PROGRAM MANAGER AT MCKINSEY
ACEVEDO
JEFFREY
Program Manager
McKinsey & Co.
About Me
I'm an all-in-one product owner, program manager, writer, editor, and marketing lead who is passionate about growing audiences by building impactful products that change lives.
Throughout my 15-year career, I've focused on attracting and understanding global digital audiences, and creating cross-platform experiences that inform and engage thoughtfully and meaningfully—whether you’re scrolling down your social media feed, pausing to check a push notification, or actively looking for specific content on desktop or mobile.
I have helped organizations such as McKinsey & Company, The Wall Street Journal, and CNN to develop a deeper understanding of their audiences through real-time and historical data, regular experimentation, and built-from-scratch dashboards with reimagined KPIs that sharpen focus on what really matters.
My Career
2026
2022
2019
2014
2013
2012
2010
2009
McKinsey & Company
Program Manager, Mobile App
I am the Program Manager for McKinsey’s flagship mobile app.
Responsibilities
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Define the product vision and growth strategy for McKinsey’s flagship Insights app, serving an audience of top executives who rely on the firm's research and expertise to inform their high-stakes decision-making.
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Conceive the product roadmap and oversee execution, co-managing a team of UX designers, software engineers, and data analysts; set quarterly targets tied to annual goals.
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Bridge communications and knowledge gaps between director-level stakeholders and specialized editorial and technical teams spread across the world, working 24/7.
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This is a multidisciplinary role: one minute I might be writing an external email going to 1M+ people, the next, designing a personalized in-app experience that involves animations.
Milestones
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Built the first internal audience insights dashboard and conducted a 5-year performance review. Unearthed findings that challenged previous assumptions. Developed a 3-year product roadmap, informed by the findings.
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Implemented cross-platform attribution to identify and capitalize on highest-converting channels and fuel growth.
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Modernized the app’s home feed to go from rigid content blocks to flexible containers that grow or shrink as needed.
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Brought a fresh look to our app screens that increased engagement by 11%.
The Wall Street Journal
Social Media Strategist
Writing a front page story for The Wall Street Journal has to be the highlight of my time there—a tale not about being a good writer, but about being bold, entrepreneurial, and trusting my gut.
I was in Puerto Rico visiting family when I learned that a mass protest was coming up and it was expected to be the largest anti-government protest there since the US Navy left Vieques. This was another moment in history I wanted to witness, but I was expected back at work on the day of the protest. If only there was a way to make both of these things work...
I pitched the story to the WSJ's US bureau: Puerto Ricans are organizing the largest protest in a generation—they're trying to oust the governor. This wasn't just unheard of in Puerto Rican politics, it was also a story with national implications. WSJ approved and assigned the story to me. I covered the protest, which made the front page, and stayed for what followed just days later: the governor's resignation, which came late into the night and required a "stop the presses" response to get the news on print by next morning.
In the end, I spent almost a week reporting on the ground, a break from my actual job there as a social strategy editor, for which highlights include:
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Twitter Moments: Produced thought-provoking Moments (a collection of tweets) around WSJ coverage, which were often featured by Twitter's editorial team on the global Explore page.
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Snapchat news pilot: Produced story-form updates for Snapchat's Discover page, where we reached a Millennial audience.
CNN Worldwide
Editor & Producer
I was part of the team that pioneered news streaming with CNNgo, a product so far ahead of its time that it would eventually be shut down, only to be resurrected years later under a new name.
CNN invented news streaming before it was cool. I was part of the team behind the scenes that produced the immersive experiences that made CNNgo special: You'd open the app to Wolf Blitzer anchoring his show from the studio; as he brings up stories, related CNN.com coverage comes up on your screen, allowing you to dive deeper and at your own pace. The app would also let you to see what Wolf is going to talk about next—turning the show's rundown, typically a state secret, into an engaging feature that gave the user a reason to stay a little longer, to sit through commercials waiting for that next interesting segment.
I was among the first to work with Amazon to bring the news to Alexa. Programmed CNN desktop, mobile & apps, A/B testing language & experiences to drive meaningful engagement.
WAPA / Radio Isla
Assignment Editor / Reporter
I accepted a promotion to evening Assignment Editor at the TV station. And with extra time on my hands with school over, I picked up the morning shift at nearby station Radio Isla. I'd start my day at 5 a.m., head out at 1:30 p.m. and start my TV shift at 2 p.m.
