Mike Forsythe is a reporter for the New York Times. For most of his 22-year career in journalism, he has focused on China, writing about the country's politics and economy. In 2012, working for Bloomberg News in Beijing, he and his colleagues published an award-winning investigation into the wealth of relatives of China's soon-to-be top leader, Xi Jinping. Since joining the New York Times nine years ago, Mike has published numerous exposes on the nexus of wealth and power in China. After moving from Hong Kong to New York in 2017, one of Mike's main focuses has been writing about the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. He and his colleague Walt Bogdanich published When McKinsey Comes to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World's Most Powerful Consulting Firm in October. 

 

From 1990 to 1997, Mike was an officer in the U.S. Navy. He served on ships in the Seventh Fleet and completed two deployments to the Person Gulf. He was the recipient of the Navy Achievement Medal. Mike earned his Master's degree in East Asian regional studies at Harvard University in 1999. He received a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University in 1990, where he majored in international economics. He studied Chinese at Beijing's Tsinghua University. 

 

Mike is married to the author and China scholar Leta Hong Fincher. They have two sons and live in New York City.