the management consulting company . for the investment firm see bain capital . bain & company type incorporated partnership industry management consulting founded 1973 founder bill bain headquarters boston massachusetts u.s. key people orit gadiesh chairman products management consulting services revenue 2.1 billion as of october 2014 1 number of employees 5 700 website www.bain.com bain & company is an american global management consulting firm headquartered in boston massachusetts . it provides advisory services to businesses nonprofit organizations and governments and is one of the big three management consulting firms . the ceo is bob bechek and the cfo is len banos . bain has 54 offices in 34 countries and 5 700 employees . 1 2 contents 1 history 2 relationship with bain capital 3 notable current and former employees 3.1 industry and finance 3.2 politics and public service 3.3 other notable people 4 past controversies 4.1 sir jack lyons and the guinness four 4.2 value partners case 4.2.1 background 4.2.2 post trial outcome 5 see also 6 notes 7 external links history edit bain & company was established in 1973 by a group of seven former partners from the boston consulting group headed by bill bain . under bain s direction the firm implemented a number of practices that were unusual to the consulting industry in its early years . notably bain & co. would work with only one client per industry to avoid potential conflicts of interest . 3 partners did not carry business cards and clients were referred to by code names to enforce client confidentiality . 4 the company won clients by boardroom referrals rather than marketing and claimed its consultants worked on increasing a company s market value rather than simply handing clients a list of recommendations . 5 to win business bain demonstrated the increase in value of their clients stocks . 4 the firm s founding was followed by a period of international expansion . even though business was sluggish and the company was overstaffed bain had to turn away business due to its one client per industry restriction . competition increased as other firms also adopted bain s implementation focused strategy and internal infighting among the senior partnership threatened to break up the firm . in response bain & co. was formally incorporated in 1985 and over the course of two years an employee stock ownership plan esop was established . bain s senior partners began borrowing against their equity for cash eventually leaving the firm with a heavy debt load . 3 orit gadiesh at the world economic forum in davos switzerland 2007 . as business slowed this debt load began to squeeze the firm . bain ultimately found itself in non compliance with bank of new england loan covenants . the resulting debt write off at the bank of new england eventually resulted in that bank s failure in 1991 . 6 with the company facing financial duress bain capital partner mitt romney was asked to rejoin and lead bain & co. as interim ceo . romney negotiated a settlement between the bain partnership and the firm s lenders including a 10 million reduction in the 38 million bain owed the bank of new england 7 which by that time had been seized by the fdic and placed in chapter 7 liquidation . romney was able to negotiate this reduction in the debt amount with the fdic by threatening to use the remaining cash that bain had on hand as bonuses for bain executives . 8 bain & company paid bain capital a fee of 4 million for romney s services . 8 romney s plan involved a complicated restructuring of the firm s stock ownership plan real estate holdings bank loans and money still owed to partners . 9 to avoid the financial crisis that a buyout would have triggered the group of founding partners agreed to return about 100m cash and forgive outstanding debt . 5 although in the role for just one year before returning to bain capital romney s tenure resulted in three changes to firm governance . first ownership was officially shifted from the owners to the firm s 70 general partners . second transparency in the firm s finances increased dramatically e.g. partners were able to know each other s salaries 9 . third bill bain relinquished ownership in the firm that carried his name . within a year bain became profitable again and stemmed partner defections . 9 in 1993 the head position was split into two roles an executive head worldwide managing director and a non executive head chairman of the board . orit gadiesh was named bain s first chairman in 1993 becoming the first woman to lead one of the major consulting firms . 5 under gadiesh and md tom tierney the firm grew by 25 percent per year expanded its office count from 12 to 26 and increased partnership from about 70 to nearly 200 . 5 relationship with bain capital edit bain & co. is an entirely separate entity from bain capital . bain capital is a private investment firm specializing in private equity pe public equity leveraged debt asset venture capital and absolute return investments . bain capital does not provide management consulting services to its clients . 10 bain capital was founded in 1984 by several former bain & co. partners that included mitt romney later to become the 70th governor of massachusetts and candidate for president of the united states t. coleman andrews iii and eric kriss . 