University of Puerto Rico
Bachelor in Communication, Journalism
I graduated Magna Cum Laude.
WAPA
Digital Producer
My phone rang when the no. 1 newscast in the market was suddenly down one web producer due to an emergency family leave. One of my professors, asked for recommendations, gave my name to the station and I interviewed with them a day later. "When can you start?" Monday! I brought with me the social audience tactics I had successfully tested with the previous station's much smaller audience. It was amazing seeing this work at scale.
WIPR
Digital Strategy Lead, Content Producer
"Web Coordinator" is the catch-all title we used on paper to describe the assignment this station had just given a 20-year-old journalism student: to gut their news website and rebuild it from scratch.
Here are all the jobs I had in practice:
Designer - I created from scratch the vision for the brand-new site.
Developer - I learned CSS on the fly and helped IT set up our CMS.
Producer - I went on to write the content to populate the site.
Copy Editor - I would self-edit before publishing; no copy desk here.
Digital Strategy Lead - I ran the news brand's social presence, using those channels to distribute the site content.
My approach was to build a genuine sense of community, speaking to the audience in a way that says we're in this together, we are co-creating the news, trying to understand the world around us. I conceived a UGC strategy that encouraged online audiences to turn into TV viewers, and viewers into online followers. In less than 2 years, I nurtured the audience from shy of 50K all the way to 250K—making Noticias 24/7 the most followed TV news brand in the market.
I somehow managed to also become an on-air talent. I hosted a brief daily segment where I'd share UGC, including the results of our Survey of the Day—a new idea at the time, just something that made sense as a way to encourage cross-platform traffic: viewers will go online to participate, and followers may tune in to hear the results. Other stations went on to replicate this model and do so to this day.
Other highlights:
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In the spirit of innovation and on a hunch, I hosted a narrated livestream of the Moon during a Lunar eclipse—and people actually tuned in. Local newspapers took notice and went on to host their own eclipse livestreams for years to come. I use this as an example today: you won't know what works unless you try.
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In producing rolling severe weather coverage, I was thrown into the spotlight to report the latest updates on approaching storms and hurricanes. I was on air around the clock, only napping for a few hours between 2 and 5 a.m. before rinsing and repeating. Puerto Rico's first lady dialed in and gave a shoutout for my thorough reporting as I did my best to translate almost telegraphic, all-caps weather updates into information people could really understand and use. While other stations gave the latitude and longitude of the eye of the storm, I would say this thing is moving faster or slower, getting stronger or weaker, and veering closer to or away from us, and we can expect more or less rain, flash floods or not, as a result.
Helping a local station make their first livestreamed report
I went to a local TV station to help out an NAHJ mentor who was about to travel to Washington for political coverage. Resources were strained and the station couldn't afford a satellite signal for their live reports. That's when my mentor called asking for advice, and I came up with a solution: let's try Skype.
I set up a computer in the control room, procured an adapter to hook the camera to the reporter's laptop (it was a different time back then!) and walked both field and control room crews through the steps they'd follow for their early morning live shots. We did a dry run—success.
On my way out the door, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me aside. It was the news director. She looked me straight in the eye and simply said: "I need you to send me your résumé—today." I went straight home and rushed to put something together. Three months later, I would have my first day on the job they created for me.
University of Puerto Rico J-school
As I started Journalism school, I got involved with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists' local chapter, and pitched the idea of setting up a website for student journalists to have an outlet to practice their reporting skills. I designed, coded, launched, and maintained the site, sometimes writing for it as well. In 2010, we even did livestream coverage of the Latin Billboard Awards, which that year were held in San Juan.
NAHJ later organized a mixer for professionals in the industry and invited me to showcase my work launching the site. The connections I made that night would lead to what to me was unimaginable—a job offer at a local news station, when I was just starting school.
High school is where it all really started.
I graduated as the class president, Valedictorian, and Best Classmate by popular choice, and received a rare award from the faculty which had not been awarded in years—their way of recognizing all I did to build on the school's reputation through my participation in:
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Spelling bee competitions
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Videoconferences other schools would tune into as I interviewed guests that included known writers and science experts
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Workshops I taught to teachers and students on Photoshop design and building your own website
By the time I graduated, I had started my own business designing and running websites for a handful of clients. Shoutout to the school's career counselor, who saw what I couldn't see despite it being obvious—that I should pursue a degree in Communication.
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