McKinsey appoints new board chair, slims board to 12 in governance overhaul

McKinsey split its chair and CEO roles for the first time, shrinking its board by more than half after a series of client scandals.

McKinsey appointed Andrew Pickersgill as its new board chair, separating the role from the global managing partner position for the first time, as the consulting giant seeks to move past scandals tied to past client work.

"The mandate includes challenging McKinsey's leaders and asking big-picture questions on the direction of the company, especially in the era of artificial intelligence," Pickersgill, a senior partner in Toronto with more than 25 years at the firm, said.

The shareholders council, McKinsey's board, will shrink to 12 senior partners elected by their peers plus Global Managing Partner Bob Sternfels, down from 30 members previously. Board members will step down from other internal appointed roles while continuing to work with clients. The changes took effect Wednesday.

The restructuring follows a period of intense scrutiny for the 100-year-old firm. In 2024, McKinsey agreed to a $650 million settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over its role advising Purdue Pharma on boosting OxyContin sales. A separate 2024 DOJ settlement resolved allegations that a McKinsey subsidiary paid bribes to officials at two South Africa state-owned companies.

Governance Roots in Seoul

The altered structure traces back to a 2023 meeting of McKinsey's senior partners in Seoul, where the firm polled its partnership on whether to pursue the changes. "We polled everybody to say, 'So, do we want to go do this?'" Sternfels said. The firm had already tightened client-approval processes in response to the controversies.

Sternfels, who has spent much of his tenure steering McKinsey past the crises, will continue to run day-to-day operations. The separation of chair and managing partner roles is designed to establish more independence between the board and management, preventing the kind of controversies sparked by past work with opioid manufacturers and governments in China and Saudi Arabia.

Scaling the Partnership

McKinsey has resisted incorporating, opting instead to preserve its flat partnership structure. But with roughly 2,700 partners and 40,000 staff worldwide, the firm's leaders say governance changes became necessary. "We want to preserve this idea of one unified global partnership, and so that has required some changes as it continues to scale, and the environment gets harder," Sternfels said.

Pickersgill, who previously chaired the committee that elects McKinsey's senior partners, said the board revamp represents what the firm's leaders hope will be the last of its governance changes for some time. The new structure gives the board a mandate to provide oversight on the firm's strategic direction, particularly as artificial intelligence reshapes the consulting industry.

The governance overhaul shows a broader trend among large private professional services firms toward stronger internal oversight, even as they maintain partnership structures that avoid public-market disclosure requirements.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.