Venkat partners with top executives and boards to create value through end-to-end performance transformation, programmatic mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and new business building from scale-up to initial public offerings (IPO). Keenly interested in the future of technology, Venkat brings a special focus on the cross-sector opportunities at the intersection of new technologies and existing business models. He serves clients in the high-tech, media and telecommunications, advanced industries, and consumer sectors. He also advises venture capital and private equity investors.
Venkat is a leading expert on the vast and emerging opportunities—created by the network connectivity of devices, systems, platforms, and people—powered by software and hardware. He draws on this expertise to guide clients through the design and deployment of network and ecosystem-based businesses across sectors. A thought leader at McKinsey, Venkat is a prolific author and sought-after speaker at industry events.
He has held many leadership positions throughout his tenure at the firm. Venkat cofounded and led McKinsey’s work in Internet of Things (IOT). As the founding member of our New Ventures group, he helped to incubate new analytic and digital assets, develop innovative client offerings, and build alliances and partnerships with innovators. He previously led McKinsey’s Technology, Media, & Telecommunications (TMT) Practice in the Midwest United States. Recently, he is spearheading digital, analytics, and tech-enabled transformations for clients in advanced industries. Venkat also leads global efforts for the TMT Practice to help clients fast-track and sustain transformational impact through leadership alignment, execution support, capability building, and leadership development; with a distinctive set of assets and exceptional digital-learning programs.
Prior to joining McKinsey, Venkat held global operating (P&L) leadership roles; overseeing large businesses and functions at General Electric as well as product development, management, and deployment at 3M.
Outside of McKinsey, Venkat serves on the board of 1871—a successful start-up incubator—and CurrentWater, a nonprofit with a mission to nurture companies that are developing innovative water technologies to solve the world’s water challenges.
Podcast
“As sector borders dissolve new business ecosystems emerge,” McKinsey & Company, October 2017
Published work
“The industrial CEO’s plan for the digital recovery,” McKinsey & Company, November 2020
“Accelerating the impact from a tech-enabled transformation,” McKinsey & Company, November 2019
“Why industrials should pursue a tech-enabled transformation now,” McKinsey & Company, November 2019
“Tech-enabled transformations: A CEO’s guide to maximizing impact in industrials,” McKinsey & Company, September 2019
“The trillion-dollar opportunity for the industrial sector: How to extract full value from technology, ” McKinsey & Company, November 2018
“Competing in a world of sectors without borders,” McKinsey & Company, July 2017
“How tech-enabled consumers are reordering the healthcare landscape,” McKinsey & Company, November 2016
“Unlocking digital health: Opportunities for the mobile value chain,” McKinsey & Company, April 2015
“New trends in smart devices,” McKinsey & Company, April 2014
“Making smartphones brilliant: Ten Trends,” McKinsey & Company, June 2012
Past experience
General Electric
Vice president, general manager
3M
Leader, product development and product launch
Education
University of Chicago
MBA, strategy and finance