey & Company, February 2025

The network is the product: How AI can put telco customer experience in focus,” McKinsey & Company, February 2024

Beyond the hype: Capturing the potential of AI and gen AI in TMT,” McKinsey & Company, February 2024

Outsmarting the 5G smartphone challenge: How telcos can reinvent their handset business,” McKinsey & Company, January 2020

Are your customers becoming digital junkies?,” McKinsey Quarterly, July 2011

Education

Yale University
PhD in electrical engineering

University of Notre Dame
BS in physics