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Forest Hou

PartnerShanghai

Leads McKinsey’s digital work in our Operations Practice in Greater China and serves automotive, high tech, machinery, and basic materials clients on IoT ecosystems, digital talent, and digital transformations

Forest leads our digital work in the Operations Practice in Greater China. His work focuses on helping clients from the automotive, high tech, machinery, and basic materials industries create IoT ecosystems, upskill digital talent, and execute successful digital transformations, including diagnosis, strategy, design, and implementation.

Forest has served and collaborated with over 400 multinational corporations, state-owned enterprises, and private companies across diverse industries and processes.

Prior to joining McKinsey in 2011, Forest spent 17 years in senior operations management in the automotive, semiconductor, and machining industries. He has been invited by the World Economic Forum to visit over 70 members of the Global Lighthouse Network worldwide. Forest is also the founder of the Tsinghua McKinsey Digital Capability Center and a guest professor in the MBA program at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

PUBLISHED WORK

Global Lighthouse voices: A talk with Bosch Mobility China COO Norman Roth,” McKinsey & Company, April 2025

Global Lighthouse voices: A talk with LCFC CEO and Lenovo VP Xiaohui Ding,” McKinsey & Company, April 2025

How manufacturing’s Lighthouses are capturing the full value of AI,” McKinsey & Company, April 2024

Adopting AI at speed and scale: The 4IR push to stay competitive,” McKinsey & Company, February 2024

Winning the race: China’s auto market shifts gears,” McKinsey & Company, December 2019

PAST EXPERIENCE

Wittur Group
Operations director

Intel Corporation
Manufacturing manager, industrial engineering manager

EDUCATION

Webster University
MBA

Shanghai Jiao Tong University
MEng, industrial engineering