2021 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Report
Our Data
Our People
Our Leadership
Our Impact
For us all
Back to Further
Our
Journey
PLACEHOLDER
FOOTAGE
That the ambition to lead requires
the courage to adapt. That diverse, inclusive teams are our strength. And that together we accomplish more.
We are a global company powered by the insights of extraordinary teams of individuals from diverse backgrounds and with unique experiences. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) makes us a better partner to our clients, a better employer, and a better corporate citizen. Our legacy of DEI work dates back more than 30 years to the founding of our first employee affinity groups, and has expanded over time to encompass efforts to make our firm more inclusive and mitigate bias. We are proud of our progress and the consistent recognition we receive for how we support our people in 61 offices across 38 countries.
We are working on ways to collect and share more granular global diversity and inclusion data, consistent with local laws, in the future.
US – New hires
US – All
US – Leadership
Global – All
US – New hires
US – All
US – Leadership
Global – All
We have a responsibility to help our clients and partners create lasting change in the marketplace.
As advisers to thousands of organizations, including many of the largest and most influential companies
in the world, our opportunity and responsibility to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion extends far beyond our internal efforts. During the summer of 2020, we launched a formal Global DEI practice to support our clients directly to build truly representative organizations characterized by a culture of belonging, support, and trust.
Our Business
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Our Global Communities
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Our Future
Learn more about our journey in our full report
Blacks at Bain (BABs) and BGLAD
(the LGBTQ network at Bain and Bridgespan) efforts start
Informal Women at Bain (WAB)
engagement at local level
BABs, BGLAD, and WAB formally launched
First formal BABs summit
Begin recruiting at historically Black colleges
and universities (HBCUs)
Bain becomes the first organization to hold LGBTQ recruiting events for Harvard Business School and Stanford students
Major focus on diversity in associate consultant (AC) hiring
First formal BGLAD and WAB summits
First dedicated diversity role created
ExperienceBain events launched for MBA students
Affinity groups develop strategic priorities to grow leadership team representation and global growth and allyship
Veterans at Bain (VABs) formally launched
Latinx at Bain (LATBA) formally launched
The Global Women’s Forum establishes the Global Women’s Leadership Council and WAB Champions
BGLAD builds out global infrastructure
BABs, LATBA, and VABs launch the Building Entrepreneurial Leaders (BEL) Program
Asians at Bain (AAB) formally launched
Regional expansion of BEL
Focus on tracking and reporting diversity metrics increased
Global expansion of WAB, BGLAD, Black Leadership Programme (BLP) in South Africa, Bain Black Network (BBN)
Ally activities formalized under the “allyship” banner
Focus on unconscious bias training and inclusion efforts increased
Conducted global inclusion surveys to jump-start
inclusion efforts and direct dialogue
Established the Black Leaders Forum
Launched Building and Supporting Excellence
program for MBA students
Launched North American onboarding program
for new Black and Latinx employees
Scaled regional sponsorship to ensure full
access to career advice and mentorship
Reimagined first-year consulting experience
Announced Bain’s seven commitments to DEI efforts
Launched Global DEI practice
Committed additional $100 million in pro bono
investment focused on racial equity and social justice
Created DEI subcommittee of Bain & Company
board of directors
Appointed first chief diversity officer
Formally launched Diverse Abilities at Bain (DAAB)
1980s
1990s
Early 2000s
2005 to 2018
2019 to present
1980s
1990s
Early 2000s
2005 to 2018
2019 to present
Yet we recognize how much further we still need to go. We continue to witness the impact of long-standing forces of systemic racism and inequity around the world. Ongoing hate crimes and well-publicized instances of police brutality have opened the world’s eyes to these long-endured injustices. Similar to many organizations, we are taking a harder look in the mirror, recognizing where we have gaps, and identifying what we need to do to address racial and social inequities.
In June 2020, we published our commitments to accelerate our decades-long journey. Since then, we have aggressively expanded our efforts to increase diverse representation, ensure equity in our processes, and deepen inclusion in our culture. We have expanded our support for our clients with the launch of our DEI practice, and we formally expanded the pillars of our Global Social Impact practice to include Racial Equity and Social Justice.
Accountability is core to any transformation journey. This first annual report is our honest look at our current efforts and our progress to date on the changes we are striving to make for our people, for our business, and for our global communities.
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Community of belonging
Roxana Solorzano
When I started at Bain, we didn’t have a local BGLAD chapter in the Mexico City office, but the network was so active worldwide that I felt connected to it right from the beginning. In 2017, we created a BGLAD chapter in our office, and it quickly snowballed into a large group. Now, almost everybody is a member as an ally, which is great since allies are at the crux of any type of affinity group.
We have been able to train the office about gender identity and sexual orientation as education about these topics is at the heart of the empathy we want to achieve. As part of the leadership team for BLGAD Mexico City, it’s critical for me that Bainies know it’s OK to question behavior or to speak up if they feel uncomfortable in situations and that they know where we solidly stand as a firm.
