
Mauricio Hernandez
Chief Data Officer | Data Strategy & AI
Salary / Daily rate
Barcelona, Spain
Freelance, open to permanent contract
Skills
Languages
About me
Intro
Chief Data Officer with 25+ years driving global data strategy and AI transformation across 50+ countries. Led teams delivering 62% reduction in data resolution time, 30% cost savings through AI analytics, and scalable ML platforms. Expert in ethical AI implementation, digital transformation, and building data-driven cultures that accelerate business growth.
Work experience
CDO - Global Head of Data, Analytics & Artificial Intelligence
Omya
Oct 2022 - Present
4 years 1 month
Barcelona, Spain
Reporting to Supply Chain Excellence Global Director · Budget 10M€ · Global team ≈55 (5 internal + ~50 external) · 11 countries Danone – Paris-based food-and-beverage leader behind brands such as Activia and Evian, guided by its “health through food” mission. Present in 120+ markets with ~89 500 employees, it generated €27.4 billion in 2024 sales while pursuing B-Corp-aligned sustainability goals. • Deployed the end-to-end Supply Chain Digital Twin in Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa with pilots in EU/Japan/MENA, delivering ~10% logistics cost reduction per country and full cost-to-serve transparency. • Standardized the Total Cost-to-Serve (TCtS) model and network-design scenario simulations (nodes, lanes, modes), institutionalizing evidence-based decisions at global scale. • Enabled real-time insight flows for global/regional Centers of Excellence, reducing time-to-decision from weeks to days and improving operational efficiency. • Tech: enterprise digital-twin and network-design platforms on Snowflake/Llamasoft; global scenario modeling and multi-country scalability.
Global Network Design & Cost-to-Serve Manager (Digital Twin Program Lead)
Danone - Supply Chain Competence Excellence
Jan 2022 - Oct 2022
10 months
Barcelona, Spain
Reporting to Supply Chain Excellence Global Director · Budget 10M€ · Global team ≈55 (5 internal + ~50 external) · 11 countries Danone – Paris-based food-and-beverage leader behind brands such as Activia and Evian, guided by its “health through food” mission. Present in 120+ markets with ~89 500 employees, it generated €27.4 billion in 2024 sales while pursuing B-Corp-aligned sustainability goals. • Deployed the end-to-end Supply Chain Digital Twin in Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa with pilots in EU/Japan/MENA, delivering ~10% logistics cost reduction per country and full cost-to-serve transparency. • Standardized the Total Cost-to-Serve (TCtS) model and network-design scenario simulations (nodes, lanes, modes), institutionalizing evidence-based decisions at global scale. • Enabled real-time insight flows for global/regional Centers of Excellence, reducing time-to-decision from weeks to days and improving operational efficiency. • Tech: enterprise digital-twin and network-design platforms on Snowflake/Llamasoft; global scenario modeling and multi-country scalability.
Head of Data & Digital Transformation
Danone - IT South Europe CBS
Jan 2018 - Dec 2021
4 years
Barcelona Area, Spain
Reporting to SouthWest Europe IT Director · Budget 7M€ · Global team ≈70 (9 internal + ~60 external) · 9 countries Danone – Barcelona-based food-and-beverage leader. Present in all South West Europe countries ~9 500 employees, it generated €7.4 billion in 2024 sales while pursuing B-Corp-aligned sustainability goals. • Owned regional data governance, MDM & automation for 14 BUs; deployed a Collibra-like framework lifting audit scores 78% → 95% and standardizing policies across the cluster. • Delivered AI-powered profitability models + Salesforce-driven commercial analytics, cutting indirect costs −30% and improving margin +8% with data-driven sales decisions. • Modernized analytics stack: migrated legacy BI to Snowflake + Power BI for ~2,500 users with near-zero disruption, lowering infrastructure costs −20% and scaling self-service. • Shifted from descriptive to prescriptive analytics: dynamic P&L forecasting by customer & product with real-time insights, standardizing decisioning across the region. • Automated core processes and digital operations, saving 10,000+ hours; built a CRM dashboard leveraging e-coupon data to deepen market & household insights. • Led pandemic-era upskilling and change management to sustain adoption of new tools and practices, ensuring continuity and value realization.
