In the eyes of some in the tech and business community, Kirk McDonald had checked all the boxes of what success meant in a fast-changing industry. He had become a chief executive officer at one of the world’s largest media investment companies, GroupM. As the CEO of GroupM North America, he had been made in charge of a working staff of 6,500, leading the vision of shaping media content for global audiences. One of his stellar qualities is his ability to champion GroupM’s business strategies to bring satisfaction to the investors and customer base through the use of data and technology-driven services.
But, in the eyes of his mother, there was one more thing her son needed to cap his enviable feat. It never mattered to her that McDonald controlled an entity with an investment of $17.6 billion across the U.S. and Canada. It also never mattered that he was among Ebony magazine’s Power 100 list or “The 46 Most Important African-Americans in Technology” list, according to the black executive.com To McDonald’s mother, there was unfinished business her son needed to settle. He needed to return to the City College and get his college degree.
When he broke the news to his mother that he made Ebony’s Power 100 List the same year as Michelle Obama, his mother took the opportunity to remind him of what else needed to be achieved. McDonald stopped college in 1989 with only a few credits to complete. Financial challenges had compelled him to put his education on hold.
When his family relocated from Jamaica to New York City, the goal was to offer McDonald and his siblings the best education. The best way to make his parents proud was to pursue higher education. Out of the schools that offered him an opportunity to begin his academic journey, it was City College that appeared affordable. This decision was made to lessen the financial burden on his parents. McDonald took up a summer job at Rockefeller University to enable him to pay for his college tuition, according to Harlem View.
However, funding his sister’s college placed immense pressure on the family’s budget, which pushed him to stop his education. He was 11 credits short of his college degree, but still, he was able to get a job at the publishing giant Condé Nast and soon realized that he enjoyed media marketing and advertising. His background in coding and computers would help him work in other big areas like Time Inc, Fortune Money Group and CNET Networks. He further became the President of a marketing automation software company and the chief business officer at Xandr before being named CEO of GroupM, N.A. in 2020.
McDonald surprised many in the media agency world when he got the job at GroupM as people felt that he lacked experience on the agency side of the business, Digiday reported. Indeed, as he found success in the business world, he experienced imposter syndrome being a Black man without a college degree. As he worked to overcome it, he also nursed the dream of returning to City College to get his degree. When the university reached out to him to join the school’s Branded + Integrated Communication board, he decided to put his mum’s fondest wish to them. He was given the opportunity to take his course work and with the encouragement from his children, he started the process to finally get his college degree in March 2022. The 56-year-old now feels fulfilled driving the change across the industry he commands so much admiration.