Heather Watt

Heather is a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. 

Prior to joining McKinsey, Heather served as the chief of staff to the Deputy Premier of Ontario, and Minister of Health, from 2018-2022. 

As Chief of Staff, Heather was the most senior advisor to the Minister, responsible for the management of the ~$70B annual health care budget in the province of Ontario.  Her areas of oversight included policy development, issues management, communications and media relations, stakeholder relations, and legislative affairs.  Specific portfolio responsibilities included hospitals, home and community care, primary care, capital, public drug programs, mental health and addictions, public health, health human resources, digital health, health transformation, and federal / provincial / territorial relations. 

Most recently, Heather played a central role in managing the COVID-19 pandemic, including the rollout of the vaccine program, increasing Ontario’s critical care capacity to accommodate surges in COVID-19 infection, and building a testing network that processed over 25 million lab-based tests for Ontarians, and distributed millions and millions more through rapid test delivery channels.

Prior to her role serving the Minister of Health, Heather worked as chief strategy officer at Canada’s leading high-stakes crisis consulting firm, as well as in management consulting, leading strategy engagements for clients in life sciences, health insurance, retail pharmacy, consumer products, industrials and private equity. 

Heather holds an AB from Princeton University, and is a mom to three, enjoys running, current affairs, and politics.