Rita McGrath is a professor at Columbia University?s Business School. She is one of the world?s leading experts on strategy in highly uncertain and volatile environments. She works with both Global 1,000 icons and smaller but fast-growing organizations. Some current clients include F-Secure, Nokia, Microsoft (and its CEO Summit), AXA Equitable, General Electric, Novartis, PPG Industries, the Stena Group and the World Economic Forum. She is a popular speaker and consults to senior leadership teams. In 2009, she was inducted as a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society, an honor accorded to those who have had a significant impact on the field.

McGrath's new co-authored book, Discovery Driven Growth: A Breakthrough Process to Reduce Risk and Seize Opportunity  (2009) was endorsed by Clayton Christensen, Ram Charan and CK Prahalad, among others. She has co-authored two previous books: The Entrepreneurial Mindset (2000) and MarketBusters: 40 Strategic Moves that Drive Exceptional Business Growth (2005). MarketBusters has been translated into 10 languages and was named one of the best business books of 2005 by strategy+business. It was featured by Bill Gates at the 2005 Microsoft CEO Summit, whose theme "New Pathways to Growth" was derived from the book's main topic.

McGrath appears regularly on television and radio and is often cited in the press, including The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, and Businessweek, Inc., She maintains an active blog (see www.ritamcgrath.com) and is featured as a discussion leader at Harvard Business Online (see http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/mcgrath/). She has co-authored six articles in the Harvard Business Review, including the best-selling "Discovery Driven Planning." McGrath joined the faculty of Columbia Business School in 1993. Prior to life in academia, she was an IT director, worked in the political arena and founded two startups. Her Ph.D. is from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She teaches M.B.A. and Executive M.B.A. courses, and is the faculty director for the Columbia Executive Education program Leading Strategic Growth and Change.