4 on account of these shared roots bain & co. still maintains a strong institutional relationship with bain capital . many current bain capital managing directors and professional staffers began their business careers at bain & co. 11 notable current and former employees edit industry and finance edit bill bain founder of bain & company eric kriss co founder of bain capital stephen pagliuca md of bain capital ; co owner of the boston celtics joshua bekenstein md of bain capital board member of the yale school of management kenneth chenault ceo of american express emmanuel faber ceo of danone gary crittenden cfo of citigroup monsanto and sears ; board member of staples and tjx companies pete dawkins former ceo of primerica financial services u.s. army brigadier general and republican candidate for u.s. senate ian meakins ceo of wolseley plc kevin rollins former ceo of dell computer greg brenneman former ceo of pwc consulting quiznos and burger king ; board member of the home depot and automatic data processing javed ahmed chief executive of tate & lyle john donahoe former ceo of ebay trustee of dartmouth college meg whitman ceo of hewlett packard ; former ceo of ebay ; 2010 candidate for california governor vivek paul partner at texas pacific group former ceo of wipro mark pincus intern founder and ceo of zynga anne glover co founder of amadeus capital partners steve jurvetson general partner of draper fisher jurvetson jane mendillo president and ceo harvard management company jonathan kraft president of the new england patriots andy wasynczuk former coo and svp of new england patriots lecturer at the harvard business school jayne hrdlicka ceo of jetstar airways federico marchetti yoox group founder and ceo of yoox group claudia sender ceo of tam airlines hugh langmuir managing partner of cinven payal kadakia founder and ceo of classpass politics and public service edit robin buchanan former dean and president of london business school the lord feldman of elstree chairman of the british conservative party mitt romney former governor of massachusetts co founder of bain capital 2012 republican nominee for president of the united states jeffrey zients chief performance officer of the united states 2009 former acting director of office of management and budget 2010 other notable people edit roger h. brown president of the berklee college of music michael kolowich founder of zdnet and at & t new media ; documentary filmmaker patrick lencioni business author michael murphy former olympic diver fred reichheld business author suzy welch former editor of the harvard business review pat manning former olympic rower john i. williams jr. president of muhlenberg college past controversies edit the guinness share trading fraud was a corporate takeover scandal of the 1980s . in april 1986 the british government launched an investigation into guinness purchase of distillers company for equity valued at 3.8 billion . the government suspected that guinness had illegally inflated its stock price to sway distillers shareholders away from a competing offer from the argyll group a scottish food retailer . several executives were implicated in the investigation the guinness ceo ernest saunders several top executives at morgan grenfell guinness s investment bank and guinness director of financial strategy & development and then bain vp olivier roux who had temporarily been assigned to guinness by bain . roux was still on bain s payroll at the time prompting public criticism that bain was guilty of a conflict of interest and leaving bain vulnerable to lawsuits . roux later resigned his posts at both guinness and bain . 12 sir jack lyons and the guinness four edit sir jack lyons whom bain hired to help build its consulting practice in britain admitted to receiving more than 3 million in fees from guinness for advisory services . his company j. lyons chamberlayne was also under investigation for accepting another 480 000 from guinness linked to improper share buying . bain fired lyons in january 1987 ; he was later charged along with ernest saunders gerald ronson and anthony parnes . the four men became known as the guinness four . all men were convicted but lyons was not imprisoned due to ill health . he lost his knighthood and was fined 3 000 000 plus 1 000 000 prosecution costs . 13 due to roux s resignation and lyon s swift termination bain & co. was never accused of any wrongdoing in the guinness affair . value partners case edit background edit in 1998 value partners a smaller management consulting firm based in milan filed a lawsuit in u.s. federal court against bain & co. alleging bain s theft of value partners office in s o paulo brazil including its clients employees and confidential and proprietary information . 14 value partners which was established in 1993 had expanded its operations to five offices worldwide with 80 staff . in 1994 value partners opened an office in s o paulo brazil . by 1997 value partners brazilian office was thriving and had grown to 25 staff . 14 value partners claimed that bain unlawfully caused members of value partners s o paulo office to enter into a conspiracy with bain to take over value partners brazilian office . bain which at the time had no business presence in brazil allegedly determined that it thereby could expand into the region without incurring the associated start up costs and risks of a new branch office . 14 according to the complaint unbeknownst to fellow members of value partners at the time the co conspirators remained with value partners even after agreeing to join bain so as to secretly work from within value partners to better effectuate the wholesale misappropriation of value partners s o paulo office . 14 post trial outcome edit in 2002 following a four week trial the jury found bain liable for unfair competition and tortious interference under brazilian law and awarded value partners 10 million in compensatory damages the full award requested by value partners at trial . value partners was also awarded approximately 2.5 million in prejudgment interest . 15 bain s post trial motions were denied and bain appealed to the first circuit u.s. court of appeals . value partners filed a cross appeal contesting the district court s denial of its companion claim for treble damages for unfair competition under massachusetts law . 15 see also edit boston consulting group bcg mckinsey & company big three notes edit a b america s