IS Governance Manager (alternative role)
Danone - IS Southwest Europe HUB
Apr 2014 - Mar 2018
4 years
Barcelona Area, Spain
Reporting to SouthWest Europe IT Director · Budget 1M€ · Global team ≈12 (5 internal + ~7 external) · 9 countries Danone – Barcelona-based food-and-beverage leader. Present in all South West Europe countries ~9 500 employees, it generated €7.4 billion in 2024 sales while pursuing B-Corp-aligned sustainability goals. • Hardened the control environment & audit readiness: lifted control effectiveness +50% vs. prior lead, sustained 98% SLA compliance, and passed 5 external audits with zero critical findings across the cluster. • Standardized IT governance policies & SOPs across SW Europe business units, positioning the cluster as a global benchmark for compliance and risk management. • Built and operationalized a risk-based governance framework (service KPIs, OLAs/SLAs, change & evidence management) that reduced compliance exposure and improved multi-country operational resilience.
Controlling & Business Intelligence Area Manager
Danone - IS South Europe HUB
Feb 2012 - Mar 2018
6 years 2 months
Barcelona Area, Spain
Reporting to South Europe IT Director · Budget 6M€ (incl. €3M BI application estate) · Global team ≈80 (9 internal + ~70 external) · 9 countries Danone – Barcelona-based food-and-beverage leader. Present in all South West Europe countries ~9 500 employees, it generated €7.4 billion in 2024 sales while pursuing B-Corp-aligned sustainability goals. • Led the South Europe BI portfolio across 9 BUs, managing the €3M BI application estate within a €6M area budget; sustained 98% SLA and delivered –15% run-cost via process and vendor optimization. • Consolidated regional financials into a single P&L, harmonizing definitions across 9 BUs to enable comparable profitability analysis and faster executive decision-making. • Orchestrated reporting integration for 2 M&As and 2 geo-cluster reconfigurations, ensuring Day-1 continuity and consistent KPI definitions across entities and countries. • Established operational data governance (Finance & Commercial): data ownership model, KPI catalog and quality controls, enabling cross-functional reporting consistency and reducing rework from conflicting definitions. • Scaled a hybrid delivery model (4/9/~70) to run change and operations for BI services region-wide, improving service resilience and change traceability while meeting ≥98% service levels.
Danone Group - Business Intelligence Competence Center
Aug 2006 - Jan 2012
5 years 6 months
Barcelona Area, Spain
BICC Evolutive and Innovation Manager
Jun 2009 - Jan 2012
2 years 8 months
Barcelona Area, Spain
Reporting to BICC Director · Budget 15M€ · Global team ≈115 (12 internal + ~100 external) · 90+ countries Danone – Paris-based food-and-beverage leader behind brands such as Activia and Evian, guided by its “health through food” mission. Present in 120+ markets with ~89 500 employees, it generated €27.4 billion in 2024 sales while pursuing B-Corp-aligned sustainability goals. • Rolling Forecast (Darwin): cut forecast cycle from 3 days to ~1 hour, standardized SKU & customer margin analytics, and scaled to 5 countries / 7 business units, enabling reusable profitability analytics and scenario planning. • Month-end close & budgeting: streamlined finance workflows with shared models, rules, and templates—reduced rework and errors and shortened consolidation cycles across the region. • First BI with unstructured data: delivered ad-hoc exploration over non-structured sources, improving data usability and response times for Finance and Marketing while reducing IT dependency. • Enterprise BI roadmap: defined and executed a scalable, standards-aligned roadmap (governance, security, re-use), enabling multi-country rollouts and consistent data practices. • Adoption & UX: packaged domain blueprints/playbooks, improving time-to-insight and stakeholder satisfaction for FP&A and Commercial users.
