Bain & Company has appointed Jamie Cleghorn as Global Head of its Customer practice, positioning the move as a step to deepen the firm’s focus on helping CEOs drive growth by putting customers at the center of enterprise transformation.
The firm said shifting customer expectations in both B2C and B2B markets, along with advances in data, artificial intelligence, and digital engagement, are increasing pressure on leadership teams to better integrate offering, brand, marketing, sales, pricing, and customer experience into a single growth system.
In the role, Cleghorn will lead Bain’s Customer practitioners with a mandate to accelerate client value creation by deepening C-suite relationships, advancing the firm’s growth solutions, and scaling AI and digital capabilities across the practice. Bain said the objective is to help clients build modern front-office growth capabilities that create repeatable, technology-enabled pathways to sustained revenue performance.
Bain also framed the appointment in the context of the firm’s long-standing customer-led growth work, pointing to its role in developing the Net Promoter Score® system in the early 2000s and linking that legacy to today’s focus on AI-enabled reinvention of customer and commercial models. Under Cleghorn’s leadership, Bain said the practice will continue to push innovation in customer-led growth and help clients embed AI into operating models to maximize customer value.
Cleghorn is based in Chicago and has spent the past 15 years working on customer-centric growth and commercial transformation at Bain. The firm said he played a central role in building its Commercial Excellence Solution and has worked with clients to improve performance across marketing, sales, pricing, and go-to-market execution. Bain also highlighted his work co-authoring its B2B Elements of Value approach to architecting value propositions, co-creating Sales Play SystemSM for repeatable B2B growth, and leading work on the behavioral psychology of how buying groups operate. His client experience spans multiple industries, with a particular emphasis on technology-based companies and private equity-sponsored growth transformations.
Cleghorn succeeds Darci Darnell, who led Bain’s Customer practice for seven years. Bain credited Darnell with advancing the firm’s customer-led growth agenda, shaping its point of view on earned growth, and helping launch a digital reinvention effort intended to deliver measurable and lasting client results. Bain noted Darnell co-authored the book Winning on Purpose: The Unbeatable Strategy of Loving Customers.
Bain described itself as a global consultancy operating across 65 cities in 40 countries and said it complements its expertise with a broader ecosystem of digital innovators. The firm also highlighted a 10-year commitment to invest more than $1 billion in pro bono services and noted it has earned a platinum rating from EcoVadis, placing it in the top 1% of companies rated on environmental, social, and ethical performance.
KEY QUOTES
“Bain’s Customer practice has long been the premier advisor and transformation partner for executives seeking to accelerate growth by elevating the primacy of customers. Jamie brings a rare combination of strategic rigor, commercial instinct, and technological fluency. He is exceptionally well positioned to build on the practice’s strong momentum—deepening our impact with business leaders, scaling our ecosystem partnerships, and continuing to push the boundaries of what is possible in customer-led growth.”
François Faelli, Global Head Of Capabilities, Bain & Company
“There is a clear through line from Bain’s early work on customer advocacy to the AI- and data-driven growth transformations we are delivering today. The next business cycle will demand that companies infuse the latest AI technologies into their existing business models and transform from the inside out. I’m excited to work with our teams and partners to help clients move further, faster—while staying grounded in the first principles of value creation and customer led growth.”
Jamie Cleghorn, Global Head Of Customer Practice, Bain & Company