This applies to gender as well. WAB can tap into the empowered executive female network out there, but it’s important that Bain is leading by example with solid leaders on our teams while also educating our male employees on the issues and giving them the framework to understand them.
There are many different parts of my identity, and one thing that Bain does really well is help you bring your whole self to the table. I joined Bain in 2018 as an associate consultant intern and quickly joined BGLAD, BABs, and WAB. Now, affinity group members are the friends I spend time with inside and outside work. If something happens on a case or if I’m having trouble, they’re the first people I turn to.
Something so special about Bain is that everyone has different but shared experiences. Every single person who is Black at Bain knows what it feels like to be the only brown person in the room. Every single person who is queer at Bain knows that same feeling of otherness. The affinity group communities understand that.
In my time at Bain, we have made a lot of progress. I feel very supported in parts, but sometimes we can silo ourselves, and Bain still has work to do on intersectionality.
But a Bainie anywhere is a Bainie everywhere. Once someone joins BABs or BGLAD, it really is like they could be from any office, and it will still feel like you've known them forever and that they get what you're going through.
I spent the prior 10 years of my life before Bain as an Army officer, not even deciding what I was going to wear in the morning. My experience before business school was serving in Iraq for multiple deployments. I felt like I didn't know how the business world worked, and I thought the stuff that I did as a military officer was so different from it. But, in reality, it’s not. A member of the leadership team for Veterans at Bain took me under their wing from the beginning and helped me build my confidence. And when I became a mom, having support from my affinity groups and other Bainies meant that I was able to communicate any challenges without fear of judgment.
What I appreciate about Bain is that Bainies are willing to have the uncomfortable conversations surrounding DEI. I work in Energy and Natural Resources (ENR), which is a hard environment for women. We have now stood up an effort to get DEI right in ENR. We’re not perfect, and we have a lot
of work to do. But if anyone is going to get this right, it’s going to be Bain.
In our consulting work, a transformation office is a major effort to direct and track progress for clients who are seeking to dramatically accelerate change in their organizations. As head of Bain’s internal DEI Transformation Office, I’m proud that we’re applying this same level of resources and analytical rigor to double down on our own DEI efforts. This work has taught me that the path toward a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive future isn’t as linear as many of us would like. We’ve seen moments in Bain’s history when we sprinted and saw real change, but we’ve also witnessed moments when we had to rest in place to more fully absorb what was going on around us. We did a lot of both over the past year. It revealed to us that we can do many “easy” things but also that Bain, our clients, and our communities still have some real big rocks ahead. We’ll be measured on how we dismantle those rocks and how we pick up and keep moving forward when we stumble or fall.
One of the most memorable examples of when I have felt a sense of belonging and support at Bain was in May 2020, when I was joining an existing case along with one other person. The senior manager sent the team a note saying, “Welcome Joel to the team! We have another person joining on Monday, but I cannot let you know who it is until he/she/they have been notified.” It was such a small act of inclusion, but the fact that the senior manager used all the proper pronouns in his email showed how inclusive behaviors were ingrained in the way he operated. It also made me feel very comfortable to work for this senior manager, and I knew I could talk to him about my DEI priorities if I needed to.
What excites me most about DEI at Bain is the fact that we now have a dedicated Global DEI practice, led by our first chief diversity officer, Julie Coffman. I’ve never worked in a company that has had a CDO before, so it’s really inspiring that Bain does more than just talk about diversity and has put investments and commitments behind our aspirations. I look forward to being a part of this as much as possible and to working with our Global DEI practice to continually change and improve our business.
I knew when I joined the Global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Center of Excellence team as a senior specialist that my work and identity would compound each other: I am Filipino American and directly manage and support Asians at Bain (AAB) initiatives in North America.
I joined Bain in early 2021 amid a global pandemic and during a time of racial unrest that included anti-Asian hate crimes and violence. I worried that I would have to manage the extra weight of my own emotions while helping lead programs and processes to support other Asians at Bain struggling during this trying time.
Instead, I found many outlets to be authentically myself through AAB and to connect with others experiencing similar feelings and emotions. I felt supported by the AAB community even as I was helping support their needs.
She/Her/Hers
Associate Consultant 2
(current extern, Silver Lake Partners)
New York
Claire Rafson
Asians at Bain (AAB) is an organization of Bain professionals with Asian and Asian American roots. AAB's mission is to create a tight-knit community that provides the support, resources, and mentorship to help our Asian professionals thrive at Bain. AAB membership includes professionals across all levels of Bain's North American offices.
BGLAD (the LGBTQ network at Bain and Bridgespan) exists to support the recruitment and retention of top LGBTQ talent at Bain. BGLAD has a rich history dating back almost three decades. BGLAD members span the global Bain office network, all tenures and roles, and represent the incredible diversity of queer identities.
Blacks at Bain (BABs) is a thriving community dedicated to the recruitment, professional development, and retention of Black professionals at the firm. Since the late 1980s, BABs has grown as an organization with targeted initiatives to increase representation across the Black diaspora within the firm and ensure their professional success.
