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Kevin Sachs

Senior Partner, and Leader, Aerospace & DefenseDenver

Drives strategic and operational performance transformations to help advanced industrial and high-tech companies improve efficiency, growth, and agility

Kevin is global coleader of McKinsey’s Aerospace & Defense Practice and leads the firm’s work in North America. Kevin has more than two decades of experience developing and implementing approaches to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and improve agility while pursuing growth and investment objectives.

Kevin guides strategic and operational transformations, helping executives lead their organizations to new levels of performance. He advises companies in industries where operational efficiency is a crucial competitive advantage, particularly high tech, aerospace, defense, industrial manufacturing, and distribution. With deep expertise in evaluating organizations and moving them swiftly along the performance curve, he is a valued advisor to private equity investors—whether conducting due diligence or turning around portfolio companies.

After six years with McKinsey (in New York, Eastern Europe, and California), Kevin took a five-year leave to serve as vice president of Flextronics International, where his roles included leading strategy, account management, program management, and supply chain solutions. He rejoined the firm in 2008 in Silicon Valley and is now based in our Denver office, where he serves on the board of directors for the Junior Achievement organization in the Rocky Mountain region.

Published work

The power of private-label brands in distribution,” McKinsey & Company, January 2024

Operational efficiency A clear path to outperformance in distribution,” McKinsey & Company, May 2023

Lessons from transformers: How some distributors reset and won,” McKinsey & Company, February 2023

Taking off: Scaling complex manufacturing in the aerospace industry,” McKinsey & Company, February 2023

How distributors can build momentum in a slowdown,” McKinsey & Company, September 2022

How distributors can self-disrupt to win in the new digital world,” McKinsey & Company, March 2022

Labor-intensive factories—analytics-intensive productivity,” McKinsey & Company, April 2021

Industrial ‘lighthouses’ for tech-enabled transformations,” McKinsey & Company, January 2020

"Excellence in cost management, A new era for aerospace" (PDF–796 KB), McKinsey and Company, August 2013

Past experience

Flextronics International
Vice President

Education

Stanford University
MBA (Arjay Miller Scholar)

Williams College
BA, political economy