Vivian Hunt
Dame Vivian Hunt | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth year and age Cleveland, Ohio, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Business leader, advocate for equality |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Known for | Chief Innovation Officer at UnitedHealth Group; Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company; President-elect of the Harvard Board of Overseers (2024–25) |
Dame Vivian Yvonne Hunt (born July 1967) is a prominent business leader and a committed advocate for equality in the workplace. She currently holds the position of Chief Innovation Officer at Optum, a division of UnitedHealth Group, which ranks fifth on the Fortune 500 list and employs over 400,000 individuals with revenues surpassing $370 billion.
Before joining UnitedHealth Group, Hunt was a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, where she provided strategic and operational guidance to major global private and public sector clients. From 2013 until 2020, she managed McKinsey’s UK and Ireland offices—its second largest region—and previously led the EMEA Life Sciences practice from 2007 to 2013.
She is designated as the President-elect of the Harvard Board of Overseers for the term 2024–25.
Early life and education
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Vivian Hunt grew up alongside two brothers and spent parts of her childhood living in both the United States and Japan. She completed her secondary education at Concord Academy in Massachusetts, graduating in 1985.
Hunt earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College in 1989 and later obtained an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1995. During her time at Harvard, she balanced part-time work with leadership roles including serving as President of Harvard Student Agencies (1988-89) and being elected class marshal. Following her undergraduate studies, she joined the Peace Corps, where she supervised regional primary care and midwifery programs in Senegal between 1989 and 1991.
UnitedHealth Group
Hunt assumed the role of Chief Innovation Officer at UnitedHealth Group in October 2022. UnitedHealth Group is recognized as a leading organization dedicated to healthcare services and wellness.
McKinsey & Company
Beginning her professional journey at McKinsey & Company in Boston in 1995, Hunt later relocated to their UK and Ireland offices. She served as Managing Partner for these offices from 2013 through 2020 and headed the Life Sciences practice across EMEA for eight years. Her contributions extended to serving on McKinsey’s global Board of Directors and various key committees.
In 2019, Hunt spearheaded the relocation of McKinsey’s London office to the Post Building within the Knowledge Quarter—a center renowned for its concentration of academic institutions and technology firms. This LEED-Gold certified facility incorporates cutting-edge data analytics through QuantumBlack, an AI firm acquired by McKinsey in 2015. The move earned the British Council Office award in 2020, with the property later acquired by Pontegadea Inmobiliaria SL for around $741 million.
Her advisory experience includes participation on the Industrial Strategy Council, the Prime Minister's Business Advisory Group, and the London Mayor's Business Advisory Board. Additionally, Hunt has chaired BritishAmerican Business and held board memberships with organizations such as the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Business in the Community, and the Trilateral Commission.
Multistakeholder capitalism and business research
Hunt champions stakeholder capitalism, advocating for data-driven methods to reduce bias while boosting organizational effectiveness.
She delivered a widely acclaimed TEDTalk titled How businesses can serve everyone, not just shareholders, advocating for inclusive and sustainable capitalism models. At the Business of Fashion Voices event in 2021, she presented compelling arguments supporting sustainability within the fashion industry amid pressing challenges.
As a founding co-author of McKinsey’s impactful Diversity Matters series, Hunt established connections between diversity, inclusion, and enhanced financial outcomes. Her co-authored works on ESG topics—including How to make ESG real and Does ESG really matter--and why?—highlight ESG’s essential place within corporate strategy frameworks. Hunt also contributed to McKinsey’s inaugural Women in the Workplace report—the most extensive study on women’s experiences in American corporations—and co-authored research demonstrating that advancing gender equality could contribute an estimated $12 trillion to global economic growth. These findings have informed inclusive business strategies worldwide.
In 2018, following Gender Pay Gap disclosures revealing that women at McKinsey earned 24% less in base salary and 76% less in bonuses compared to men—despite equal pay for comparable roles—a criticism emerged due to a higher proportion of men holding senior roles.
That same year, Hunt spoke at the Financial Times Women at the Top Summit about how inclusive leadership drives broader inclusive economic growth. She has since engaged in numerous prominent forums and contributed to the Wall Street Journal bestseller To The Top: How women in corporate leadership are rewriting the rules for success, published in 2022.
Board, government and nonprofit involvement
Hunt possesses a wealth of experience serving on boards of prominent commercial and philanthropic organisations. Her board roles have included Chairmanship at BritishAmerican Business, as well as membership on the boards of the Confederation of British Industry, Business in the Community, and the Trilateral Commission.
In April 2024, Hunt, alongside Tyler Jacks, was appointed as a senior officer of the Harvard Board of Overseers for the 2024-25 term. Within her Overseer duties, she co-leads the joint committee overseeing alumni relations and development, in addition to participating on several academic committees including those at Harvard Business School and the Graduate School of Education.
As co-founder and Chair of the Black Equity Organisation, a UK-based civil rights entity committed to eradicating systemic racism, Hunt spearheads initiatives like Shaping the Future of Black Britain. This programme seeks to elevate Black perspectives across multiple sectors such as healthcare, education, and criminal justice. She has also contributed to discussions on these topics during appearances on 5 News.
Hunt is a founding Chair of Generation UK, a charitable organisation that delivers rigorous technology and analytics education to individuals facing social or economic barriers. This organisation collaborates with businesses and governmental bodies to facilitate employment opportunities for its graduates.
Her governance experience extends to roles with the US-UK Fulbright Commission and membership on the Business Leadership Council at the University of Oxford’s Said Business School, alongside other UK governmental advisory groups.
Since 2019, Hunt has chaired Teach First, the foremost education charity in the UK, concurrently with her leadership at the Black Equity Organisation. Additionally, she serves as a Trustee of the British Museum and holds a position on the Board of Governors for the Southbank Centre.
Personal life
Hunt is married to Nicholas Basden and they have two sons together. She holds citizenship in both the United Kingdom and the United States.
Honours
In recognition of her contributions to economic development and advancing women in business, Hunt was named Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in the 2018 New Year Honours. She was awarded the Chartered Management Institute's Gold Medal in 2019 along with Business in the Community's National Gender Champion Award that same year. In 2022, she received the Strategic Management Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Hunt has been acknowledged among Britain's top ten most influential Black women by the Powerlist Foundation and ranked within the Financial Times’ 30 most influential figures in the City of London. Her influence spans both corporate leadership and advocacy for diversity.
Her honorary accolades include doctorates in law from Warwick University, York University, and Portsmouth University, as well as an honorary Fellowship bestowed by University College London.
External links
- 1967 births
- American emigrants to the United Kingdom
- American expatriates in Senegal
- American women chief executives
- Black British businesspeople
- British women chief executives
- Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- Harvard Business School alumni
- Harvard College alumni
- Living people
- McKinsey & Company people
- Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
- Trustees of the British Museum