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We were so proud and excited to sponsor Glamour’s Women of the Year Summit 2017. Our own Katy George, a senior partner based in New Jersey and the manager of our Mid-Atlantic office complex, spoke about her ultimate strategy for success, alongside Chelsea Clinton, Laverne Cox, Gabrielle Union, Ashley Graham, and many more heroines who are literally changing our world. If you missed the live stream, you can watch and read highlights from the day here on Glamour’s blog to laugh, cry, and be inspired to take on your next challenge.
The theme of this year’s event was ‘We Are All Leaders’ and Katy embodies this even if McKinsey didn’t see it at first. When Katy initially applied to McKinsey, she actually got turned down. She earned her PhD and applied again. Katy joined the New Jersey office and helped drive its growth, mainly by establishing our Operations practice in the office. Now, our New Jersey office is home to more than 560 of our colleagues and a global hub for our work in biopharma, healthcare, and consumer goods. Katy is a leader in our global Pharmaceutical & Medical Products practice, and she oversees the Mid-Atlantic offices (New Jersey plus DC and Philadelphia). She has been instrumental in our All In gender parity efforts, the McKinsey Women network, and our Women in Operations group (which you can request to join via LinkedIn if you’re interested in e.g., supply chain management, capital projects and infrastructure, or service operations).
Katy’s primary client focus is helping healthcare companies with manufacturing and quality issues. She gets the most inspiration and energy from helping clients and colleagues build new skills that enable them to grow, advance and lead. That’s what led, in part, to the development of our model factories – hands-on, experiential learning facilities for our clients. Katy describes, “I love seeing the light switch on for our clients when they experience a production line transformation. College students act as our workers during a simulation. You can literally see how much more they engage and produce when the client team improves the effectiveness of the production system. This year, McKinsey opened a Digital Capability Center in Chicago, which is similar in the experiential learning it provides. It is fun to watch clients don augmented reality gear to see how new technologies can completely transform the way their factories work.”
Katy was “so honored to speak at this year’s Glamour Women of the Year Summit. During it, I shared my number one tip for success: be generous. Throughout my adventures at McKinsey, this principle has guided me and the generosity others have shown me has helped me succeed. I try to pay it forward as frequently as possible. I really enjoyed hearing all of the speakers during the Summit. By sharing our experiences and supporting each other, we can energize each other to be bolder and more resilient, to change the world!”
More about Katy
After receiving an undergraduate degree from Oberlin College, Katy earned a PhD in business economics from Harvard University. Her doctoral work focused on factory management and supply chain improvements in the assembly industries. Prior to joining McKinsey in 1996, Katy was an associate analyst at National Economic Research Associates. Katy actively volunteers with Episcopal Relief & Development, an international relief and development agency. She is the proud mom of son Peter, a high school senior. Peter is a hockey player, and Katy never misses a game. She loves to cook and bake; she’s particularly skilled as a chocolatier (baker and eater!). Her favorite cake to make is a 5-layer Kahlua chocolate extravaganza. YUM.