Diverse Abilities at Bain (DAAB), our newest affinity group, is a community comprised of Bainies who identify with a disability as well as those who are family members/caregivers for someone who identifies with a disability. The disability community is broad, intersectional, diverse, talented, and covers a wide spectrum of experiences that are both visible and invisible—all of which are honored and welcome within DAAB.
Latinx at Bain (LATBA) is an organization of Bain professionals with Hispanic and Latin American roots or interests. LATBA's vision is to make Bain the best career choice for Latinx business talent. LATBA membership includes professionals across all levels of Bain's North American offices.
Veterans at Bain (VABs) is a formal organization of Bain professionals with military service backgrounds. Our objectives are to attract, develop, and retain the world's top veteran business talent, provide tailored support and resources for professional success, facilitate knowledge and experience sharing, foster mentoring relationships, and build upon a strong sense of camaraderie.
Womxn at Bain (WAB) leads global initiatives to enable our members to thrive as part of our overall mission to make Bain the best place to work globally. Explicitly inclusive of all who identify as women as well as any gender nonconforming individuals who wish to participate, we are focused on creating an inclusive culture and promoting programs and policies to achieve that mission across Bain. Our "x" serves as a visual symbol to welcome individuals across the gender spectrum who feel they would benefit from our support and community.
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Manny Maceda
DEI is a journey we’ve been on for a long time. It is part of our mission to be the best place to work, and we’ve received awards for that.
I balance that with humility, knowing we have a long way to go to truly be the best place to work for everyone. We haven’t cracked that yet.
But we are learning—and getting more sophisticated. As a member of Asians at Bain and an ally to our other affinity groups, I’ve seen how intersectionality and the complexity of national and global diversity goals create deeper insights that a talent leader like us should
understand and embrace.
Leadership commitments
Julie Coffman
In my 30 years at Bain, I have always felt an unparalleled commitment to our teams and to striving to make Bain the best place to work for all Bainies. While we have been committed to this ideal, we have also recognized that we have fallen short of that goal, especially with individuals from underrepresented backgrounds. Throughout our history, once we have understood the obstacles and challenges, we have tackled them aggressively. We will continue to do so. We have much more work to do around the globe, and while we know it will not be easy, it is absolutely critical that we stay focused on this aspiration. I am inspired to break glass on our journey to truly make Bain the best it can be for all of our extraordinary talent.
Maria Gordian
I am committed to confronting the root causes of systemic racism and racial inequity. A company’s ability to hire, retain, and promote people of all backgrounds and its willingness to play an active role in its community are foundational to developing a fairer, more equitable society.
We are committed to doing our part at Bain. And while there is much difficult work to be done, we are finding new ways to support each other in feeling belonging, support, and trust. Trust is most important of all because it is not presumed; we work to earn it with each other every day.
Russ Hagey
Our original mission statement highlights the power of “extraordinary teams,” and we believe that diverse and inclusive teams are our strength and that together we accomplish more than we can alone. We have innovated and focused on diversity for decades as an industry leader but also individually, person-by-person, to help people thrive. In this stage of our DEI journey, we continue to broaden our efforts across the globe, both in business and in our communities—particularly in places where equity and access are lacking. We strive to have Bain regarded as a model—a place where people feel heard, valued, and embraced—while also recognizing we too have much to learn along our own journey.
Ivan Hindshaw
Our differential focus over the past year has really accelerated our momentum in building a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment—a global priority for our firm. We aspire to be the best place to work for all of our people, no matter what their background
or where they work. The progress we have made in the Americas offers us lessons, as a firm and as individual leaders, that will help
us in our DEI efforts around the world. I look forward to continued progress in the years to come—as an individual and in support
of Bain’s aspiration to be the best place to work for all talent around the globe.
Keith Bevans
During my 25 years with Bain, I have seen an important shift in our DEI approach. We’ve always been a place that tries to support individuals, but DEI progress requires us to address the structural processes and norms that create the need for extraordinary support in the first place. In recent years, our leadership has been very clear that our DEI ambitions require Bain to challenge ourselves more. Our willingness to upset the status quo, rock the boat, and break some glass is our calling card when we work with clients. I’m glad to see our leadership applying that same approach inside Bain more assertively.
He/Him/His
Worldwide Managing Partner
San Francisco
She/Her/Hers
Senior Manager
Mexico City
She/Her/Hers
Partner, Leads Veterans at Bain
Austin
Kelly Swaintek
She/Her/Hers
Associate Partner
Leader, Bain DEI Transformation Office
Atlanta
Emily Frasier
She/Her/Hers
Chief Diversity Officer
Chicago
He/Him/His
Consultant
Sydney
Joel Nugawela
She/Her/Hers
Partner, Board Member, Chair of DEI Subcommittee
of the Board of Directors, Leader with Blacks at Bain
New York
He/Him/His
Chief Leadership Officer
Los Angeles
He/Him/His
Senior Specialist, Global Diversity,
Equity, and Inclusion
Washington, DC
He/Him/His
Regional Managing Partner, Americas
Los Angeles
He/Him/His
Global Head of Consultant Recruiting
Chicago
Marc Paulo “MPG” Guzman
Community and Belonging
Our People
Community and Belonging
We believe the best results come from diverse teams and an inclusive organization in which belonging, support, and trust fuel all of us every day.
