D. Ronald Daniel (February 26, 1930 – December 16, 2023) was a longtime top senior partner and director at management consultancy McKinsey & Company, serving as managing director (chief executive) from 1976 to 1988.

D. Ronald Daniel
CitizenshipUnited States
Alma materWesleyan University
Harvard University
Occupation(s)Consultant, Management expert
Years active1957–1990
EmployerMcKinsey & Company, Inc.
Known forcritical success factors
TitleSenior Partner Emeritus
Term1976–1988 (Managing director)
SuccessorFred Gluck

Biography

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Ronald Daniel graduated from Wesleyan University with a B.A. in mathematics in 1952 and received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1954.

Business career

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After graduating in 1954, Daniel served as an officer of the U.S. Navy Supply corps, where he worked with early IBM mainframes. He joined McKinsey & Company, Inc. in 1957 and was a senior partner from 1968 to 1990. He served as managing director for twelve years (1976-1988) preceding Fred Gluck, and was senior partner emeritus of the firm.

At McKinsey, Daniel developed the concept of "success factors",[1] which led to the emergence of critical success factors, those "areas of [business] activity that should receive constant and careful attention from management".[2] He hired and mentored future managing director Rajat Gupta.[3] He was Jeffrey Skilling's former boss before Skilling became CEO of Enron.[4]

In 2004, he described himself as "the bridge between McKinsey's founding generation and the present".[5]

Outside McKinsey, he was a director of Yum! Brands and chairman of New York-based private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings.[4]

Public service career

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Daniel had a longtime affiliation with Harvard University. He served for many years as treasurer of the university. Daniel was a member of the Harvard Corporation and chairman of the board of the Harvard Medical School. He was also chairman of the Harvard Management Company, which oversees over $20 billion in assets and endowments.

Daniel held an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Wesleyan and was chairman emeritus of the school's board of trustees. He was a member of the board of Thirteen/WNET (New York's public broadcasting station), a member of the board of the Brookings Institution, and a trustee of Rockefeller University. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Council on Foreign Relations.[4][6]

References

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  1. ^ Daniel, D. Ronald, "Management Information Crisis", Harvard Business Review, Sept.–Oct. 1961
  2. ^ Rockart, John F., Chief Executives Define Their Own Data Needs, Harvard Business Review, March 1979, accessed 24 November 2022
  3. ^ "Alumni Center | McKinsey & Company". www.mckinsey.com. Retrieved 2020-08-28.
  4. ^ a b c "Untitled Document". uni-muenster.de.
  5. ^ "Alumni Achievement Awards - Alumni - Harvard Business School". www.alumni.hbs.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-28.
  6. ^ "RHJ International". rhji.com.
Business positions
Preceded by
Managing director of McKinsey & Company, Inc.
1976 –1988
Succeeded by