Yakov is a leading expert in the organizational development of companies and the implementation of transformation programs based on digital technologies and advanced analytics.

Before moving into strategic consulting, he was a senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences, taught at Moscow State University and worked in the M&A team at BP (British Petroleum). In 2008, he joined the Moscow office of McKinsey & Company, where he served organizations in the transport and mining industries, and in the technology and public sectors in Russia, the CIS, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Brazil, and China, consulting clients on corporate culture transformation, organizational design, and governance and regulation processes. In 2021, he became head of McKinsey’s Moscow office.

For a number of years Yakov wrote on business issues for major Russian media outlets.

Yakov holds an MBA cum laude from London Business School and a Doctor of Economics degree.