We know that to have true impact, we must embed DEI deeply within our firm and in the everyday actions of our
people. This starts with our hiring practices, and our investment continues through the coaching and mentorship
we offer after people join Bain. We also invest in creating belonging and support for all Bainies through our growing
network of affinity groups and their allies.
READ MORE
Our Data
Transparency and Accountability
Sharing our DEI data for the first time is a significant milestone in our journey and an important step in expanding trust and accountability.
Globally, we have made significant progress toward reaching gender parity, particularly among our leadership team—a third of our global leadership team and almost 40% of our US leadership team identify as women. Across the globe, our newest Bainies are more diverse than ever before. In the US, for example, almost 50% of new hires identify as Black, Latinx, Asian, or multiracial, and 46% identify as women. We are committed to making further progress for diverse representation within our leadership team and to retaining and developing our pipeline of diverse future leaders.
We continue to ask ourselves tough questions about all areas of our business to ensure that our firm’s leaders make our firm a place where everyone truly feels belonging, support, and trust.
Our Leadership Journeys
Our Business and Communities
Our Impact
Investing resources and expertise to ignite progress in racial equity and social justice.
As we continue our efforts to create a better environment for our people, we also are changing the ways in which we work across every facet of our global business and the communities we serve.
We invest resources and expertise to ignite progress
in racial equity and social justice.
Beyond our own walls and our work with clients, Bain and all of our corporate peers have a responsibility to promote and improve DEI in society at large. This includes working to promote equity for historically underserved populations and removing systemic barriers to dignity and prosperity, whether by addressing the racial wealth gap, reducing health disparities, or standing up against systemic disenfranchisement.
Investing resources and expertise to ignite progress
in racial equity and social justice
While we are proud of the progress we have made, we know that this is a journey.
We have much more to do and much further to go. We will continue to invest heavily to support our ambitions and our commitments.
Our Future: Tomorrow and Beyond
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DEI at Bain throughout the Years
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1980s
1990s
Early 2000s
2005 to 2018
2019 to present
1980s
1990s
Early 2000s
2005 to 2018
2019 to present
1980s
1990s
Early 2000s
2005 to 2018
2019 to present
1980s
1990s
Early 2000s
2005 to 2018
2019 to present
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Thank you
Bain & Company would like to thank the many expert organizations that continue to work with us and guide us on our journey, with special thanks to our sister firm Bridgespan for its continued support and engagement.
Domenico Azzarello
He/Him/His
Regional Managing Partner, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa
Paris
I am truly inspired by the passion and energy we are seeing in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa to make Bain the best place to work for diverse talent—from our leaders and teams at all levels, across all parts of our business, and in all our geographies. We are working hard to deliver our commitments on diversity, equity, and inclusion—from transforming our approach to recruiting to raising awareness of the racial and social equity issues unique to each of our markets to starting on a region-wide dialogue on inclusion, we have made great progress this year. We are not yet where we want to be in terms of representation, particularly among our leadership team, but while there is still much to do, I am confident that together with the support, expertise, and learnings from across Bain globally, we can achieve our goals.
Satish Shankar
He/Him/His
Regional Managing Partner, Asia-Pacific
Singapore
Bain’s mission is to help our clients create such high levels of value that together we set new standards of excellence in our respective industries. This is not possible without diversity in all its forms, coupled with the psychological safety for our people to bring their authentic selves to work every day. When this combination of diversity and inclusion is working well, we are at our very best—creating breakthrough client results and rewarding team experiences. But we have further to go. Every day, our honest conversations on these topics remind us of the important gaps that still exist and that we have to continue to raise our game on this critical aspect of being the best place to work for diverse talent. It is an honor to work with teams so open to acknowledging their blind spots and stepping out of their comfort zones in order to achieve this critical mission.
She/Her/Hers
Senior Manager
London
Andrea Arroyo
I was originally drawn to Bain London because of its internationality, but when I first joined, I didn’t really feel I belonged. I mistakenly assumed everyone was straight, white, and well-off. “They’re nothing like me,” I remember telling a family member. Yet one thing stood out to me immediately—the fact that affinity groups existed. I thought to myself, “If Bain has established BGLAD and WAB globally, then I know I have a right to be here as my true self.”
I quickly became involved in BGLAD, WAB, and, more recently, London’s version of LATBA. For me, those groups have been a gateway into belonging and a huge source of ongoing support. After working on my first few case teams, though, my sense of belonging extended beyond my affinity groups. My teammates quickly became my friends, and the ability to share my story with them (and hear theirs) helped me realize how varied all of our backgrounds are and created bonds that made me feel included at Bain. For example, when we had a plus-one social event, I felt comfortable bringing along my wife, Penny, knowing I could be my full self, and I enjoyed bonding with my teammates and their partners and getting to know their full selves as well.
I don’t want to sugarcoat it—it’s tough feeling different. It’s been a journey to be authentic at work, and it’s still tricky. But Bain has a lot of support resources, and I genuinely believe all Bainies have their hearts in the right place. I am very excited for our collective DEI journey!
