INTHE
Mary Martin’s background is traditionally non-tech- nical, but she happened to serve a client in an industry segment rapidly disrupted by digital. This forced her to get quite deepquite quickly in Digital by helpingthem reset their overall brand strategy, managing the full breadth ofBoston Consulting Group’s resources. That really helped start to get anunderstanding of the full tech stackand the underlying architecture, andhow it all fits together.
“I was then able to bring eve-
rything I knew from the business
world, from client industry business
value drivers and CEO’s perspec-
tive, and connect that with the CIO’s
perspective,” she says. “So while my
recent projects deploying this com-
bination of work is by design, I ab-
solutely stumbled on it by accident!”
Today Martin is a Managing
Director and Partner and leader in
BCG’s Consumer practice, which
includes the firm’s work in travel
and tourism, consumer products,
BCG’s Marketing & Sales practice,
with a focus on primary consumer
insights and consumer-driven strat-
egy formation, and also a key mem-
ber of the North American Digi-
talBCG leadership team, bringing
her expertise on digital strategy and
growth opportunities to clients.
When you ask consultants what
they enjoy about their work, she
says, they typically like solving
hard problems and working with
business leaders on issues that are
fundamentally top of mind. “Digi-
tal, or in my experience AI, any
kind of scaled AI transformation,
puts all of that on steroids,” Martin
says. “The work we do in Digital
and Tech drives multiple points of
value creation, whether it is margin
growth, efficiency gains, or scal-
ability at a pace that only techno-
logical advancements can sustain.
It is incredibly rewarding to be a
part of creating tangible value for
clients and helping them unlock
that opportunity.”
From a professional standpoint,
Martin says she’s never happier
than when she’s doing something
that benefits her clients, and bring-
ing along more teams of people
within BCG to be able to continue
to have that impact. “It feels quite
an achievement to be at a place
like BCG, where you can grasp
both depth sufficiently to really un-
derstand the problem, and couple
that with the breadth of value cre-
ated through products and solutions
we’re delivering to our clients.”
Martin says she has often been
the only woman in the room, but
says it’s never really mattered if
you have a point of view grounded
in the data. “I would frame it dif-
ferently—you certainly have to be
willing to be under-represented in
the room and in the discussion, but
once you create that space at the ta-
ble that is deserving of a voice, your
gender is less relevant,” she says.
Over the next 12 months, Martinsays she is looking forward to scal-ing the capabilities, technology, andsolutions in the digital space. “I’mexcited to discover where those innovations create unique and disruptive opportunities to drive value,and to continue building a teamthat can be part of the excitementof what I’ve experienced over manyyears at BCG,” she says.
What does the Women Leaders in Technology award mean to you?
MARTIN: “It’s a great honor and I am completely stunned. On a professional level it is validating because it recognizes the innovationthat we as Digital BCG are bringing to the table, as a team, acrossour global organization. And for our clients, it is validating to recognize the trust and teamwork that they have placed in us, as wecontinue to move forward.” Q & A
MARY MARTIN
BOSTONCONSULTING GROUPEXCELLENCE INLEADERSHIP
