Melissa Dalrymple is a Partner at McKinsey & Company and a leader in their global Design and Customer Experience practices. She focuses on consumer-facing industries, including travel and hospitality. By combining design thinking methods with business strategy, her teams design and deliver the kinds of compelling omnichannel experiences that have the power to reshape value propositions, disrupt industries, and delight customers.

Melissa’s research efforts focus on the Business Value of Design and the emerging role of the Chief Design Officer. Her work has had broad coverage in the media, including Fast Company, Forbes, The Financial Times, and McKinsey Quarterly, and is frequently credited with helping elevate the role of user-centered thinking within large organizations, especially those seeking to redefine their purpose to meet shifts in consumer behavior.

Prior to McKinsey, Melissa spent nearly two decades in the design and innovation industry at firms including IDEO and Doblin. Melissa has also consulted multiple early stage startups on their initial products and funding models. She has lectured on Design Thinking at business schools, including Ross, LSE, and HBS. Melissa is a graduate of Yale University (BA, Art History), Johns Hopkins (MA, Art History) and Harvard Business School (MBA). She lives in Chicago with her husband, three kids, two dogs and one very outnumbered cat.