Former Forté Fellow, Erin George, Prioritizes Women’s Leadership at BCG

 

 

 

When Erin George was a Forté Fellow 20 years ago, the landscape for women in business looked very different. After getting her MBA at the University of Texas’s McCombs School of Business and joining BCG in 2006, Erin is now Managing Partner for BCG’s Southwest Region. In her role, Erin passionately advocates to get “more women leading” at BCG – and beyond.

Developing Women Leaders at BCG

In simple terms, what is the overall mission of your work?

BCG is a global consulting firm that works with companies across industries to help them with tough problems and develop their strategies. We operate in sectors like energy, healthcare, finance, consumer industries, and technology, focusing on the most complex challenges where clients need external expertise.

As a Managing Director and Senior Partner at BCG, I have a commercial role, working directly with clients—primarily in the retail sector. I collaborate with well-known fashion and specialty retail brands, helping them transform their businesses and increase productivity. In addition to my client work, I lead BCG’s Southwest region, overseeing day-to-day operations and managing our P&L.

Is gender equity important to BCG?

Having more women leading within BCG is incredibly important. We recently looked at the percentage of our clients who have women in executive roles relative to the percentage of managing directors that we have at BCG. In all parts of the world, we know that we need to do even more. Most of my clients are women, and frankly they love to have a team with a well- represented portion of women. In fact, they ask what portion of our team is going to be women so it’s becoming more and more important in our industry to have more women leading. It’s something that we really prioritize within BCG. I personally work with every single woman in the southwest region to make sure that she will be successful at BCG.

What advice do you have for a young woman just starting out in her career in business?

Advocating for yourself is very important. The advice I give, and follow myself, is “don’t assume that other people know what you’re doing or what your different roles are.” Tell people what you’re doing – you can do it in a way that is informative and not braggy.

The other advice I offer is to leverage others to advocate on your behalf. Others can amplify your successes, and that’s probably one of the most powerful levers that we can pull.

Supporting Forté’s Mission for 20+ Years

How did you get involved with Forté initially?

I was a Forté scholar when I was getting my MBA at McCombs. That was 20 years ago, at a time when 19% of my class was women, which is tiny. I understand that now, at most leading business schools, it’s at least twice that amount, which is incredible progress.

Why did you decide to get an MBA, and how has it benefited you?

An MBA is an incredible foundation for a woman because it puts her at the forefront of access to more competitive jobs and higher earning potential over the course of her career.

What is about Forté’s mission that makes you want to continue to support our efforts?

Getting more women leading is something that I’m incredibly passionate about. I’ve gone from being a Forté scholar to being on the board of Girls Inc. in Dallas for almost a decade to establishing an endowed scholarship at the McCombs School for future female leaders. I support Forté because this is one of the few places where we can continue to help women launch and accelerate successful business careers.

Thank you, Erin, for your long-term support of Forté’s efforts to disrupt the status quo – you are a shining example of how Forté has helped get “more women leading.”