After returning from England, McKay attended Weber State College and Brigham Young University (BYU).
After graduating from Harvard, McKay participated in a Ford Foundation program by becoming a visiting professor at Rangoon University.
McKay spent two years in Nigeria establishing a campus for the University of Pittsburgh, after which he became the dean of the business school at Weber State College.
In the LDS Church, McKay was the second counselor to Neil D. Schaerrer in the general presidency of the Young Men organization from 1977 to 1979.
McKay is the author of Money Matters In Your Marriage (1971); The Bottom Line on Integrity (1994); and Is Lying Sometimes the Right Thing for an Honest Person to Do?