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Ari Libarikian

Senior PartnerNew York

Advises companies on building thriving businesses, helping organizations to grow, improve business processes, and strengthen digital capabilities

As the global co-leader and North American leader of McKinsey's Insurance Practice, I specialize in helping leading companies across the insurance industry better serve customers, drive operational improvements, and grow sustainability in a changing global environment.

I serve clients spanning Personal and Commercial Lines P&C, to Life & Retirement players, to brokers, to disruptors and startups in Insurance, to private capital players with strategic focus in insurance.  My work spans all elements of the value-chain from Product Development, to distribution, to Underwriting and Claims Transformation, to Rewiring organizations, to developing strategies and helping drive growth.

I formerly founded and scaled the Leap by McKinsey practice globally, helping organizations develop holistic, well-structured approaches to business building and scaling. By combining the experimental nature of start-ups with the operational excellence of corporations, I helped create strong digital businesses.

Beyond my professional work, I serve on the boards of Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) and the St. John’s School of Risk Management.

Published work

Dual transformation: Optimizing the core and building new businesses,” McKinsey & Company, August 2024

From raw data to real profits: A primer for building a thriving data business,” McKinsey & Company, July 2024

New-business building: Six cybersecurity and digital beliefs that can create risk,” McKinsey & Company, December 2023

TruStage’s Bob Trunzo on bringing bold change to insurance,” McKinsey & Company, December 2023

New-business building: A winning strategy in uncertain times,” McKinsey & Company, December 2023

CEOs’ choice for growth: Building new businesses,” McKinsey & Company, November 2023

Courageous growth: Six strategies for continuous growth outperformance,” McKinsey & Company, October 2023

Building new businesses: How insurers can leap ahead,” McKinsey & Company, July 2023

The new automotive mandate: Moving from building products to building businesses,” McKinsey & Company, May 2023

Business building: The path to resilience in uncertain times,” McKinsey & Company, December 2022

New-business building in 2022: Driving growth in volatile times,” McKinsey & Company, November 2022

Where delegation fails: Five things only the enterprise CEO can do to build new businesses,” McKinsey & Company, August 2022

The SaaS factor: Six ways to drive growth by building new SaaS businesses,” McKinsey & Company, July 2022

How good are you at business building? A new way to score your ability to scale new ventures,” McKinsey & Company, November 2021

Building new digital businesses in insurance,” McKinsey & Company, June 2021

CEO brief: The future of business building in insurance,” McKinsey & Company, June 2021

How to launch a new business: Three approaches that work,” McKinsey & Company, April 2021

Leap to the future of healthcare: Reinvent through business building,” McKinsey & Company, April 2021

Why business building is the new priority for growth,” McKinsey Quarterly, December 2020

Future of insurance: Unleashing growth through new business building,” McKinsey & Company, December 2020

Derisking corporate business launches: Five steps to overcome the most common pitfalls,” McKinsey & Company, October 2020

The digital-led recovery from COVID-19: Five questions for CEOs,” McKinsey & Company, April 2020

Innovating from necessity: The business-building imperative in the current crisis,” McKinsey & Company, April 2020

Building an e-commerce business: Lessons on moving fast,” McKinsey & Company, April 2020

Building new businesses: How incumbents use their advantages to accelerate growth,” McKinsey & Company, December 2019

Insurance 2030—The impact of AI on the future of insurance,” McKinsey & Company, April 2018

Raising returns on analytics investments in insurance,” McKinsey & Company, July 2017

Advanced analytics: Nine insights from the C-suite,” McKinsey & Company, July 2017

Harnessing the potential of data in insurance,” McKinsey & Company, May 2017

The advance of analytics,” McKinsey & Company, March 2017

Straight talk about big data,” McKinsey Quarterly, October 2016

Transforming into an analytics-driven insurance carrier,” McKinsey & Company, February 2016

Unleashing the value of advanced analytics in insurance,” McKinsey & Company, August 2014

Getting infrastructure offshoring right,” McKinsey & Company, July 2009

PAST EXPERIENCE

Nortel Networks
Optical networks engineer

Nokia Bell Labs (Lucent Technologies)
Research associate

EDUCATION

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MS, computer science, electrical engineering

McGill University
BEng, electrical engineering