I joined McKinsey in 2012 as an experienced hire, starting as a business analyst in the Risk practice. I worked largely with US financial institutions, helping them build the right risk management discipline to prepare for and, hopefully, prevent another financial crisis, as well as maintain compliance with new regulations. The work was meaningful, but I wanted to spend time in emerging markets, which are more principle vs. regulatory-based, and build out risk management as a discipline.
It was around that time I went to work in Peru and was confronted with the reality of the big gap for developing countries that needed both economic and sustainable growth. I embarked on a meandering journey through the firm to figure out how I can have a broader impact on society through the institutions I serve.
Sparking a move to sustainability
By the time I reached engagement manager, I had worked in the public and social sectors tackling social and economic problems. However, a big turning point for me happened when my partner and I moved back from Hong Kong to the US, so he could attend grad school at Yale. He was working on his degree in environmental management, and I took the opportunity to learn as much as I could through his classmates and campus events.
My path crystalized one evening as I listened to Al Gore and John Kerry warn that climate change is one of the biggest challenges for humanity, and we have to act now. I decided to pivot my career to tackle this highly complex problem and bring together a multi-sectoral, multi-functional discipline, like the one I have built at McKinsey.
My work at the firm
Since the launch of McKinsey Sustainability, I have worked extensively with financial institutions on their climate journeys, specifically helping them understand how climate change impacts them and the role they can play in enabling the transition to a low carbon future. I’ve defined a climate risk program for a bank; helped one of the largest institutional investors craft a net-zero strategy and active decarbonization strategies for their portfolio companies; and guided a climate-focused fund as it established investments across the decarbonization spectrum.
Another key role I play at the firm is leading our relationship with the Mission Possible Partnership (MPP), which is an alliance of organizations brought together by the World Economic Forum, RMI, the Energy Transitions Commission, and We Mean Business Coalition, to focus on decarbonizing seven of the world’s hardest-to-abate sectors by 2050. For the world to decarbonize, we need to figure out how to make decarbonization feasible for some sectors that don’t have the technology to do so yet, such as heavy-duty road transport, aviation, shipping, steel, aluminum, cement, and chemicals. For example, we don’t have alternatives for airplanes or the giant maritime shipping vessels that move goods across the Atlantic and Pacific, so the MPP is focused on finding solutions.
And most recently, I am leading the charge to build our Nature and Natural Capital service line and elevating the twin crisis in nature that we face as a society.
What I love about working at McKinsey
The adventure and impact. There are not many institutions in the world that can convene such stakeholders across sectors to work on these hairy global problems. At McKinsey, we’re moving whole systems. We’re not just impacting the individual institutions we serve; we are helping to lift entire sectors, and I think that’s quite phenomenal.
More about me
I grew up in New York City, and my first foray into real nature didn’t happen until I was in my 20s. I completely fell in love. I spend much of my time outdoors, kayaking, hiking, or camping in my hammock. I love to unplug in the afternoon or on the weekends and make meals with my partner so we can spend some quality, family time together. At the firm, I am part of the Asians at McKinsey community, and I am the partner lead for the New York Green Team.