Liz Young McNally

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Liz Young McNally serves as the Deputy Director, Commercial Operations, at the Defense Innovation Unit. In this role she brings her diverse experiences from the private sector, the military, and the not-for-profit sector to lead DIU’s collaboration with the commercial tech sector and investment community. This includes enhanced portfolio company scaling support and related Department partnerships, as well as the defense innovation on-ramp, talent, and investment capabilities resident in National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) and National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC).

Before joining DIU, Liz served as co-CEO of Schmidt Futures, a philanthropic venture focused on projects and investments at the intersection of talent, technology, innovation, and talent. Previously, she was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where she served a broad variety of large and small corporate clients as well as investors and their portfolio companies, and also served as Global Lead for McKinsey Academy, the firm’s tech-enabled capability building and leadership development offering.

Liz began her career as a Military Police officer in the U.S. Army. Her service included two year-long tours in Iraq, where she served on the senior staff of General David Petraeus as his speechwriter. A graduate of West Point and Oxford, Liz is a Rhodes and Truman Scholar.

Liz lives with her husband John and three children outside New York City.