Virginia Simmons

Virginia Simmons is a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, and sits on the Firm Global Board of Directors (Shareholders Council).  Virginia has led McKinsey’s offices in the Midwest United States, which include the Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis, and Pittsburgh locations and well as being the Managing Partner of McKinsey in UK, Ireland and Israel. Originally from Manchester in the U.K., she joined the London office in 1997, before moving to Chicago in 2005. She has nearly 20 years’ experience serving a broad variety of clients on topics ranging from strategy to corporate finance to marketing and sales. Her particular focus today is on helping consumer and technology companies drive growth and transform operations.

Examples of Virginia’s client work include supporting a major retailer through a multiyear transformation program to turn around its performance. This included a complete overhaul of the company’s strategy, pricing, and merchandising as well as harnessing new technology to modernize operations. She has also helped several clients rethink their business models and reconfigure their organizations in response to technology-driven shifts in the retail landscape.

Prior to joining McKinsey, Virginia worked with PepsiCo as a brand manager and Shell International Petroleum Company in Canada and the United Kingdom as a marketing and retail operations manager.