Bain & Company makes senior promotions in Australia and abroad

Global strategy consultancy Bain & Company has admitted Chris Bell to its partnership in Sydney, while elevating a trio of Australians to associate partner level.
Bell has been given the top nod after joining the firm from a regional vice president role at Gartner in 2022, before which served in senior tech and strategy leadership positions at AMP, Macquarie, and the Commonwealth Bank.
Meanwhile, Bell’s Sydney-based colleagues Geran Zhang and Victoria Young have been promoted to associate partner at Bain & Company, along with David Hodges, who steps up in the firm’s San Francisco office following an early career in Melbourne.
Chris Bell
Starting out as a software engineer with Oracle in the UK, Bell then joined PwC and later IBM Consulting in Sydney from 2000 before crossing for his first stint at Gartner six years on, eventually returning to the research consultancy as an A/NZ tech & advisory vice president after more than a decade in the banking sector, including CIO and CTO stints at Macquarie and AMP.
A member of Bain’s APAC financial services and enterprise technology practices, Bell is described as an expert in tech strategy, operating models, enterprise architecture, and digital transformations, having previously led many complex projects across core banking, customer, and payments. He also holds a masters in supply chain management from the University of Sydney.
Geran Zhang
Promoted to associate partner in Sydney, Zhang has served as a member of Bain’s private equity and healthcare practices in Australia and Southeast Asia, bringing skills in commercial due diligence, value creation, and transformations. He joined the consultancy in 2019 from a senior scientist role at AbbVie in the US, where he completed a PhD in materials science and engineering.
Victoria Young
Young likewise joined Bain in 2019, after an earlier career start with Oliver Wyman in London following the completion of an arts degree at Oxford University. From there, she worked in-house for the InterContinental Hotels Group, before landing in Sydney and leading the consulting practice of creative marketing agency Iris Worldwide’s strategy arm prior to switching to Bain.
David Hodges
Meanwhile, David Hodges, who earned a chemical engineering degree at the University of Adelaide (now Adelaide University) before joining Melbourne-based digital product consultancy IE, has been appointed as an expert associate partner for innovation in San Francisco. Hodges spent close to five years at IE prior to joining Bain in 2019, including as a group director and head of R&D.