Guidehouse hires Hernandez as finance chief, promotes Brown to transformation lead
Kelly Hernandez and Stuart Brown, respectively now Guidehouse's chief financial and chief transformation officer. Guidehouse photo.
By
Ross Wilkers
Kelly Hernandez is returning to the GovCon industry, while Stuart Brown moves up to a new role tied with Guidehouse's $1.5 billion artificial intelligence investment.
Guidehouse has hired a new chief financial officer in Kelly Hernandez, who joins the global professional services firm after four years in the CFO position at Clark Construction Group.
This transition announced Wednesday also marks Hernandez’ return to the GovCon market. Prior to Clark, Hernandez worked in senior leadership roles at Leidos for eight years with the latter two in a group CFO position.
Now at Guidehouse, Hernandez moves into the role previously held by Deborah Ricci since the firm was stood up in 2018. Ricci joined Acentra Health in January as CFO.
Guidehouse has also promoted Stuart Brown to the newly-created position of chief transformation officer, approximately 18 months after he first joined the firm as leader of its digital business.
Brown is tasked with leading Guidehouse’s artificial intelligence-centric transformation strategy and efforts to accelerate innovation across its operations, delivery models and client-facing services.
Guidehouse is in a new phase of its multi-year $1.5 billion investment in AI, which WT spoke with Brown about in the summer of 2025.
Bain Capital acquired Guidehouse in late 2023 in a transaction valued at $5.3 billion including debt.