Thomas Barta

Thomas Barta Logo

These fabulous organizations contribute to the coaching and leadership development of our programs.

Thomas Barta is the world’s premier expert, author, and keynote speaker on marketing leadership.

Thomas is a former partner of McKinsey. His pioneering research brings a fresh perspective to the customer organization: leadership – including the world’s largest study, with over 68,000 assessments – on what makes for an impactful marketing officer.

Thomas has consulted and marketed for over 20 years, in 14 industries, in 45 countries. His clients include many of the world’s most prominent companies, including over two dozen from the Fortune 500.He is the author of the leadership book The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader (with Patrick Barwise, McGraw-Hill). He writes for numerous publications from Forbes to Marketing Week.

After a fast-track marketing career at Kimberly-Clark (Kleenex), where he led the growth of large international brands, Thomas joined McKinsey to help CEOs deliver profitable growth in a bigger way. He later became the client strategy advisor to McKinsey’s global board of directors. As a dean of the firm’s highest-rated internal program, Thomas trained over a thousand McKinsey leaders on driving change without authority.

For the CMO Fellowship (a McKinsey and Marketing Academy program to prepare CMOs for a CEO role), Thomas serves as its long-standing leadership dean. For a select group of global CMOs, Thomas serves as their personal advisor.

Thomas holds an MBA from London Business School and a Master’s in Clinical Organizational Psychology from INSEAD Business School (France and Singapore).


NOMINATIONS FOR 2026 ARE OPEN!

The program is free but highly selective so firstly we ask senior business leaders working within Marketing, Media and Advertising to nominate the best of their emerging leaders for a place on the program. All ‘nominees’ then receive an ‘Invitation to Apply’ which includes essential information about the process.

APPLICATIONS FOR THE GLOBAL FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM 2026 ARE OPEN

Applicants may apply to EITHER cohort regardless of country of residence, but must commit to attend both Residential dates & the Virtual day of their chosen cohort. Attendance is mandatory and a condition of acceptance onto the program.

We'll keep you updated on
The Global Fellowship

Register interest for The Global Fellowship