Our people
Our data
Our leadership
Our impact
Our future
Back to Further
2021 Diversity, Equity,
and Inclusion Report
Our
Journey
Yet we recognize how much further we still need to go. We continue to witness the impact of long-standing forces of systemic racism and inequity around the world.
Ongoing hate crimes and well-publicized instances of police brutality have opened the world’s eyes to these long-endured injustices. Similar to many organizations, we are taking a harder look in the mirror, recognizing where we have gaps, and identifying what we need to do to address racial and social inequities.
In June 2020, we published our commitments to accelerate our decades-long journey. Since then, we have aggressively expanded our efforts to increase diverse representation, ensure equity in our processes, and deepen inclusion in our culture. We have expanded our support for our clients with the launch of our DEI practice, and we formally expanded the pillars of our Global Social Impact practice to include Racial Equity and Social Justice.
Accountability is core to any transformation journey. This first annual report is our honest look at our current efforts and our progress to date on the changes we are striving to make for our people, for our business, and for our global communities.
DOWNLOAD PDF
We are a global company powered by the insights of extraordinary teams of individuals from diverse backgrounds and with unique experiences. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) makes us a better partner to our clients, a better employer, and a better corporate citizen. Our legacy of DEI work dates back more than 30 years to the founding of our first employee affinity groups, and has expanded over time to encompass efforts to make our firm more inclusive and mitigate bias. We are proud of our progress and the consistent recognition we receive for how we support our people in 61 offices across 38 countries.
That the ambition
to lead requires the courage to adapt. That diverse, inclusive teams
are our strength.
And that together
we accomplish more.
We believe that bold steps define the future
She/Her/Hers
Senior Manager
London
Andrea Arroyo
I was originally drawn to Bain London because of its internationality, but when I first joined, I didn’t really feel I belonged. I mistakenly assumed everyone was straight, white, and well-off. “They’re nothing like me,” I remember telling a family member. Yet one thing stood out to me immediately—the fact that affinity groups existed. I thought to myself, “If Bain has established BGLAD and WAB globally, then I know I have a right to be here as my true self.”
I quickly became involved in BGLAD, WAB, and, more recently, London’s version of LATBA. For me, those groups have been a gateway into belonging and a huge source of ongoing support. After working on my first few case teams, though, my sense of belonging extended beyond my affinity groups. My teammates quickly became my friends, and the ability to share my story with them (and hear theirs) helped me realize how varied all of our backgrounds are and created bonds that made me feel included at Bain. For example, when we had a plus-one social event, I felt comfortable bringing along my wife, Penny, knowing I could be my full self, and I enjoyed bonding with my teammates and their partners and getting to know their full selves as well.
I don’t want to sugarcoat it—it’s tough feeling different. It’s been a journey to be authentic at work, and it’s still tricky. But Bain has a lot of support resources, and I genuinely believe all Bainies have their hearts in the right place. I am very excited for our collective DEI journey!
She/Her/Hers
Associate Partner
Leader, Bain DEI Transformation Office
Atlanta
Emily Frasier
In our consulting work, a transformation office is major effort to direct and track progress for clients who are seeking to dramatically accelerate change in their organizations. As head of Bain’s internal DEI Transformation Office, I’m proud that we’re applying this same level of resources and analytical rigor to double down on our own DEI efforts. This work has taught me that the path toward a more diverse, equitable and inclusive future isn’t as linear as many of us would like. We’ve seen moments in Bain’s history when we sprinted and saw real change, but we’ve also witnessed moments when we had to rest in place to more fully absorb what was going on around us. We did a lot of both over the past year. It revealed to us that we can do many “easy” things but also that Bain, our clients, and our communities still have some real big rocks ahead. We’ll be measured on how we dismantle those rocks and how we pick up and keep moving forward when we stumble or fall.
He/Him/His
Senior Specialist, Global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Washington, DC
Marc Paulo “MPG” Guzman
I knew when I joined the Global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Center of Excellence team as a senior specialist that my work and identity would compound each other: I am Filipino-American and directly manage and support Asians at Bain (AAB) initiatives in North America.
I joined Bain in early 2021 amidst a global pandemic and during a time of racial unrest that included anti-Asian hate crimes and violence. I worried that I would have to manage the extra weight of my own emotions while helping lead programs and processes to support other Asians at Bain struggling during this trying time.
Instead, I found many outlets to be authentically myself through AAB and to connect with others experiencing similar feelings and emotions. I felt supported by the AAB community even as I was helping support their needs.
He/Him/His
Consultant
Sydney
Joel Nugawela
One of the most memorable examples of when I have felt a sense of belonging and support at Bain was in May 2020, when I was joining an existing case along with one other person. The senior manager sent the team a note saying, “Welcome Joel to the team! We have another person joining on Monday, but I cannot let you know who it is until he/she/they have been notified.” It was such a small act of inclusion, but the fact that the senior manager used all the proper pronouns in his email showed how inclusive behaviors were ingrained in the way he operated. It also made me feel very comfortable to work for this senior manager, and I knew I could talk to him about my DEI priorities if I needed to.
