This is a profile image of Sebastián Riomalo

Sebastián Riomalo

PartnerSantiago

Leads the Education Practice in Spanish-speaking Latin America, advising education providers on transforming their operational and financial performance to enhance student outcomes and achieve greater sustainability

Sebastián is a partner in McKinsey's Santiago office and leads the Education practice in Spanish-speaking Latin America. He specializes in supporting social organizations such as universities, school networks, and foundations to transform their operating models, foster growth, and ensure financial sustainability.

He has extensive and deep experience in helping organizations implement holistic transformation programs that achieve significant leaps in growth and impact. He has led transformations in more than 20 institutions across countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, and Panama, among others.

His recent experience includes:

  • Leading an end-to-end transformation program at a health sciences-focused university to accelerate growth and improve performance.
  • Supporting a leading EdTech company to accelerate its growth across Latin America.
  • Developing the strategy and supporting the execution for one of the largest universities in Latin America by student enrollment.
  • Advising on the redesign of one of the world's largest public education funds in a Southeast Asian country.
  • Assisting a national government in the region to outline and respond to the COVID-19 crisis.
  • Leading the organizational redesign and governance model of an educational group to ensure greater agility and efficiency.

Before joining McKinsey, Sebastián served as a senior advisor to the Director of Planning in Colombia, where he led public investment initiatives in education, health, and other social sectors. He also worked as an economic analyst at the United Nations.

Sebastián is fluent in Spanish, English, and Mandarin. In his free time, he enjoys traveling with his partner and their four children.

Published work

Saving our livelihoods from COVID-19: Toward an economic recovery,” McKinsey & Company, April 2020

Past experience

Ministry of Planning in Colombia
Senior Advisor

United Nations Population Fund
Economic Analyst

Education

London School of Economics, London
MSc in Public Policy

Peking University, Beijing
MSc in Public Administration

Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
BSc in Economics and BA in Law