James W. Crownover is a former Senior Partner of McKinsey & Company, Inc., a worldwide consulting firm. He was born and raised in Norman, Oklahoma, the son of a well-respected local banker and local politician and a wonderful and caring mother. A dedicated student and athlete, Jim was the valedictorian of his high school class and a member of two state championship basketball teams. As a young man, he learned the importance of team work and service to others and developed the desire to make a difference.

Jim attended Rice University where he experienced the academic challenge of a lifetime. He graduated with honors and a degree in chemical engineering. While Jim values his engineering training highly, he decided to go to business school and received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1968.

Jim and his wife, Molly, have one daughter, Corwin. It has been their pleasure to watch her develop in her own unique way into the exceptional young woman she has become. She is a Stanford graduate and software engineer who has traveled the world. Corwin
currently makes New York her home and has recently become engaged.

Jim began his career in business with McKinsey & Company, a worldwide management consulting firm, in San Francisco. His career with the company spanned 30 years. During his time in San Francisco, Jim made his two most significant achievements. First, he met, wooed, and won the hand of Molly Crownover. This was no small accomplishment considering the vast circle of young people in the Bay Area. Second, he was offered the opportunity to move to Houston, the city he had fallen in love with while attending university, which he accepted. With the offer came the challenge of building the firm’s practice in Texas and beyond.

Jim’s 30-year career with McKinsey & Company was a period of enormous growth and expansion for the highly regarded institution. Jim primarily served energy company clients and held several leadership positions within the firm. He led McKinsey’s regional practice in the Southwest for 10 years; co-headed the firm’s world-wide energy practice for several years; and served on McKinsey’s shareholders committee, the 20-person elected board of directors, during his last eight years with the firm. Memorably, Jim traveled the world serving clients and helping the firm and its people develop.

Following his career with McKinsey & Company, Jim served for over twelve years on the board of directors of each of four New York Stock Exchange companies: Chemtura Corporation, Republic Services, Weingarten Realty Investors, and FTI Consulting. He was lead director for Weingarten Realty Investors and Chemtura Corporation and chairman of the board at Republic Services. Jim also served two four-year terms as chairman of the board of trustees of Rice University and as a trustee of Rice University for 15 years, through its centennial in 2013.

Jim is an active member of the community and has served, and continues to serve, Houston in a number of capacities. He is a past member of the advisory board of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a recipient of Stanford’s John W. Gardner Volunteer Leadership Award. For eight years, Jim served as a trustee of St. John’s School, and, for several years, he was a director of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Currently, Jim is a member of the four-person board of the M.D. Anderson Foundation. He is also proud to be associated with the Crownover Scholars Program at the Rice Business School, a member of Rice Business School’s Council of Overseers, and a member of the advisory board for Rice University’s Baker Institute of Public Policy. For the better part of three decades, Jim has been a board member of the Houston Grand Opera and served as chair during the challenges posed by Hurricane Harvey. For the past 30 years, he has served as a leader with the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast. Jim has chaired the organization’s fundraising campaign in the past and is the only two-time recipient of its Volunteer of the Year Award.

Jim has been honored to have had the good fortune to serve the Houston community, been an important participant in the development of McKinsey & Company, and been a leader at Rice University during such important times in all their histories.
CKW LUXE would like to congratulate James W. Crownover for being a CKW LUXE Top 20 CEOs and Entrepreneurs Awards recipient for 2019.