Ralf Dreischmeier, McKinsey & Company

Ralf Dreischmeier is the global leader of Leap by McKinsey and a leader of McKinsey Digital. With more than 25 years of experience in offering business- and technology-advisory support, he understands technology-enabled transformation and the development of businesses that thrive. He works closely with executives to develop transformation strategies and take sweeping steps to build digital businesses. He has pursued this goal repeatedly with global banks, international insurers, and leading companies in the media, telecommunications, and technology sectors.

To build businesses and deliver end-to-end digital and data transformations, Ralf works to inspire organizational change. He believes that while designing future digital and data-architecture blueprints is important, it is equally important to change the way a company works across the whole organization. Ralf’s projects typically include setting up digital and data academies to build skills and establishing programs and initiatives to guide implementation. Throughout the journey, he advises senior-executive teams and seeks to function as the glue that brings business and technology together.

Recently, Ralf supported a business-services organization in building two new digital businesses—both cornerstones for an overall transformation. Partnering with the organization’s top leadership, he helped it deliver the build-out in an agile way. He also worked with the CEO and board of a UK-based financial-services company to shape a vision for a digital future, create a transformation blueprint for it, and help implement the plan. The result made the company a digital leader in the sector and will help it shape the industry.

Formerly the global leader of a consulting firm’s technology and digital group, Ralf is a keen observer of technology trends and a prolific author and guest speaker. In recent years, he has been a featured speaker at ForbesLive and has served on panels sponsored by the Economist.