Lori Sherer, Partner at Bain & Company and Chairwoman of Women in Data Science (WiDS) Worldwide, has spent over three decades at the forefront of data science and analytics. From pioneering marketing research to driving AI-driven business transformations, her career reflects a deep passion for innovation and impact.

In an engaging conversation with Merav Yuravlivker, Chief Learning Officer of Data Society, Sherer shares the pivotal moments that shaped her journey and her experience bridging the gap between data science and business value.

The journey from marketing research to data science leadership

“I started in the field of data science before there was such a field of data science. I’ve been at this for some 30 years of my career,” Sherer recalls. “I started working in a marketing research practice which excelled at quantitative methods. So back in the day, 30 years ago, big data was an observation set of like 4,000 respondents to a survey.”

Sherer explains that, at the time, professionals in marketing research had to be highly efficient in data collection, as surveys were costly. The field gradually evolved into what she describes as “precision marketing,” leveraging vast datasets — transaction data, customer service logs, and more — to extract valuable consumer insights.

Her early career was rooted in consulting, but a pivotal moment came when a former colleague introduced her to FICO (formerly Fair Isaac), the company behind the credit score. At FICO, Sherer collaborated with Chisoo Lyons, now the Executive Director at Women in Data Science, to bring an innovative optimization technology to market. “She had invented an optimization technology, which at least in the lab, looked like it was gonna create a 15% profit improvement for the credit card companies,” Sherer shares. “So I went there to be the business sponsor of the go-to-market, and together we brought that innovation to market and created a hundred million dollars recurring revenue stream out of it.”

Sherer’s career trajectory continued upward as she joined Risk Management Solutions (RMS), the “FICO of the insurance industry,” where she helped apply catastrophe risk modeling techniques to emerging liability risks. Later, McKinsey & Company recruited her to help build its Advanced Analytics Practice following the success of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Big Data report.

Eventually, Sherer joined Bain & Company, where she played a crucial role in launching the advanced analytics practice and, more recently, leading efforts in generative AI. Now, her work at Bain focuses on AI-driven transformations in healthcare, helping clients harness artificial intelligence to improve patient outcomes worldwide.

Alongside her professional journey, Sherer became deeply involved in advocating for women in data science. She credits her affiliation with Stanford University and Professor Margot Gerritsen, the founder of WiDS, for inspiring her commitment to the cause. “When she took that organization private and needed to stand up an advisory board or committee, she asked me to chair it. And it’s just been a wonderful organization to be affiliated with.”

The mindset of an intrapreneur

Throughout her career, Sherer has been at the forefront of launching innovative solutions — often within large, established organizations. Rather than identifying as a traditional entrepreneur, she describes herself as an intrapreneur.

“I have had the opportunity of being an intrapreneur as opposed to an entrepreneur with VC funding and scraping by in the garage, trying to get something off the ground. I’ve had the pleasure of being an intrapreneur, which is a very different experience — working for established companies that have an aspiration to innovate, or have an idea or an innovation that they wanna try to bring to market.”

Her passion for bridging the gap between technical innovation and market adoption has been a driving force in her career. “I have really just been a bit of an innovation junkie. I just love the whole challenge of working with the data science team. They have a kernel and an idea, they test it in the lab. It looks like it’s gonna have wonderful impact and potential, but then they need to get that last mile of, from the invention to product-market fit.”

Sherer emphasizes the importance of customer validation and business integration in bringing innovations to life:

• Early adopters: “I’ve been lucky to be part of that product-market fit exploration, launching these new things, have stood up lightning customers who try it for us and give us the results.”

• Understanding impact: “They help us understand exactly how it does create value and also help us understand what are the business process changes that need to be made to absorb the innovation.”

• Monetization focus: “I like to think of myself as kind of a data monetization expert — that last mile of understanding how it creates value and how it needs to be implemented in the organization is a pattern recognition that is so valuable now.”

Now, as organizations navigate the GenAI revolution, Sherer sees parallels to previous waves of technological transformation. “It isn’t just about the technology. It’s very much about changing people’s roles, changing the value of the human in the loop in many cases, upskilling, retraining, redeveloping business processes.”

Her key takeaway? “It’s never been more important to understand the business implications of innovation.”

The upcoming Q&A follow-up with Sherer will delve into enterprise AI implementation, the future of work and AI’s impact, the role of human expertise, and women in data science & leadership — so stay tuned!

CDO Magazine appreciates Lori Sherer for sharing her insights with our global community.