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Jason Phillips

Senior PartnerLondon

Leads McKinsey’s Private Capital practice in London, partnering with private capital investors and their portfolio companies to drive performance and generate alpha across the full investment lifecycle

Jason leads McKinsey’s Private Capital Practice in London, having previously led our Private Equity Practice on the West Coast of the United States. He also leads Portfolio Company Alpha, our global initiative helping private capital investors and portfolio company leaders drive above-benchmark performance. Jason has deep expertise in portfolio company value creation and convenes our engagement with private capital operating groups through a series of thematically-focused operating partner roundtables, benchmarking surveys and publications.

In partnership with clients, Jason has led thematic and holistic performance transformations of companies in aerospace & defense, business services, consumer products, ecommerce, industrials, oilfield services, life sciences, and transportation. These programs have driven EBITDA increases of more than 50 to 100 percent, enabling commensurate enterprise value appreciation. He also serves private capital firms on due diligence, strategy, organization and operations topics, and has helped multiple firms build and evolve their value creation strategies and teams.

Prior to joining McKinsey, Jason served as president of a vertically-integrated home furnishings portfolio company with production operations in seven countries and distribution in 35, from 2003 to 2010.  Before that, Jason was an investment banker with firms in San Francisco and New York, where he provided financing and advisory services to leading growth companies and their private equity owners.

Jason currently serves on the board of the San Francisco Opera and previously served on the boards of Commonwealth Club / World Affairs and The Chautauqua Institution.  He is an active member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) in its London and San Francisco Gold chapters. He earned a bachelor's degree, cum laude, from Williams College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He and his wife, Sheila, have grown twin children who live in New York and San Francisco.

Published work

Bridging private equity’s value creation gap,” McKinsey & Company, April 2024

Chief performance officers can be a secret ingredient for private equity success. Here’s why,” McKinsey & Company, November 2022

A playbook for newly minted private equity portfolio-company CEOs,” McKinsey & Company, September 2021

“Seeing the savings: Toward transparent management of portfolio companies,” McKinsey & Company, August 2020

“How private equity operating groups are taking on the challenge of the coronavirus,” McKinsey & Company, April 2020

Private equity operating groups and the pursuit of ‘portfolio alpha’,” McKinsey & Company, November 2018

Past experience

The McGuire Furniture Company
President

WIT Capital
Principal, investment banking

Montgomery Securities
Senior Associate, investment banking

Smith Barney
Associate / Financial Analyst, investment banking

 

Education

Harvard Business School
MBA

Williams College
BA, cum laude: Religion and Art History