Allen leads McKinsey’s IT Performance Management Practice and is a coleader of the Operations & Technology Practice. He has worked with a broad range of financial services companies on IT and operations strategy and redesign.
Examples of his work include developing:
- a digital strategy for a global universal bank
- an IT infrastructure offshoring strategy for a global broker-dealer
- an online strategy study for a leading US retail/high-net-worth brokerage
- a mid- and back-office redesign project for a commodity-trading organization, focusing on opportunities to reduce errors and implement straight-through processing
- an IT vision project for a global investment bank, to develop the strategy, governance and metrics for the IT infrastructure and application development group
Allen is also a member of the Social Sector Practice and has worked extensively with the Robin Hood Foundation on strategic issues.
Published work
“Underestimated start-up founders: The untapped opportunity,” McKinsey & Company, June 2023
“How chief data officers can navigate the COVID-19 response and beyond,” McKinsey & Company, April 2020
“Achieving digital alpha in asset management,” McKinsey & Company, November 2018
“Designing a data transformation that delivers value right from the start,” McKinsey & Company, October 2018
“The transformative power of automation in banking,” McKinsey & Company, November 2017
“Protecting the enterprise with cybersecure IT architecture,” McKinsey & Company, March 2015
“Risk and responsibility in a hyperconnected world: Implications for enterprises,” McKinsey & Company, January 2014
“Playing war games to prepare for a cyberattack,” McKinsey & Company, July 2012
“How innovators are changing IT offshoring,” McKinsey & Company, October 2009
Education
Harvard Law School
JD
Oxford University
MA, philosophy, politics and economics
University of Pennsylvania
BA, psychology and history
