Jonathan W. Gordon

Jonathan is a lifelong brand builder, advisor and educator. 

As a Partner at McKinsey & Company, he served clients for over 30 years from 1995-2026. He advised major brands on growth strategy, marketing and commercial performance across consumer goods, retail, automotive, telecommunications, payments, wealth management, and media. His work spanned North America, Europe, Japan, Latin America, and South Africa. He held several leadership roles, including co-leading McKinsey's North America Marketing Practice, establishing the Firm’s Marketing ROI service line, and leading special marketing-led growth initiatives for consumer goods and financial services. He was a leader in Equal, McKinsey's LGBTQ+ network

Jonathan is the co-author of Marketing Performance: How Marketers Drive Profitable Growth and has written for the Financial Times, The Economist, Fortune, and the McKinsey Quarterly. Before joining McKinsey, Jonathan was a brand manager at Procter & Gamble in Europe and graduated in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford.

Jonathan's latest endeavor is serving as Chief Marketing Officer for a healthcare startup, applying his marketing experience to build a brand with the ambition to improve health outcomes for women. 

He is an Adjunct at Columbia Business School, where he teaches “Consulting Skills for Business Impact” to MBA and Executive MBA students, and guest lectures on the topics of next generation branding, AI in marketing and consumer insights.

Originally from Ireland, Jonathan attended high school there before beginning his professional career. He is married to Gary, and together they have one son, Matthew.

He regularly makes himself available to talk to CBS students about their career aspirations in consulting and marketing.