Dominic Barton | |
---|---|
11th Managing Director | |
Assumed office July 1, 2009 | |
Preceded by | Ian Davis |
Personal details | |
Born | 1962 Kampala, Uganda |
Citizenship | Canada |
Alma mater | University of British Columbia and Brasenose College, Oxford |
Occupation | Consultant, Management expert |
Dominic Barton is a management consultant and business executive. He is currently the Managing Director of McKinsey & Company. Barton was born in Kampala, Uganda in 1962 and moved to western Canada at age 7. He earned a Bachelors degree in economics from the University of British Columbia and an MPhil in economics from Oxford University.
Barton was hired by McKinsey & Company in 1986. Barton took a position in Korea in 1997 and helped restructure the country's financial services sector during the Asian Financial Crisis. He was accepted into a partner position on his third attempt. In July 2009 Barton was elected to the Managing Director position. He was re-elected in 2012 and 2015.
Dominic Barton was born in Kampala, Uganda [1] in 1962. [2] Barton's father was an Anglican missionary and his mother a nurse. [3] [4] In his childhood, his family's house was occupied by general and future dictator Idi Amin, who was rising to power in Uganda at the time. [3] At age seven, his family moved from Africa to Sardis, British Columbia near Chilliwack. [4] [4]
Barton was one of six in a class of 200 in his high school that attended college. [5] Barton attended the University of British Columbia in 1980, [6] where he earned a Bachelor's degree in economics. [7] He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and attended Oxford University, where he received an MPhil degree in the same subject. [5]
After graduating, Dominic Barton worked briefly as a currency analyst for N M Rothschild & Sons in London. He was hired by McKinsey & Company to work in the Toronto office in 1986 [6] [8] and worked in Toronto for eleven years. [1] Barton was nominated for Partner early, but was turned down due to "concerns about his problem-solving." [9] He was almost laid off based on the firm's "up-or-out" philosophy, which requires consultants make Partner within five-to-six years of being hired, [9] but was promoted to Partner on his third attempt. [6] [9]
In the mid 1990s, Bob Felton took a position leading McKinsey & Company's operations in Korea and suggested Barton come to Seoul. [6] [9] Barton accepted and moved to Seoul in 1997, [6] [9] despite objections from his mentors. [5] [10] He worked out of the McKinsey office in Seoul for five years, [11] before becoming the head of Korean operations in 2000. Barton served as the chairman for McKinsey in Asia from 2004 to 2009 [5] [12] out of Shanghai. [13]
Barton helped restructure Korea's financial services sector during the Asian Financial Crisis, [1] [6] [9] which began a few months after he moved to Seoul. [9] He recommended that the 34 banks in Korea at the time should be consolidated into no more than four [9] and later established a relationship with Korean President Lee Myung-Bak. [9] Barton authored a book based on his experiences in Asia called "China Vignettes — An Inside Look At China." [2] [14] [a] He also co-authored Dangerous Markets: Managing in Financial Crises. [14] Barton was the Chairman of the International Advisory Committee to the President of South Korea on National Future and Vision. [15]
Dominic Barton won the election in 2009 and became Managing Director of McKinsey & Company on July 1st, based on a vote of 400 senior partners. [1] [8] Barton was was re-elected in 2012 [6] and again in 2015. His current term will be his last, since Managing Directors serve a maximum of three terms. [16]
A few weeks into Barton's appointment, it was discovered that current and former McKinsey consultants, Anil Kumar and Rajat Gupta respectively, were involved in an insider trading scandal. Barton led the firm's response in communicating with clients and staff. [2] [9] He also led the development of new rules at McKinsey intended to prevent future indiscretions. For example, consultants and their families were forbidden from making any investments in the firm's clients. [10] A new position was created at McKinsey called the "director of professional standards" and consultants were required to pass classes on responsible investing. Most consultants supported Barton's changes, but there was opposition from European staff, who did not have as much exposure to the scandal. [10] Some consultants refused to take the class, saying that McKinsey was operating like a "nanny state". [10] [16] Barton and others also internally publicized the actions of McKinsey's disciplinary committee, embarrassing those that were punished for ethical misconduct. [10] The New York Times said Barton revitalized the firm after "the worst crisis" in the firm's history. [16]
In 2016, Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau appointed Barton to lead a 14-person advisory council on the Canadian economy. [17] [15] Prior to his appointment, Barton had also advised Ottawa. [4] Barton is also a board member or advisor to several Canadian organizations. [4]
Barton wants Canada to become more involved in international discussions about the future of water. [3] [9] According to an article in Harvard Business Review, Dominic Barton believes capitalists are creating problems by working on shorter timetables than they should. [18] He calls this "quarterly capitalism" in reference to a focus on quarterly results, rather than long-term outlooks. [19] [20] [21] Barton has also said that modern business leaders have to be "tri-sector athletes" with experience in the private, government and non-profit sectors. [22] He believes that increasing unemployment among young workers is caused by a lack of knowledge about new types of jobs, such as high-tech jobs in manufacturing. [23]
Barton has two children. [2] His principal home is in London. [2] Barton is a distance runner on his free time. [4] [15]