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Tiffany Burns

Senior PartnerAtlanta

Leads the Atlanta Office and serves consumer-facing organizations on broad transformation efforts to significantly improve performance

Tiffany Burns is a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, where she leads the firm’s Atlanta office and serves as the Managing Partner for the Southern region of the U.S., which includes offices in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Houston, and Miami.

She is a leader in McKinsey & Company’s global Consumer practice and has extensive experience leading enterprise performance transformations across both growth and productivity areas. She has worked with many retailers, brands, and hospitality companies with a focus on the future of commerce in response to evolving consumer expectations and the rise of innovative technologies.

Examples of her recent client work include the following:

  • transforming operations of a multi-banner retailer to deliver $500M in improved value
  • delivering double-digit EBITDA growth by modernizing business practices and transforming functions to deliver $750M in value
  • achieving $1B in cost reduction and $1.5B in working capital improvement
  • establishing a new growth business in social-driven sales growth to offset declines in the core business

Tiffany is a member of the Atlanta philanthropic community, serving on the board of the Rotary Club, Leadership Atlanta, The Georgia Tech Athletic Association, Pace Academy, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Foundation Board, Woodruff Arts Foundation, and as the co-founder of the Rising Seniors Foundation.

Tiffany has a B.A. degree in Industrial Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, an MBA from Harvard Business School, J.D. from Harvard Law School, and Master’s in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

Published work

Rising tide: How private equity can lift the shipbuilding industry,” McKinsey & Company, April 2025

Empowering Black, Latina, and Native American women in tech,” McKinsey & Company, August 2023

Unlocking the full potential in fashion for Black consumers,” McKinsey & Company, January 2023

Investing in Georgia today for the economy of tomorrow,” McKinsey & Company, December 2022

The big break: How retailers can break habits to support diverse-owned businesses,” McKinsey & Company, October 2022

Beyond burnout: What helps—and what doesn’t,” McKinsey Health Institute, October 2022

Black beauty brands and consumers: Where do we go from here?,” McKinsey & Company, July 2022

Building Black-owned brands to accelerate prosperity,” McKinsey & Company, June 2022

Black representation in the beauty industry,” McKinsey Quarterly, June 2022

Meet the Black beauty execs,” McKinsey Quarterly, June 2022

Beyond the distribution center,” McKinsey & Company, June 2022

Forecasting the future of stores,” McKinsey & Company, March 2022

The five zeros reshaping stores,” McKinsey & Company, March 2022

The rise of the inclusive consumer,” McKinsey & Company, February 2022

The Black unicorn: Changing the game for inclusivity in retail,” McKinsey & Company, November 2021

Women in the Workplace 2021,” McKinsey & Company, September 2021

The diversity imperative in retail,” McKinsey & Company, January 2021

Education

Harvard Law School
JD

Harvard Law School
MBA

Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government
MPP

Georgia Institute of Technology
BS, industrial engineering