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David Elzinga
Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company

CHICAGO, USA // Dave is a Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company with 30 years of Advertising, Marketing and Brand Strategy experience.

Prior to becoming an external advisor to McKinsey, Dave was an Expert Partner. In that role, Dave led the global branding practice, conducting brand positioning programs for $1B+ brands across categories. This included advising clients on translating the positioning strategy into go-to-market programs including creative campaign development. Additionally, Dave led the creation of the innovative Consumer Decision Journey. This methodology helps brands harness the power of the combination of the most effective creative messages with the highest impact touchpoints (e.g. TV, social media, etc.). Additionally, Dave served as interim CMO for a fashion retailer, leading creative services, performance marketing, and e-commerce teams.

Prior to McKinsey, Dave was a Marketing Director at the Quaker Oats Company (now PepsiCo). While at Quaker, Dave led the advertising development process from concept development to final in-market advertising on Gatorade, Snapple and Quaker Chewy businesses and was recognized for creating high impact campaigns that delivered significant growth. Prior to Quaker, Dave began his career in media planning at Grey Advertising in New York in Media Planning.

Dave is also on the Board of Directors for two non-profit organizations where he advises on marketing/communications activities. Heartland Alliance - An anti-poverty, social justice organization that provides services (food, housing, healthcare, job assistance) to those in need. Chicago Humanities – A platform for culturally thoughtful entertainment that creates experiences through provocative conversations and inspiring performances with the biggest names in art, film, literature, politics, music, tech and entertainment on stages across Chicago.