Cornelius Walter is an impact investor focusing on climate change, green infrastructure as well as industry innovators
Cornelius invests in and serves on the boards of early and later-stage companies with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals and sustainable business models. He is also an advisor at Lightrock, a leading global impact investing platform backed by the Liechtenstein family. At Lightrock, Cornelius spends s significant portion of his time predominantly focusing on energy transition and how to further scale the platform overall.
Prior to embarking on his journey as an impact investor, board member and advisor, Cornelius was a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he advised financial institutions, energy companies, public-sector organizations, and clients in a broad range of other industries on growth strategies and large-scale transformations.
First based in Germany, he moved from Frankfurt to Budapest in the late 1990s to help build McKinsey's presence in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). He served as Managing Partner of McKinsey in Central Europe and, before that, Managing Partner of McKinsey's Budapest office. In these positions, he aspired to drive growth and profitability for CEE clients while role-modelling servant leadership among the local partner groups. Cornelius also helped lead the people initiatives across the EEMA (Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) region. In addition, he was a co-leader of McKinsey's Global Banking Practice, advising major banking and insurance groups in the West and in the East on a broad range of topics, including corporate and business-unit strategy, business building, organization and operations.