BICC Front Office Manager
Aug 2006 - Jul 2009
3 years
Barcelona, Spain
Reporting to BICC Director · Budget 15M€ · Global team ≈115 (12 internal + ~100 external) · 90+ countries Danone – Paris-based food-and-beverage leader behind brands such as Activia and Evian, guided by its “health through food” mission. Present in 120+ markets with ~89 500 employees, it generated €27.4 billion in 2024 sales while pursuing B-Corp-aligned sustainability goals. • Orchestrated the BICC Front Office (€15M; 3 DRs, 10 internal, ~100 external) and scaled BI to 15+ BUs (~50% of global sales), lifting adoption from 30% to 85% in 18 months via portfolio governance and change management. • Designed and launched 25 SAP-integrated executive dashboards (Finance/Sales/Supply), cutting time-to-insight by 40% and enabling €500M in board-level strategic decisions from a single source of truth. • Standardized multi-region month-end close and reporting, reducing reporting cycle time by 40% and delivering €2M in OPEX savings through automation, report decommissioning, and dataset re-use. • Aligned BI to core SAP processes (FI/CO, OTC, PTP, Supply) and built a replicable delivery model that scaled across 15+ BUs, strengthening control, data lineage, and forecast/P&L traceability. • Led a multi-vendor ecosystem (~100 external FTEs) with delivery standards and economies of scale, keeping the program within the €15M budget while accelerating time-to-value on quarterly releases.
IS Project Manager
Danone - México Shared Services
May 2003 - Jul 2006
3 years 3 months
Mexico City, CDMX, Mexico
Reporting to IT Director Mexico · Budget 2M€ · Team ≈50 (10 internal + ~50 external) · 1 country Danone – Mexico-based food-and-beverage leader. Present in all Central America ~15 500 employees, it generated €5.4 billion in 2024 sales. • Implemented FROG ERP (reference at Coca-Cola FEMSA and Pepsi Bajío) integrated with SAP for sales & distribution, scaling to 500,000 active retail accounts and nationwide monthly trade-marketing promos. • Deployed handheld/mobile POS workflows (ordering, inventory, routing, promo settlement) delivering +5% sales uplift via digital promo execution. • Drove adoption and change management, cutting system/input errors by 30% and accelerating time-to-productivity. • Standardized end-to-end processes across BUs; delivered SAP ↔ FROG and satellite integrations (pricing, routing, invoicing, distribution) on time and on budget. • Managed a €2M portfolio and 30-person multi-vendor team (6 direct, 10 internal, 20 external), ensuring scalability, resilience, and ROI at national scale.
Business Intelligence Senior Manager
Intellego - Consulting Group
Dec 2001 - May 2003
1 year 6 months
Mexico City, CDMX, Mexico
Reporting to Intellego · Budget 1M€ · Team: 6 Consultants · 1 country Intellego - Delivered innovative BI solutions across industries, improving reporting and analytics capabilities. • Led a cross-industry BI portfolio for 15 clients; delivered 25 executive dashboards across 8 functions with standardized KPIs. • Reduced reporting cycle times 40%, accelerating month-end close and board-level decisions. • Improved decision quality 30% through C-suite-aligned KPIs and self-service analytics. • Managed a €1M budget and led 6 consultants; 100% on-time/on-budget under defined SLAs. • Scaled reusable data models and adoption playbooks, lowering maintenance and cutting time-to-value for new rollouts. • Industries: Tourism, Manufacturing, Retail, Health, Government, Cinema, Hotels, Bank and Insurance. • Areas: Finance, Sales, Customer Relationship, Purchasing, GM, Human Resources, Logistic, Manufacturing.
Education
Universitat de Barcelona
Master, Master in Personal Development and Leadership
2009 - 2010
2 years
Activities and societies: Excellence Honors
ITESM
Bachelor, Computer Systems & Management
1998 - 2001
4 years
Activities and societies: Excellence Honors, Best Student Award