Daniela Leon Cornejo has spent over 16 years mastering the art and science of pricing. Her career has taken her from consulting to aviation, hospitality, and most notably, the financial sector. This breadth of experience has given her what she calls “a broad and complete scene of the top line,” a perspective that blends both the strategic view from the boardroom and the operational understanding from working directly with clients. She began her pricing journey in the aeronautical business, where route optimization required complex algorithms and real-time adjustments.
“There was a lot of analytics involved,” Leon recalls from her days as part of an MIT research group on pricing optimization in aviation. Later, in hospitality, she applied revenue management in more customer-facing environments, and in finance, she led pricing at Banco de Crédito del Perú (BCP), the nation’s largest bank. There, she boosted revenues by 32%, net income by 48%, generated a complete turnaround in the credit card business portfolio, and created Credicorp Ltd’s first Center of Excellence for Pricing. Today, Leon channels this expertise into Value of Insights, the first global consulting firm specialized in pricing for the financial sector.
The Real Value of Pricing Analytics
Leon is clear about one of the biggest mistakes companies make: focusing on building sophisticated pricing models without ensuring they are adopted. “If you don’t build models to make better decisions, they don’t matter,” she says. “We don’t celebrate models, we celebrate the outcomes those models bring.” Governance and adoption are as important as the analytical rigor itself. Having seen too many organizations invest in advanced tools that end up unused, her teams measure the incremental value of analytics through adoption, financial impact, strategic integration, and usability in commercial routines. “Our philosophy is simple: if it’s not used, it doesn’t matter,” Leon says.
Innovative Approaches to Pricing Decisions
Value of Insights’ pricing methodology integrates two critical perspectives: profitability and willingness to pay. While most organizations focus on cost-plus approaches, she argues that understanding customer perception is equally vital. “We help organizations define efficient frontiers in practice, not just in theory,” she explains. This allows companies to pinpoint segments where prices can be increased without losing customers, as well as others where lowering prices could drive volume growth.
Another core capability she champions is competitive rate inference, especially in industries where competitor pricing is opaque. Using machine learning, her teams estimate market prices based on observable behaviors and public data. This transparency allows clients to make both tactical pricing moves and long-term portfolio repositioning. “This is especially powerful in financial services where competition is often hidden or fast-moving,” Leon notes.
AI as a Copilot for Pricing Teams
Looking ahead, Leon sees artificial intelligence transforming, not replacing, pricing teams. “AI will be a copilot,” she says. “It will integrate relevant data in real time, automate routines, surface hidden insights, and accelerate decision cycles.” She envisions AI-powered systems that are self-learning, adjusting pricing strategies as the market evolves. Natural language interfaces will also make pricing insights more accessible, allowing decision-makers to draw from an organization’s historical strategies and lessons learned. Leon believes AI will enhance pricing judgment rather than diminish it, making processes more transparent and empowering customers to self-select the offers that best meet their needs. “The future of pricing analytics is not more complexity,” she says. “It’s intelligent simplicity. We want clients to move fast with greater confidence, with pricing that learns as the business learns.”
To learn more about Daniela Leon Cornejo’s work, visit her LinkedIn or her website.
