Marisa Ford

I spent several years at McKinsey's Operations practice working primarily on transformations and post-merger integrations for industrial and PE-backed automotive clients. That work covered the full range of what operations consulting actually looks like in practice — organizational design, change management, manufacturing and lean principles, standing up governance structures, running large PMOs, and building commercial playbooks for client-facing use.

Before McKinsey, I was at SICK AG as an Application Engineer for their photoelectrics portfolio and as a Customer Success Manager for key accounts. That experience grounded me in what operations actually looks like on the ground — before I ever set foot in a consulting firm.

Now I do this work independently. The rigor is the same. The flexibility is much better. I work with organizations going through real operational change — the kind where getting the people side right determines whether the operational side holds.

I'm based in Chicago.