What excites me most about DEI at Bain is the fact that we now have a dedicated Global DEI practice, led by our first chief diversity officer, Julie Coffman. I’ve never worked in a company that has had a CDO before, so it’s really inspiring that Bain does more than just talk about diversity and has put investments and commitments behind our aspirations. I look forward to being a part of this as much as possible and to working with our Global DEI practice to continually change and improve our business.
Roxana Solorzano
She/Her/Hers
Senior Manager
Mexico City
When I started at Bain, we didn’t have a local BGLAD chapter in the Mexico City office, but the network was so active worldwide that I felt connected to it right from the beginning. In 2017, we created a BGLAD chapter in our office, and it quickly snowballed into a large group. Now, almost everybody is a member as an ally, which is great since allies are at the crux of any type of affinity group.
We have been able to train the office about gender identity and sexual orientation as education about these topics is at the heart of the empathy we want to achieve. As part of the leadership team for BLGAD Mexico City, it’s critical for me that Bainies know it’s OK to question behavior or to speak up if they feel uncomfortable in situations and that they know where we solidly stand as a firm.
This applies to gender as well. WAB can tap into the empowered executive female network out there, but it’s important that Bain is leading by example with solid leaders on our teams while also educating our male employees on the issues and giving them the framework to understand them.
She/Her/Hers
Associate Consultant 2
(current extern, Silver Lake Partners)
New York
Claire Rafson
There are many different parts of my identity, and one thing that Bain does really well is help you bring your whole self to the table. I joined Bain in 2018 as an associate consultant intern and quickly joined BGLAD, BABs, and WAB. Now, affinity group members are the friends I spend time with inside and outside work. If something happens on a case or if I’m having trouble, they’re the first people I turn to.
Something so special about Bain is that everyone has different but shared experiences. Every single person who is Black at Bain knows what it feels like to be the only brown person in the room. Every single person who is queer at Bain knows that same feeling of otherness. The affinity group communities understand that.
In my time at Bain, we have made a lot of progress. I feel very supported in parts, but sometimes we can silo ourselves, and Bain still has work to do on intersectionality.
But a Bainie anywhere is a Bainie everywhere. Once someone joins BABs or BGLAD, it really is like they could be from any office, and it will still feel like you've known them forever and that they get what you're going through.
She/Her/Hers
Partner, Leads Veterans at Bain
Austin
Kelly Swaintek
I spent the prior 10 years of my life before Bain as an Army officer, not even deciding what I was going to wear in the morning. My experience before business school was serving in Iraq for multiple deployments. I felt like I didn't know how the business world worked, and I thought the stuff that I did as a military officer was so different from it. But, in reality, it’s not. A member of the leadership team for Veterans at Bain took me under their wing from the beginning and helped me build my confidence. And when I became a mom, having support from my affinity groups and other Bainies meant that I was able to communicate any challenges without fear of judgment.
What I appreciate about Bain is that Bainies are willing to have the uncomfortable conversations surrounding DEI. I work in Energy and Natural Resources (ENR), which is a hard environment for women. We have now stood up an effort to get DEI right in ENR. We’re not perfect, and we have a lot of work to do. But if anyone is going to get this right, it’s going to be Bain.
Asians at Bain (AAB) is an organization of Bain professionals with Asian and Asian American roots. AAB's mission is to create a tight-knit community that provides the support, resources, and mentorship to help our Asian professionals thrive at Bain. AAB membership includes professionals across all levels of Bain's North American offices.
BGLAD (the LGBTQ network at Bain and Bridgespan) exists to support the recruitment and retention of top LGBTQ talent at Bain. BGLAD has a rich history dating back almost three decades. BGLAD members span the global Bain office network, all tenures and roles, and represent the incredible diversity of queer identities.
Blacks at Bain (BABs) is a thriving community dedicated to the recruitment, professional development, and retention of Black professionals at the firm. Since the late 1980s, BABs has grown as an organization with targeted initiatives to increase representation across the Black diaspora within the firm and ensure their professional success.
Diverse Abilities at Bain (DAAB), our newest affinity group, is a community comprised of Bainies who identify with a disability as well as those who are family members/caregivers for someone who identifies with a disability. The disability community is broad, intersectional, diverse, talented, and covers a wide spectrum of experiences that are both visible and invisible—all of which are honored and welcome within DAAB.
Latinx at Bain (LATBA) is an organization of Bain professionals with Hispanic and Latin American roots or interests. LATBA's vision is to make Bain the best career choice for Latinx business talent. LATBA membership includes professionals across all levels of Bain's North American offices.
Veterans at Bain (VABs) is a formal organization of Bain professionals with military service backgrounds. Our objectives are to attract, develop, and retain the world's top veteran business talent, provide tailored support and resources for professional success, facilitate knowledge and experience sharing, foster mentoring relationships, and build upon a strong sense of camaraderie.
