Operations is the new leadership fast track, but only if you build the talent engine

Theano Liakopoulou is a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company and one of Europe’s leading thinkers on the transformation of operations, procurement, and the workplace of tomorrow. Based in Paris, she leads McKinsey’s Operations Practice in France and works globally with clients in pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, and energy—industries under growing pressure to modernise supply chains, improve sustainability, and retain top talent.

With a background in chemical engineering and early career experience at Procter & Gamble, Theano combines technical rigour with practical leadership. She’s known for helping clients rewire outdated operating models and mobilise large-scale transformation programs, particularly when digital tools, analytics, and human capabilities must align to create meaningful change. Her work extends beyond cost optimisation: she sees procurement as a strategic orchestrator of value across the business, connecting internal teams, suppliers, and ecosystems in smarter and more sustainable ways.

A constant theme in Theano’s career has been a discomfort with inertia. She’s motivated by the gap between how things function today and how they could function better—something that becomes even more urgent as emerging technologies, evolving roles, and rising expectations reshape the business landscape. She thrives in complexity, helping organisations look past surface-level fixes to define what they’re truly trying to solve and to build change that endures.