Magazine

Table: McKinsey Over the Years

Posted on July 07, 2002

1926

University of Chicago accounting professor James "Mac" McKinsey founds the firm. First client: meatpacker Armour & Co.1933

Marvin Bower, a lawyer and Harvard MBA, joins the New York office and essentially invents the discipline of modern management consulting.1935

Marshall Field & Co. becomes the firm's first big client and eventually hires James McKinsey to be CEO.1959

Opens first non-U.S. office in London and wins landmark assignment with Bank of England.1960s

Successful expansion overseas throughout Europe and Australia.1964

Launches The McKinsey Quarterly, which remains the foremost journal of management ideas produced by a consulting firm.MID-1970s

New strategy consulting boutiques Boston Consulting Group and Bain offer first intense competition in high-level strategy consulting.1978

McKinsey partner Louis Gerstner departs firm for American Express and later becomes CEO of RJR Nabisco and IBM. Other alums head some of the world's biggest companies.1982

McKinsey consultants Tom Peters and Bob Waterman publish In Search of Excellence.1985

Director Kenichi Ohmae's Triad Power helps to establish the firm's early lead on globalization.1990

McKinsey partner Jeffrey Skilling joins one of the firm's major clients, Enron.1994

Rajat Gupta becomes the first foreign-born managing partner.1994-97

Gupta accelerates global expansion, opening offices in Shanghai, Bogotá, Moscow, Beijing, Perth, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore.1999-2001

Three of the most recent books by McKinsey consultants sang the praises of Enron just before its collapse.2000

The high-tech boom helps to drive annual revenues over $3 billion for first time, making McKinsey twice as big as its nearest competitor in general management consulting.2002

McKinsey assists Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina on HP's controversial Compaq acquisition. McKinsey earns $9 million on deal.