Munich, Germany · Immediately available

Shaun Thornton

Enterprise Programme Delivery &
Business Operations Leader

GovernanceOperating ModelsExecutionTransformation
Portrait of Shaun Thornton

Making complex organisations easier to run.

I spent 20+ years working with McKinsey & Company - externally from 2000, in-house from 2010 - not as a consultant, but on the internal operations side: programme delivery, governance and executive enablement, working directly with Partners, Senior Partners and global leadership.

My work sits at the point where strategy has been agreed and someone has to make it actually happen: designing operating models, building governance and reporting that leaders trust, running leadership operating rhythms, and delivering complex cross-functional programmes at global scale.

The scale of the work.

20+years working with McKinsey & Company - 16 of them in-house (2010-2026)
2,500+participants a year on the global leadership programme my team delivered
30,000+colleagues reached by the firm's global Cyber Awareness Programme, which I managed
800 → 1,100growth in annual participants in one year, on broadly the same resources
25people in the largest team I've coordinated, across internal staff and external partners
150participants at the leadership forums I organised across Europe and EEMA

What I do.

Programme & Portfolio Management Business Operations & Governance Operating Model Design Executive Decision Support Leadership Operating Rhythms PMO & Delivery Excellence Capacity & Resource Planning Change Management & Transformation Executive Reporting Stakeholder Management Process Improvement AI-enabled Workflows

Proof, not promises.

Operating at scale

Flagship global leadership programme

Operational lead for McKinsey's flagship global leadership programme - 2,500+ participants a year, a core team of 10 plus up to 15 external partners, full vendor authority. Built an operating model so repeatable the role was split into three positions after I moved on.

Systems & governance

Salesforce-based delivery governance

Co-designed and implemented a Salesforce-based pipeline and delivery tracking system for a 50-person specialist pool - pipeline stages, dashboards, reporting and operating processes - then embedded it into the leadership operating rhythm so decisions ran on real data.

Enterprise change

Global cyber awareness at firm scale

Owned and evolved McKinsey's global Cyber Awareness Programme, reaching 30,000+ colleagues worldwide, and served as Product Owner for a mandatory global data-risk digital training - requirements, design decisions, stakeholder alignment and worldwide launch.

Executive enablement

Leadership governance across two regions

Ran governance and operating rhythms for practice leadership across Europe and EEMA - 150-person forums, budgets, briefing materials, decision support and follow-through. Created a monthly update format that was adopted globally as a governance standard.

Career.

2023 - 2026

Client Activation Manager, POP EMEA

McKinsey & Company · Munich

Partnered with Partners, Senior Partners and Co-Global Leadership on governance, operating rhythms, budgets and strategic execution across Europe and EEMA.

2021 - 2023

Manager of Programme Delivery, McKinsey Academy

McKinsey & Company · Munich

Led resource planning and delivery governance across Data & Analytics and Operations portfolios - capacity management for a ~50-person specialist delivery pool.

2018 - 2021

Cyber Risk Manager

McKinsey & Company · Munich

Strengthened programme delivery, governance and adoption at scale across the firm's cyber risk portfolio; led a multidisciplinary team of 4-6.

2014 - 2018

Senior Specialist, Global Leadership Programme

McKinsey & Company · Munich

End-to-end operational lead for the firm's flagship leadership programme serving 2,500+ participants annually on behalf of Firm Leadership and Senior Partners.

2010 - 2013

Facilities Manager & Space Planner

McKinsey & Company · London

Managed UK office space strategy and workplace operations through a period of business growth, with direct line management of a team of 6.

Credentials & languages.

Certifications

  • Six Sigma Green Belt - Lean Process Methodologies
  • SANS MGT433 - Security Awareness · SANS SEC401 - Security Essentials
  • McKinsey Endeavor Leadership Programme

Languages

  • English - native · German - B1 · Afrikaans - conversational

Tools

  • Salesforce · Smartsheet · Jira · Confluence · Notion · Microsoft 365 · AI-enabled workflow and reporting tools

Profile

  • South African & British national · German permanent resident
  • Based in the Munich metro area · immediately available