Emma leads knowledge development and dissemination for McKinsey’s education work around the globe. She also serves clients across the public, private, and social sectors including school systems, higher-education institutions, technology companies, bilateral and multilateral donors, foundations, and educational not-for-profit organizations.
Emma’s areas of focus include improving access to, and quality of, education for historically underserved populations, supporting efforts to meet the sustainable development goal for education (SDG4), applying advanced analytics for social impact, and applying technology to improve teaching and learning. She has also shaped recent thinking on how school systems can respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and reimagine more equitable school systems emerging from the crisis.
Published Work
“When the money runs out: K–12 schools brace for stimulus-free budgets,” McKinsey & Company, September 2024
“Spark & Sustain: How all of the world’s school systems can improve learning at scale,” McKinsey & Company, February 2024
“What it would take for US schools to fully recover from COVID-19,” McKinsey & Company, August 2023
“Behind the scenes of Mississippi’s school turnaround with Carey Wright,” McKinsey & Company, August 2023
“Lessons in leadership: Transforming struggling US K–12 schools,” McKinsey & Company, March 2023
“COVID-19 learning delay and recovery: Where do US states stand?,” McKinsey & Company, January 2023
“Halftime for the K–12 stimulus: How are districts faring?,” McKinsey & Company, November 2022
“How COVID-19 caused a global learning crisis,” McKinsey & Company, April 2022
“COVID-19 and education: An emerging K-shaped recovery,” McKinsey & Company, December 2021
“COVID-19 and education: The lingering effects of unfinished learning,” McKinsey & Company, July 2021
“The growing opportunity gap & the breakthrough model: An integrated intervention for student support and a teacher pipeline beyond the pandemic,” Breakthrough Collaborative, April 2021
“Teacher survey: Learning loss is global—and significant,” McKinsey & Company, March 2021
“Estimating Covid learning loss,” American Enterprise Institute, January 2021
“From Predicting to Preventing—Avoid Learning and Economic Losses from Becoming Reality,” ExcelinEd, December 2020
“COVID-19 and learning loss—disparities grow and students need help,” McKinsey & Company, December 2020
“Higher education enrollment: Inevitable decline or online opportunity?” McKinsey & Company,” November 2020
“Reimagining a more equitable and resilient K–12 education system,” McKinsey & Company, September 2020
“Back to school: A framework for remote and hybrid learning amid COVID-19,” McKinsey & Company, August 2020
“New global data reveal education technology’s impact on learning,” McKinsey & Company, June 2020
“COVID-19 and student learning in the United States: The hurt could last a lifetime,” McKinsey & Company, June 2020
“Safely back to school after coronavirus closures,” McKinsey & Company, April 2020
“School-system priorities in the age of coronavirus,” McKinsey & Company, April 2020
“Rising costs and stagnating completion rates: Who is bucking the trend?” McKinsey & Company, April 2020
“The rising toll of student debt: More than graduates can sustain?” McKinsey & Company, April 2020
“The leerKRACHT foundation: Continuous improvement in Dutch education,” McKinsey & Company, February 2020
“An interview with former Peruvian Minister of Education Jaime Saavedra,” McKinsey & Company, September 2019
“Education reform in Norway: Looking beyond politics to bring sustained change,” McKinsey & Company, June 2019
“Bringing major improvements to education in Colombia,” McKinsey & Company, May 2019
Past Experience
Millennium Promise Alliance, Inc.
Interim executive director
TechnoServe
Business development advisor
Education
Harvard University
MBA
University of Cambridge
BA, geography