Womxn at Bain (WAB) leads global initiatives to enable our members to thrive as part of our overall mission to make Bain the best place to work globally. Explicitly inclusive of all who identify as women as well as any gender nonconforming individuals who wish to participate, we are focused on creating an inclusive culture and promoting programs and policies to achieve that mission across Bain. Our "x" serves as a visual symbol to welcome individuals across the gender spectrum who feel they would benefit from our support and community.
Our People
Community
and Belonging
We believe the best results come from diverse teams and an inclusive organization in which belonging, support, and trust fuel all of us every day.
We know that to have true impact, we must embed DEI deeply within our firm and in the everyday actions of our people. This starts with our hiring practices, and our investment continues through the coaching and mentorship we offer after people join Bain.
We also invest in creating belonging and support for all Bainies through our growing
network of affinity groups and their allies.
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US – New hires
US – All
US – Leadership
Global
US – New hires
US – All
US – Leadership
Global
US – New hires
US – All
US – Leadership
Global – All
Our Data Transparency and Accountability
Sharing our DEI data for the first time is a significant milestone in our journey and an important step in expanding trust and accountability.
Globally, we have made significant progress toward reaching gender parity, particularly among our leadership team—a third of our global leadership team and almost 40% of our US leadership team identify as women. Across the globe, our newest Bainies are more diverse than ever before. In the US, for example, almost 50% of new hires identify as Black, Latinx, Asian, or multiracial, and 46% identify as women. We are committed to making further progress for diverse representation within our leadership team and to retaining and developing our pipeline of diverse future leaders.
Satish Shankar
He/Him/His
Regional Managing Partner, Asia-Pacific
Singapore
Bain’s mission is to help our clients create such high levels of value that together we set new standards of excellence in our respective industries. This is not possible without diversity in all its forms, coupled with the psychological safety for our people to bring their authentic selves to work every day. When this combination of diversity and inclusion is working well, we are at our very best—creating breakthrough client results and rewarding team experiences. But we have further to go. Every day, our honest conversations on these topics remind us of the important gaps that still exist and that we have to continue to raise our game on this critical aspect of being the best place to work for diverse talent. It is an honor to work with teams so open to acknowledging their blind spots and stepping out of their comfort zones in order to achieve this critical mission.
Ivan Hindshaw
He/Him/His
Regional Managing Partner, Americas
Los Angeles
Our differential focus over the past year has really accelerated our momentum in building a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment
—a global priority for our firm. We aspire to be the best place to work for all of our people, no matter what their background or where they work. The progress we have made in the Americas offers us lessons, as a firm and as individual leaders, that
will help us in our DEI efforts around the world.
I look forward to continued progress in the years
to come—as an individual and in support of Bain’s aspiration to be the best place to work for all
talent around the globe.
Russ Hagey
He/Him/His
Chief Leadership Officer
Los Angeles
Our original mission statement highlights the power of “extraordinary teams,” and we believe that diverse and inclusive teams are our strength and that together we accomplish more than we can alone. We have innovated and focused on diversity for decades as an industry leader but also individually, person-by-person, to help people thrive. In this stage of our DEI journey, we continue to broaden our efforts across the globe, both in business and in our communities—particularly in places where equity and access are lacking. We strive to have Bain regarded as a model—a place where people feel heard, valued, and embraced—while also recognizing we too have much to learn along our own journey.
Maria Gordian
She/Her/Hers
Partner, Board Member, Chair of DEI Subcommittee
of the Board of Directors, Leader with Blacks at Bain
New York
I am committed to confronting the root causes of systemic racism and racial inequity. A company’s ability to hire, retain, and promote people of all backgrounds and its willingness to play an active role in its community are foundational to developing a fairer, more equitable society. We are committed
to doing our part at Bain. And while there is much difficult work to be done, we are finding new ways
to support each other in feeling belonging, support, and trust. Trust is most important of all because it
is not presumed; we work to earn it with each
other every day.
Julie Coffman
In my 30 years at Bain, I have always felt an unparalleled commitment to our teams and to striving to make Bain the best place to work for all Bainies. While we have been committed to this ideal, we have also recognized that we have fallen short of that goal, especially with individuals from underrepresented backgrounds. Throughout our history, once we have understood the obstacles and challenges, we have tackled them aggressively. We will continue to do so. We have much more work to do around the globe, and while we know it will not be easy, it is absolutely critical that we stay focused on this aspiration. I am inspired to break glass on our journey to truly make Bain the best it can be for all of our extraordinary talent.
She/Her/Hers
Chief Diversity Officer
Chicago
Keith Bevans
He/Him/His
Global Head of Consultant Recruiting
Chicago
During my 25 years with Bain, I have seen an important shift in our DEI approach. We’ve always been a place that tries to support individuals, but DEI progress requires us to address the structural processes and norms that create the need for extraordinary support in the first place. In recent years, our leadership has been very clear that our DEI ambitions require Bain to challenge ourselves more. Our willingness to upset the status quo, rock the boat, and break some glass is our calling card when we work with clients. I’m glad to see our leadership applying that same approach inside Bain more assertively.
