Mckinsey, BCG and Bain’s Top 10 Most Distinguished Alumni
Some would argue that McKinsey, Bain and BCG are home to some of the most academically blessed amongst us.
However, to be considered by one of these ‘top tier’ firms you must prove you are someone for whom excelling is part of your wheelhouse and who is comfortable they can thrive being surrounded by equally exacting high performers.
Increasingly we are seeing internal group strategy functions hire these ex-strategy consultants thus providing a trajectory for consultants to become future leaders of some of the leading companies both nationally and internationally.
However, having considerable academic horsepower and a top tier consulting pedigree does not automatically give you a free ticket to the C- suite.
Ex strategy consultants often have a hard time securing a role that will allow them to prove they are more than just a whippet smart advisor who can design an amazing slide pack.
One of the most common hurdles is when they are aiming for a role with P&L responsibility or managing a large team which are two areas that are not part of the traditional consulting remit.
Whilst running global teams and mentoring is second nature to consultants these teams are lean and fluid program to program so the roles with extensive headcount become more difficult to secure. Gravitas certainly helps, and this comes naturally to many senior leaders in consulting firms - but it is slightly harder to qualify who has that nuanced combination of respect, warmth, motivation and leadership!
Leaders of consulting firms are often ‘over indexed’ on this having reached partnership level by having this magic mix in a high proportion ensuring they can win and deliver work to top CEOs the world over.
Statistically McKinsey is the company that produces the most CEOs of Fortune 500 firms according to an article from our fabulous friends at Forbes.
So, who are the most distinguished alumni of McKinsey, BCG and Bain? The list below is not exhaustive by any stretch of the imagination but I think some of the names may surprise you.
10 DISTINGUISHED MCKINSEY ALUMNI
- Sheryl Sandberg, COO at Facebook and founder of Leanin.org
- Wolfgang Bernhard, Former CEO of Mercedes-AMG, Volkswagen AG and former Chairman of Daimler
- Helmut Panke, Former Chairman & CEO of BMW
- Bob Haas, Chairman of Levi Strauss & Co
- Vittorio Colao, CEO of Vodafone
- Ian Narev, CEO of CBA
- James McNerney, Former Chairman, President and CEO of Boeing
- Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former U.S President Bill Clinton
- Brian Salsberg, Senior Vice President, Global Strategy at AVON
- Jeff Skilling, Ex Enron CEO (now of somewhat lesser repute)
10 DISTINGUISHED BCG ALUMNI
- Brad Banduccu - CEO Woolworths Group
- John Legend, Grammy award winning musician
- Bill Bain, Founder of Bain & Co
- Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel
- Roland Berger, Founder of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants
- Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsi
- Bob Kagle, Director of eBay and Partner at Benchmark
- Ahmed Fahour, Former CEO of Australia Post and of the Australian operations of the National Australia Bank
- Alex Michel, Star of The Bachelor, Season One in the US
- Jeff Immelt, Chairman of the board of the U.S. based conglomerate General Electric
- Andrea Orcel, Head of Origination at Merrill Lynch
10 DISTINGUISHED BAIN ALUMNI
- Greg Brenneman, Former CEO of PwC and Burger King and now Chairman of CCMP Capital
- Mitt Romney, Former CEO of Bain & Co, Founder of Bain Capital and 70th Governor of Massachusetts
- Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett Packard and former CEO of eBay
- John Donahoe, Former CEO of eBay
- Jane Mendillo, Former President & CEO of Harvard Management Company
- Kevin Rollins, Former CEO of Dell Inc
- Michael Murphy, Former Olympic Diver
- Jayne Hrdlicka, CEO of Jetstar
- Bernie Brookes, Former CEO of Myer and CEO at Edcon
- Scott Cook, Co-Founder of Intuit
P.s. Get in touch with our strategy consulting recruitment team if you are hiring strategy consultants. Or browse our strategy jobs if you're looking to make the list one day.
