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Gemma D’Auria

Senior partner, global leader of McKinsey’s Apparel, Fashion & Luxury PracticeMilan

Gemma D’Auria

Senior partner, global leader of McKinsey’s Apparel, Fashion & Luxury PracticeMilan

Supports retail, fashion, and luxury brands in driving transformations for higher performance and health

As the global leader of McKinsey’s Apparel, Fashion & Luxury Practice, Gemma partners with companies and their executives on holistic transformations to accelerate sustainable growth and create lasting change in performance and health. With over two decades of consulting expertise across the United States, Middle East, and Europe, she helps clients with holistic growth strategies, advanced analytics and digital transformations, and capability building at scale.

Gemma is passionate about fostering leadership growth, enhancing customer experience, and driving innovation. She regularly publishes knowledge and insights relevant to the retail and fashion/luxury sectors. This includes leading and co-authoring McKinsey’s annual State of Fashion report—published in collaboration with Business of Fashion—and the annual Sporting Goods Industry report.

As one of the global leaders for our CEO excellence work, Gemma collaborates closely with CEOs on their leadership journey to ensure their organizations are “fit for purpose” in terms of operating model, capabilities, and leadership skills.

Before joining McKinsey, she worked in the Investment Banking division of JP Morgan in London.

Gemma’s curiosity has led her to different parts of the world (from Europe to the United States and the Middle East), and she now resides in Italy with her husband and four children. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, reading, and working out.

Published work

Time to move: Sporting goods 2024, McKinsey & Company, January 2024

The State of Fashion 2024: Finding pockets of growth as uncertainty reigns,” McKinsey & Company, November 2023

Dolce&Gabbana’s next chapter: A conversation with CEO Alfonso Dolce,” McKinsey & Company, November 2023

La spesa e gli italiani: scenari e impatti sul sistema Paese [Shopping and Italians: Scenarios and impacts on the country system],” GS1 Italy, June 2022

How CEO Alain Bejjani, an emerging-markets leader, models resilience,” McKinsey & Company, February 2022

Grocers can fuel growth with advanced analytics,” McKinsey & Company, June 2021

Sustainably shifting how an organization leads,” blog entry, McKinsey & Company, July 2020

Reimagining the post-pandemic organization,” McKinsey Quarterly, May 2020

Tuning in, turning outward: Cultivating compassionate leadership in a crisis,” McKinsey & Company, May 2020

Leadership in a crisis: Responding to the coronavirus outbreak and future challenges,” McKinsey & Company, March 2020 

Education

Stanford Graduate School of Business
MBA

LSE (London School of Economics)
BSc., government and economics