Domenico Azzarello
He/Him/His
Regional Managing Partner, Europe, Middle East, Africa
Paris
I am truly inspired by the passion and energy we are seeing in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa to make Bain the best place to work for diverse talent—from our leaders and teams at all levels, across all parts of our business, and in all our geographies. We are working hard to deliver our commitments on diversity, equity, and inclusion—from transforming our approach to recruiting to raising awareness of the racial and social equity issues unique to each of our markets to starting on a region-wide dialogue on inclusion, we have made great progress this year. We are not yet where we want to be in terms of representation, particularly among our leadership team, but while there is still much to do, I am confident that together with the support, expertise, and learnings from across Bain globally, we can achieve our goals.
Manny Maceda
He/Him/His
Worldwide Managing Partner
San Francisco
DEI is a journey we’ve been on for a long time. It is part of our mission to be the best place to work, and we’ve received awards for that. I balance that with humility, knowing we have a long way to go to truly be the best place to work for everyone. We haven’t cracked that yet. But we are learning—and getting more sophisticated. As a member of Asians at Bain and an ally to our other affinity groups, I’ve seen how intersectionality and the complexity of national and global diversity goals create deeper insights that a talent leader like us should understand and embrace.
Leadership commitments
We continue to ask ourselves tough questions about all areas of our business to ensure that our firm’s leaders make our firm a place where everyone truly feels belonging, support, and trust.
Our Leadership Journeys
We have a responsibility to help our clients and partners create lasting change in the marketplace.
As advisers to thousands of organizations, including many of the largest and most influential companies in the world, our opportunity and responsibility to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion extends far beyond our internal efforts. During the summer of 2020, we launched a formal Global DEI practice to support our clients directly to build truly representative organizations characterized by a culture of belonging, support, and trust.
Our Business
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We invest resources and expertise to ignite progress in racial equity and social justice.
Beyond our own walls and our work with clients, Bain and all of our corporate peers have a responsibility to promote and improve DEI in society at large. This includes working to promote equity for historically underserved populations and removing systemic barriers to dignity and prosperity, whether by addressing the racial wealth gap, reducing health disparities, or standing up against systemic disenfranchisement.
Our Global Communities
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While we are proud of the progress we have made, we know that this is a journey.
We have much more to do and much further to go. We will continue to invest heavily to support our ambitions and our commitments.
Our Future:
Tomorrow and Beyond
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Our Business and Communities
Our Impact
Investing resources and expertise to ignite progress in racial equity and social justice.
As we continue our efforts to create a better environment for our people, we also are changing the ways in which we work across every facet of our global business and the communities we serve.
Conducted global inclusion surveys to jump-start inclusion efforts and direct dialogue
Established the Black Leaders Forum
Launched Building and Supporting Excellence program for MBA students
Launched North American onboarding program for new Black and Latinx employees
Scaled regional sponsorship to ensure full access to career advice and mentorship
Reimagined first-year consulting experience
Announced Bain’s seven commitments
to DEI efforts
Launched Global DEI practice
Committed additional $100 million in
pro bono investment focused on racial equity and social justice
Created DEI subcommittee of Bain
& Company board of directors
Appointed first Chief Diversity Officer
Formally launched Diverse Abilities
at Bain (DAAB)
1980s
1990s
2005
to 2018
Early
2000s
2019
to present
Affinity groups develop strategic priorities to grow leadership team representation and global growth
and allyship
Veterans at Bain (VABs) formally launched
Latinx at Bain (LATBA) formally launched
The Global Women’s Forum establishes the Global Women’s Leadership Council and WAB Champions
BGLAD builds out global infrastructure
BABs, LATBA, and VABs launch the Building Entrepreneurial Leaders (BEL) Program
Asians at Bain (AAB) formally launched
Regional expansion of BEL
Focus on tracking and reporting diversity metrics increased
Global expansion of WAB, BGLAD, Black Leadership Programme (BLP) in South Africa, Bain Black Network (BBN)
Ally activities formalized under the “allyship” banner
Focus on unconscious bias training
and inclusion efforts increased
1980s
1990s
Early
2000s
2005
to 2018
2019
to present
First formal BGLAD and WAB summits
First dedicated diversity
role created
ExperienceBain events launched
for MBA students
1980s
1990s
Early
2000s
2005
to 2018
2019
to present
BABs, BGLAD, and WAB formally launched
First formal BABs summit
Begin recruiting at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs)
Bain becomes the first organization to hold LGBTQ recruiting events for Harvard Business School and Stanford students
Major focus on diversity in associate consultant (AC) hiring
1980s
1990s
Early
2000s
2005
to 2018
2019
to present
Blacks at Bain (BABs) and BGLAD (the LGBTQ network at Bain and Bridgespan) efforts start
Informal Women at Bain (WAB) engagement at local level
1980s
1990s
Early
2000s
2005
to 2018
2019
to present
DEI at Bain throughout the Years
Learn more about our journey in our full report
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Thank you
Bain & Company would like to thank the many expert organizations that continue to work with us and guide us on our journey, with special thanks to our sister firm Bridgespan for its continued support and engagement.
