Hernan Saenz
Global Head, Performance Improvement Practice
Bain & Company
Alma Mater: Harvard
Hernan Saenz has been at Bain & Company for over 25 years and has lived and worked in the US, Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific. He is currently a Senior Partner in the Dallas office and serves as the Global Head of Bain’s Performance Improvement (PI) and Transformation Practice. Hernan also serves on the Board of Directors at Bain and as a member of the Board Strategy, M&A, and Talent Committees.
In his current role at Bain, Hernan is leading the transformation of Bain’s PI product line and client services portfolio (~$1.5B), including the digitization of Bain’s products and processes, as well as the integration of ESG toolkits across the entire portfolio. As part of this effort, Hernan serves as a delegate and advisor to the World Economic Forum and is currently leading a global initiative on building digital, traceable, and circular supply chains for sustainable and resilient production.
Hernan also serves of the faculty of Cornell University’s Johnson School of Business, where his courses focus on the evolution of strategy and operations in an era driven by turbulence and the digital revolution.
From 2008 to 2016, Hernan served the firm as the Managing Partner of the Bain Dallas, Bain Houston, and Bain Mexico offices, with full P&L responsibility for the region. During his tenure, the Bain Southwest region more than doubled in size. This expansion included the founding of the Bain Houston office and Bain’s Private Equity practice in Texas, as well as the scaling of Bain’s business across all major industry and capability practice areas.
Hernan’s client work is focused on strategy, growth, M&A, organization performance improvement, and transformations. Over his career, he has completed over 200 assignments across a number of sectors, including private equity, industrial products and services, consumer products and retail, healthcare, distribution, and higher education.
Hernan’s articles have been published in a number of journals, including Harvard Business Review, Business Strategy Review, Supply Chain Management Review, Wall Street Journal – Mint, and the World Economic Forum. His most recent publications focus on resilience, digital supply chains, operations reinvention, circular economy, and transformation.
Hernan earned an MBA and an MILR from Cornell University, as well as a MS in economics from Stanford University. He is also a graduate of Harvard College, where he received a BA in economics magna cum laude.
Hernan is a Trustee at Cornell University, as well as a member of the Leadership Council at Cornell’s College of Business. Locally in Texas, he serves on the Boards of the Dallas Theatre Center, the SMU Cox School of Business, the SMU Tate Lecture Series, and UT Austin’s International Board of Advisors.
