From the beginning of his career, Tarek Elmasry ’94 MBA brought his family’s values to everything he did. His parents immigrated to the U.S. from Egypt in the early 1960s to pursue PhDs, and they taught him about the value of education and the importance of giving back. His father passed away when Elmasry was 12, and he watched his mother, a single woman with a PhD in pharmacology, try to thrive in a traditional work environment.
Those experiences have shaped him into who he is today. “My dad pays attention to the small things, and that bleeds into his work,” says his daughter Amina Elmasry ’23, a Northwestern alumna. She says her father is constantly thinking about how he can do more, and do it better, whether at home or at McKinsey & Company, where he is a senior partner.
“At the end of the day, my job is about helping people,” he says. “That’s where the meaning is for me. Whether I’m helping CEOs, boards or founders, I’m blessed to be in a great firm with all sorts of assets and resources, and I just think about how to mobilize those to help people thrive.”
Elmasry describes his career trajectory as a series of happy accidents. He came to Northwestern University to find his way. Later, he “fell in love with a Jersey girl” — his wife, Susan. His career at McKinsey took the family around the world to Sydney, Jakarta, Chicago and Dubai, where he led McKinsey’s Middle East business through the events of the Arab Spring. Today, the family lives in the Bay Area, where Elmasry works as a senior partner at McKinsey with a focus on tech, media and telecommunications.
At the end of the day, my job is about helping people. That’s where the meaning is for me.
“Tarek is the ultimate counselor,” says John Livingston ’93 JD, MBA, a cybersecurity CEO who worked with Elmasry at McKinsey and has been his friend for 25 years. “As a leader, Tarek is singularly focused on how to help other people be as successful as they can be.” That is true not only of his clients but also of his friends — when Livingston faced a bump in his career, Elmasry created opportunities for him at McKinsey, giving up some of his own client work to do so.
“My dad makes people feel heard and understood. He’s really good at channeling empathy, trying to understand what would truly be most helpful to somebody,” says Elmasry’s son, , who studied history and data science at Northwestern. Zayn and Amina agree that their father asks a lot of questions. “In a dream world, I would have loved to have been a TV talk show host,” laughs Elmasry. He loves to understand people, explore their goals and figure out a way to help them reach them.
Elmasry’s time at the Kellogg School of Management was defined by friendships and community. That experience has motivated him to organize alumni events, lead recruiting efforts for McKinsey, and manage summer associate programs that bring Kellogg alumni and students together all over the world. He serves on Northwestern’s Board of Trustees, and he brings that same passion home, asking his children how the university could be better.
“What I value most about Kellogg is its ability to create leaders who think about where they can find common ground — how to work together to make a situation, institution or environment better,” Elmasry says. In a world with a lot of division, he thinks we need more bridge builders — and Kellogg and Northwestern are putting those leaders out into the world. He hopes students will take advantage of what the school offers to really make an impact.