Randy Bean (born 1956) is a business executive, author, speaker, thought-leader, and chief executive officer of NewVantage Partners LLC, a strategic advisory and management consulting firm which he co-founded in 2001, with offices in Boston, New York, San Francisco, Austin, and Charlotte. NewVantage Partners are strategic advisors in data-driven business innovation to Fortune 1000 business and technology executives and industry leaders. Bean maintains an active involvement in philanthropic and civic affairs, and is a patron and board member of national and community organizations in Boston (MA), Stonington (CT), and St. Louis (MO). Bean is also the founder and executive director of the Big Data for Social Justice Foundation, a non-profit foundation established in 2016 with the goal of raising awareness of data-driven social justice initiatives and the application of Big Data to global and community issues in the areas of disease, famine, social inequality, and criminal justice disparities. The Foundation undertakes initiatives to identify and tell the story of how Big Data and analytics can be applied for social good. As a writer and commentator, Bean is known for his observations on the impact of data and analytics on business culture and innovation, and on the emergence of Big Data as a force for business transformation and disruption. He has also written on the social impact of Big Data.
Bean co-founded and serves as chief executive officer of NewVantage Partners, a strategic advisory and management consulting and executive thought-leadership firm he co-founded in 2001 to advise Fortune 1000 businesses on data-driven innovation and business transformation. Bean previously held executive positions with Harte-Hanks Communications, and two venture-backed start-up companies; Veridiem, a CRM services firm funded by North Bridge Venture Partners and Venrock, and Wheelhouse, an Internet CRM services firm backed by Kleiner Perkins, Charles River Ventures, and Integral Capital Partners. He began his career in information technology and strategic planning roles at Bank of Boston.
Bean has been active in community and civic activities for nearly three decades. He has served as a mentor, advisor, speaker, and financial supporter of Year Up, whose mission is to provide professional career placement for urban youth. Bean has served on the board of the Stonington Village Improvement Association, and as a director of the New England Science and Sailing Foundation. Bean has served since 2010 on the board of The James Merrill House and Writers-in-Residence Program, which maintains the legacy of James Merrill, a 20th-century American poet, who lived and wrote in Stonington Borough, Connecticut. Bean was appointed in 2001 to the National Council for University Libraries for Washington University in St. Louis, and was named to the National Arts and Sciences Council for Washington University in St. Louis in June 2016. Bean served on the Committee for Institutional Advancement at The Fessenden School (Newton, Massachusetts), which his two sons attended. He is a patron and supporter of numerous civic organizations in Boston (Massachusetts) and Stonington (Connecticut), including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Boston Athenaeum, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum, The Stonington Historical Society, and Mystic Seaport, among many others.