Judy qualified with a master's degree in law, after studies at Stellenbosch University in South Africa and then at Oxford. On finishing her studies in 1998, Judy however forsook the law to join management consultancy McKinsey & Company, out of curiosity to learn more about the business world. She has remained with McKinsey ever since, largely because of the unique opportunities it offers to explore complex systemic challenges and resolve them. In 2004 Judy was elected a partner at McKinsey.

Judy is a member of McKinsey's Sub-Saharan African leadership group responsible for developing new insights into organisational behaviour and bringing them to clients. Her work is particularly centred on making large-scale organisational transformations successful integrating the "hard" and "soft" elements of organisational performance in a way that sustainably shifts the underlying mindsets driving group behaviour. These efforts have concentrated on the mining, energy and financial services sectors.

She has also made public and social sector development a major focus of her career. Some highlights include:

• Partnering with the Black Management Forum, exploring ways to accelerate the development of black leaders in South Africa (and ultimately in Africa)
• Helping South Africa's government develop and implement a business plan for creating 10,000 new jobs in business process outsourcing
• Advising the Namibian government on a major upcoming project to transform the effectiveness of their healthcare system by taking a whole systems view and building leadership capability

Judy Malan's passion is to help groups of people achieve social and economic transformation, by helping them forge a common language where their values conflict and solve problems from a systems perspective. She sees this mutual understanding as a platform upon which to uplift the social system of Africa. Unleashing the potential of people - both as individuals and as groups - is what ultimately drives her.