Jeffrey C. Sinclair Bio

Jeff is a Lecturer at the University of Michigan in both the Ross School of Business and the College of Engineering. Jeff also serves as a member of the Advisory Boards for the Center for Entrepreneurship and the Zell Lurie Institute. Prior to joining the faculty, he served as chair of the Dean’s Advisory Board for the Ross School of Business. 

Jeff retired in December, 2012 as a Director (senior partner) with McKinsey & Company. Over the course of more than 30 years, Jeff served in the Firm’s offices in Washington, DC, San Francisco, Barcelona, and Cleveland, where he served as the Location Manager from 1999 through 2005. 

Jeff has a breadth of experience serving CEOs and their leadership teams in strategy, operations, and organization. He served companies in North America, Asia, and Europe across multiple industries, including electronics and high-tech, aerospace and defense, automotive, industrial products, basic materials, consumer goods, and food. He also worked extensively with the US Federal Government. 

Jeff's functional expertise is in operations. He worked with top management teams of technology- and operations-intensive businesses to develop and align business and operations strategies, and to build leadership and front-line capabilities to deliver substantial improvements in strategic and financial performance. He co-founded McKinsey's Manufacturing Practice, and in 2012 led a major research effort on the Future of Manufacturing jointly with the McKinsey Global Institute. During his career, Jeff also led the Firm’s Product Development and Supply Chain Practices, and served as McKinsey’s Global Knowledge Leader for the Operations Practice, essentially the head of R&D across operations disciplines including product development, procurement, manufacturing, supply chain, and service operations. 

Jeff has a passion for innovation and entrepreneurship. He has made multiple investments in start-ups and private-equity-owned companies, and currently serves on the boards of directors of four privately-held companies. While the Location Manager in Cleveland, Jeff led McKinsey’s work to help establish BioEnterprise, NorTech, and TeamNEO to drive economic development in Northeast Ohio. In 2011 and 2012 he led the Firm’s work with the Cincinnati Business Committee to accelerate the innovation economy in Southwest Ohio, resulting in the creation of Cintrifuse. 

Before joining McKinsey, Jeff worked for Chrysler Corporation and IBM. He holds a Masters in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Michigan.