About

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Tom French is a Senior Partner Emeritus of McKinsey & Company, where over the course of a thirty-three-year career he counseled leading CEO’s and led the Firm’s global Marketing and Sales Practice. His articles on management have been published in forums such as The Wall Street Journal, Advertising Age, and The McKinsey Quarterly, and he has been a frequent speaker at conferences worldwide. He currently serves as Chairman of the Trustees of Reservations, a Director of Corning Incorporated, and on the boards of several other nonprofit organizations.

Tom is a graduate of Phillips Andover, Dartmouth College, and Harvard Business School. He is a lifelong mountaineer, cross-country skier, and lover of the outdoors. The Gap Years is his first non-business book. He lives outside of Boston with his wife Jill.

“Tom takes us on an inspiring journey and so much more in his beautifully written book. He has penned a mountain climber’s white-knuckle thriller all the while closely examining the arc and purpose of life. To read it is to be moved!”

—James Gorman, Chairman of The Walt Disney Company, former CEO of Morgan Stanley

“In The Gap Years, Tom French shares an inspiring tribute to what draws us to the mountains, and to why we need to protect them for future generations.”

—Kristin Harila, Norwegian mountaineer, 2022 European Adventurer of the Year

"It's not too late for extraordinary adventure! Tom French makes a compelling case... trying hard things when you're older offers different rewards than in one's youth..."  

—Bill McKibben, author of Long Distance, and founder Third Act