Catherine Hernandez-Blades
Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications, SAIC
Catherine Hernandez-Blades’ professional passion has always been twofold: demonstrate that companies who do good in their communities and for their people ultimately do better than their peers fiscally, and prove it through tangible financial results.
She always believed business-focused social responsibility and creating effective teams are the best ways to achieve her two main interests. This was her belief even before environmental, social and corporate governance became widely recognized.
“A leader is only as successful as their ability to grow teams and provide opportunities for each team member to be great,” she said. “I am confident that the teams I’ve worked on are the best against any standard of peer comparison and I have the data to prove it!”
Before her current job, Hernandez-Blades’ biggest professional accomplishment was revitalizing a $20 billion, 20-year-old brand by creating a social robot. This robot provided company and solace to children undergoing cancer treatment, a process she acknowledged as both challenging and lonely.
“We have a tremendous amount of innovation happening at SAIC and as we look to the future and securing long-term, sustainable and profitable growth, it’s important that our partners see us as integral in helping them to solve their most challenging problems through that innovation,” Hernandez-Blades’ said.
Why Watch
Looking ahead, Hernandez-Blades and her team are focused on future-focus priorities. These include using generative AI and measurement and listening tools appropriately and effectively and the fate of ESG.
Retired industry executive Dave Jewell has worked with Hernandez-Blades at three separate companies and was her deputy at Lockheed Martin and at Flextronics, and her South Carolina site lead at Aflac.
“Catherine has all the traits of the best leaders and is particularly known for her willingness to listen to and stand behind her people,” he said. “She’s continually ready to provide help without bowling you over when you ask for it. In short, she has a way of treating everyone like a colleague regardless of where they’re listed on the org chart. The one trait that sets Catherine apart is her passion for strategic planning. Added to her innate sense for what works, it gives the whole team the confidence to carry out the plan. Having worked on a great number of campaigns with her in different markets and countries, we’ve routinely experienced the joy that comes from watching our plan come together to turn an audience around and deliver business success.”