Ezra leads McKinsey’s work on trends and global forces within the Strategy & Corporate Finance Practice. He serves strategic organizations and investors in the shipping, ports, and building-products sectors. He is also a leader of the firm’s institutional-investor work, focusing on investment strategy, portfolio construction, and due diligence. Ezra helps clients identify and align their strategies with critical macrotrends that are shaping the economy.
Examples of his recent client projects include the following:
- helping a top building-products manufacturer develop M&A themes and a capital-allocation plan to execute a corporate strategy, emphasizing trends and disruptions that drive opportunities
- developing and implementing a growth strategy for a top three US roofing manufacturer
- developing a top three US building-products distributor’s strategy for growth and digital innovation, including new business model approaches to growth
- evaluating how shifting global trade flows affect the value of a leading North American port system and global shipping-container-leasing company
- building a long-term strategic perspective on global trade flows for a top five container-shipping line
- assessing the impact of potential changes in US tax and trade policies on the supply chain and customers for clients across industries
- developing growth strategies by identifying key opportunities generated by global trends and technology disruptions
In his first ten years with McKinsey, Ezra was a senior fellow at the McKinsey Global Institute, leading the development of the firm’s global macroscenarios during the global financial crisis. He cofounded the North American Knowledge Center, a McKinsey center of excellence for research and advanced analytics. He has also worked in the investment industry, spending three years at a global hedge fund.
Published work
“US freight after COVID-19: What’s next?,” McKinsey & Company, June 2020
“Crushing coronavirus uncertainty: The big ‘unlock’ for our economies,” McKinsey & Company, May 2020
“In the tunnel: Executive expectations about the shape of the coronavirus crisis,” McKinsey & Company, April 2020
“Safeguarding our lives and our livelihoods: The imperative of our time,” McKinsey & Company, March 2020
“Strategy in the face of disruption: A way forward for the North American building-products industry,” McKinsey & Company, February 2019
“The global forces inspiring a new narrative of progress,” McKinsey Quarterly, April 2017
“Geostrategic risks on the rise,” McKinsey & Company, May 2016
“Climbing the curve quickly in petrochemicals,” McKinsey Quarterly, September 2014
Growth and competitiveness in the United States: The role of its multinational companies, McKinsey Global Institute, June, 2010
Shaping strategy in an uncertain macro-economic Environment, McKinsey & Company, December 2008
“Why baby boomers will need to work longer,” McKinsey Quarterly, November, 2009
“Talkin’ ’bout my generation: The economic impact of aging U.S. baby boomers,” McKinsey Global Institute, June, 2008
“The ‘bird of gold’: The rise of India’s consumer market,” McKinsey Global Institute, May, 2007
“From ‘made in China’ to ‘sold in China’: The rise of the Chinese Urban Consumer,” McKinsey Global Institute, November, 2006
“Accelerating India’s growth through financial system reform,” McKinsey Global Institute, May, 2006
“Increasing global competition and labor productivity: Lessons from the US automotive industry,” McKinsey Global Institute, November, 2005
“The economic impact of an aging Japan,” McKinsey on Economics, May 2005
“The coming demographic deficit: How aging will reduce global savings,” McKinsey Global Institute, December, 2004
Past experience
Bridgewater Associates
COO, client service content pillar
Standard & Poor’s DRI
Principal Economist
Education
McGill University
BA, economics