This is a profile image of Douglas Merrill

Douglas Merrill

Helps organizations transform their technology and enable sustainable growth

Douglas specializes in helping organizations modernize and transform their technology into an enabler of growth. Working closely with clients, he helps deliver end-to-end tech-enabled transformations that focus on IT infrastructure, architecture, data, operations, and overall technology strategy.

He brings to his work deep experience with data science, AI, and machine learning in particular, information security, and modern engineering organizations and their operations.

Before joining McKinsey, Douglas held several high-level roles with technology companies and started several of his own. Previously, he was the founder and CEO of ZestFinance, a machine learning company that sold underwriting tools to large financial and tech firms. Earlier, he served as CIO and VP of engineering for Google, responsible for a broad portfolio that included data centers, IT, internal application development, business units, and many remote offices. He has also served as CISO, head of common infrastructure, and head of HR strategy and operations at a leading financial services company.

He is the author of the best-selling book, Getting Organized in the Google Era (Crown Business, 2010), which addresses the psychology and technology of organization.

PUBLISHED WORK

Moving past gen AI’s honeymoon phase: Seven hard truths for CIOs to get from pilot to scale,” McKinsey & Company, May 2024

Technology's generational moment with generative AI: A CIO and CTO guide,” McKinsey & Company, July 2023

Generative AI is a make-or-break moment for CIOs,” CIO, August 2023

PAST EXPERIENCE

Founder & CEO
ZestFinance

Google
CIO, VP of engineering

Charles Schwab
Senior Vice President, CISO, Head of HR Strategy and Operations

RAND Corporation
Information scientist

EDUCATION

Princeton University
MA, PhD, cognitive science

University of Tulsa
BA